Opinions in Short Bursts: Effective, Necessary Tools. Don't Underestimate Them.

When we need to get the word out, a line or a paragraph in places like Notes or Bluesky might just be the way to do it. Who knows what it could lead to.

Photo by Genessa Panainte on Unsplash

Caution: Partisan on board. No agreement necessary about the politics, but I could use some advice about the rest.

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So now I’m on insulin, thanks to the steroids. Giving myself shots in the belly almost every day, watching what I eat, trying to stay healthy. I’m seeing specialists right and left, thanks to that crazy disease, Giant Cell Arteritis. It’s under control, but only because I’m on Prednisone.

What had been a pre-diabetic condition has now blown into full-on Diabetes, hopefully temporary until I can get off of the Steroids. If I can. Between the menu planning, the testing, the poking three times a day, it’s beginning to feel like a full-time job.

Winter is coming to upper Michigan. Any time now. The signs are all there. Boots and windshield scraper at the ready. Sidewalk de-icer in the front closet. It’s dark longer than it’s light.

And did you hear? Donald Trump ‘won’ the election. I’m not kidding. What could be worse?

I’m fighting depression in the only way I can now. I’m yelling out about the stuff that drives me crazy. Political stuff, mainly, because it’s our politics that drive me the craziest.

When I’m not writing about it I’m thinking about it, and that’s always dangerous. I wish I could be that person who can turn it off simply by diverting to happy places, seeking happy thoughts.

I could if the next four years weren’t already lining up to be a disaster.

I’m too distracted to write long these days, but writing short has been surprisingly satisfying. My soapbox switches several times a day between Substack Notes and Bluesky, back and forth, here and there. (That’s not to say I’m done with writing essays. They’re my reason for being as a writer. They’re where I get the most satisfaction, but when I’m this anxious I need a quick fix. That’s where the short bursts come in.)

I have a much larger presence on Notes than I do at Bluesky, having only recently spent some time there. Hardly anybody knows I’m there. I haven’t felt welcomed to the neighborhood yet, like I do here at Notes.

At Notes, my interactions with like-minded people may be all that kept me going after November 5, when that terrible T-bomb dropped again. I’ll be forever grateful for this space, where only a few words can unite us and keep us together, assuring us that we’re not alone.

I was going to stay away from all of this, you may remember, but now I’m totally hooked. I can’t abandon my post now. I was floored recently by the reaction I got from a single Notes post, one paragraph, a mere 46 words.

So far it has reached over 12,000 likes and over 750 restacks:

I mean…over 12,000 likes?? That’s an absolute first for me. I’m happy if I reach 100 likes. And restacks? Ten is good. Seven hundred fifty is unbelievable. This is the first time my words have ever struck such a nerve.

I wish I knew how it happened.

You may not agree with what I said there (if not, take it up there, not here), but those numbers are all the proof I need that even a few words can matter. What we say can make a difference if enough people read it and share it. We’re right to make those words ours. Not to fear them if they take off, but to own them. And to build on them.

My biggest fear these days is that Donald Trump will continue to be normalized, no matter what he says or does. He is not normal. What is happening with his cabinet picks is not normal. His regime’s move to put into action all they threatened in the 900-page Project 25 is not normal. Our inability to stop any of it is not normal.

If I have a focus, it’ll be this: Normalizing Trump waters down every bad thing he’s done. It gives him power he doesn’t deserve. I’ve talked about it often, including here, as a restack:

Notice that it only gained 52 likes and 14 restacks. I haven’t seen it around for a while, but I’m glad I wrote it and it’s out there. I may restack it at some point—another option to keep it going. I may take it over to Bluesky or somewhere else. I may use it, or a form of it, in a blog. I like what it says well enough not to want it to die.

There are others here who, when they post notes, get much bigger numbers than I’ll ever see, but if they’re a part of my community I’ll join in to make their numbers grow. Everything matters when we’re waging war, but nothing matters more than getting the word out.

Long form essays are where we’ll get most of our inspiration and our information, but these short bursts keep us going. They also have a tendency to lead us to the broader pieces. Those longer posts need promotion. That’s where the short, pithy morsels come in. They keep our audiences coming. They point them in the right direction. They help us build a community.

More and more, with the MSM letting us down, we’re turning to independent sources to fill in. They may in fact take over some day. With Notes, Substack has a chance to compete with the best of them. We already have some of America’s better writers right here. They post powerful essays, but they often come over to Notes with short, concise observations. They thrive on likes and restacks, just as the rest of us do.

We can become a movement that way.

So again, I turn to you: How often do you use Notes as a source to get your message out? Do you post, as well as ‘like’ and ‘restack’? When you find a Notes post that speaks to you, do you follow or subscribe to the person writing it, if you haven’t already? How effective do you think any of this is? Looking forward to your replies, as usual.