My experience has been different in terms of Substack. More people comment on what I write here than when I posted my blog across social media and even when I was reviewing for major newspapers.
I think you have to give it some time, Alan. You've only been at this for a few months. I don't know how many followers or subscribers you have, but in my case it took well over a year before I began to feel as if it might be a party and not just a tete a tete.
For me, Notes was the real turning point. Once I became active there, posting and restacking and commenting, I began to gain more subscribers, some of them even paying. If you haven't had a presence there, you might want to think about hanging out.
Oh, I hope I'm not here just to bare my soul. I would hate that! I do want to get at all of those things each of us has to contend with, though. It helps to know we're not alone. 😊
I do believe in what some call "The Artistic Personality" and I don't mean this in a woo-woo, superior, New-Agey kind of way. To me, it's more to do with one's wiring - being more sensitive than many (do not insert "overly sensitive" here!) and caring, caring *all the time* is just part of that. Empathy lives close by and I wouldn't give that up for anything. These are not character flaws. Making yourself vulnerable, being honest, taking a chance, making people feel less alone, putting your words out there - this is what writers do! Stay proud, Ramona!
I guess it is a kind of super-sensitivity--annoying as all get out fairly often! Or maybe it's a need to communicate, as much as anything. To get a conversation going. It just feels strange, as if I'm in a room full of people and I'm kind of talking to myself. 😳
You said it, Speranza! I think we artists and writers are so very sensitive, not fragile necessarily, just sensitive and empathetic. Our super powers but it certainly doesn’t shield us from what feels like negligence, people ignoring our voice. I wanted to read your piece, Ramona, but I kind of ran out of time. I circle back later sometimes on another day, just fyi. We are so vulnerable when we put something honest out there to the world. But, I love that you have decided it goes into the “gold” pile. I say you are brave and I do garner a lot from your comments/essays, Ramona. Sorry, not sorry. ;)
It feels like a very quiet time here on Substack. I know I have been quiet myself, my energy is low and I'm finding it hard to participate, writing or reading. I totally feel you on this, I think we all do. I wish you had linked to the post you are referring to, I would like to read it and could not find it.
Well said piece, Ramona. I could not comment because I am not a paid subscriber. I'm with you 100% on all of it, as a fellow Liberal, a Kennedy Liberal, a Kerry Liberal.
I wonder about that. I agree that everything I write comes from a want or a need to write it, so in that sense I suppose I am my own primary audience, but this isn't my diary or my journal, it's my public space. I've chosen a newsletter format, not because I want to write only for myself but because I want to reach out to other people.
I think a big part of who I am as a writer builds on reaching out. I want to present my side of everything, but I also want to know how and if it affects someone else. Not as a kind of therapy session but as a part of an enlightening conversation.
I'm happiest when I get more out of my readers than I do out of whatever it is I put out there.
Being invisible online, except for the noise I make, has been a blessing. I’ve made a lot of mistakes didn’t cost me what they’d cost others more in demand with the algorithm.
Rather than posting a new comment I'm dropping in here because your response to JB is what my comment would be (Hi JB!). I have, pretty much, been my own primary audience in the past but at this point, I want to write for an engaged audience and hope it enriches their life in some small way. Despite my best efforts otherwise, I can't help but hope, every time, that my writing draws some kind of communication and positive response.
Ramona I take my hat off to you for posting this with the preface that you had paid comments turned on. It's a tough knock for you but thank you for teaching us in a few different ways in one small post, you're awesome!
JB you are exactly right that we can't worry about what we can't control. I just have to get this message to my heart🤣
Thank you, Donna. The best part of this whole experience for me here at Substack is that we can talk together, sharing our own viewpoints and experiences and learning from others. It's the sharing that gives me the motivation to keep on doing this.
Even though it ended up being my mistake (I think. Maybe nobody would have commented anyway!), my reaction to that empty comment section kind of shocked me. It was little me out on the playground wondering why nobody wanted to play with me. 😏
It was me questioning what I'd written, even though I'd written it with my heart wide open, hoping for some understanding about my own need to go into the election season with my hopes and beliefs intact. If it hadn't been such a vulnerable piece I might not have cared as much, but I went into it with some trepidation and when nothing happened, when nobody responded, I took it personally.
I hope I've learned something from this. Not that I shouldn't care but that I shouldn't base my writing on any one encounter or evaluation. As I said, this wouldn't have mattered at my old blog, where I didn't have the kind of relationship with my readers that I have here. I need to understand that not everything is going to hit the mark, that not everyone is going to want to read it, and that it should be enough that I wrote it the best I could and now it's out there and it says what I wanted it to say. I want that to be enough.
I think you may have hit the bullseye with the vulnerability, heart wide open part of the equation. I think we can write some things that, while still being a piece of us, are not quite so honest and raw. When we go out on a limb and also put in a huge effort we are on shaky ground. It's an important process to stand in uncertainty but uncomfortable for sure. Those pesky lessons always take us by surprise! You are not alone.
Writing is so personal, you are offering the essence of you, and hope your readers are responsive. I write short stories ( which are too long for most). It’s scary, exhilarating , and you bare yourself. I am glad you write.
I missed it because I've had a storm-related migraine that made me ill. So I wouldn't say your column was necessarily not well-received just because people didn't comment.
And if it's any consolation, the owner of a website I admire has told me that over the years she's seen a major decline in comments on guest blogs and there's no connection to content: "People would rather spend time on Instagram and TikTok."
I hope you're feeling better. And I hope we have no more storms!
I do think the more there is to read the less time there is to comment, but it seemed so odd. And now I find that it may have been my fault, anyway. Pamela just told me in the comments here that she couldn't comment because it was for Subscribers Only! Somehow I missed ticking that box, so now I don't know what to think!
But I'm glad I started the conversation anyway. We'll see where it goes.
I'll look for it. It's nine degrees here right now and I have some really artistic snow drifts. I also have a humongous drift in my flat side yard that I'm thinking of turning into a sledding hill. Not that I would use it...
I love that you brought this up. I have been fascinated to notice how much I appreciate those swift, same-day, same-hour responses in this medium where they are possible (so their absence feels like absence!), even though for 30 years I’ve written articles and sent them off to silence, or I’ve heard from one or two readers on this or that article over a period of years. I knew those articles were gold myself, so I first experienced what you describe here with alarm in this instant medium. I do have to coach myself more, as you do here, when no one but me knows there’s gold. I may be fortunate to have those long earlier silences to draw upon.
It is a different world, isn't it? Before the internet I would have to wait to get letters through the publisher, or maybe have someone yell something to me in passing.
I got a lot of mail delivered right to me with just my name and my town since everyone at the post office new me well. It always made me smile to just see "Lev Raphael, Okemos Michigan"
I had a guy yell at me at the grocery store once, three cashiers over, because I wrote something he didn't like in my column. I told him to have a nice day and a few people clapped.
I don't know how he even knew who I was. My column photo didn't look a thing like me.
Now that you mention it, I suppose the equivalent of fan mail for academic writers would be invitations to be on conference panels and thesis committees or advisory boards or to contribute to another publication. We skip over expressions of appreciation and just put each other to work! Hmm. Seems a bit pale when held up to messages of appreciation. :-)
I don’t know of a single serious writer who has not felt this way from time to time. Whenever I wrote about politics I know I’m going to get “unsubscribes” and that’s ok. I still have something to say and I’m putting it out there, no matter what, so, hold my beer. The beauty and the terror of this work is that we are public and we have opinions and we may get verbally attacked or ignored for holding whatever views we expressed. It’s part of the deal. Good for you for writing about our shared vulnerability.
I wrote my political blog, Ramona's Voices, for 12 years and never worried about followers or comments or anything else, but here it feels different, maybe because it's a newsletter format. It feels more intimate somehow. At RV I had no idea who was reading it, if anyone.
It just kind of threw me and I realized it did mean something to have that kind of interchange, so of course I had to write about it.
I have a tough skin when it comes to criticism or attacks, but apparently not so much when it comes to being ignored. 😏
I feel the same way alot of the time, but then I take a look at my page and I can't help but feel a sense of pride about the things I've written over these past three or so years, the people I've met and the things I've learned. I've found that if no one is around to clap the least you can do is clap for yourself.
It takes me what seems like forever to get all my thoughts together for one piece. Once my heart and soul has been exposed, I let it go and push publish. My hope is others will read, but often I'm disappointed in the numbers. But just as my work in the art studio, the process is what's most important. But connectivity is a different kind of reward.
There are so many wonderful writers out there and time is limited. I myself can't keep up. So I repost, restack or share older writing because most of my pieces are not dated. Besides, I like what I have written and genuinely believe others will too.
A wise woman once told me - and that would be you - that we each have something to say - and that we need to say it. No matter if it seems like the message is heard or not - you really never know for sure. So, my hat is off to you for putting into words, thoughts that I can't even begin to articulate.
My experience has been different in terms of Substack. More people comment on what I write here than when I posted my blog across social media and even when I was reviewing for major newspapers.
Me too. And I like it!
I think you have to give it some time, Alan. You've only been at this for a few months. I don't know how many followers or subscribers you have, but in my case it took well over a year before I began to feel as if it might be a party and not just a tete a tete.
For me, Notes was the real turning point. Once I became active there, posting and restacking and commenting, I began to gain more subscribers, some of them even paying. If you haven't had a presence there, you might want to think about hanging out.
If only we had all the answers, right? But would life be as interesting?
I'd like to find out...
Oh, I hope I'm not here just to bare my soul. I would hate that! I do want to get at all of those things each of us has to contend with, though. It helps to know we're not alone. 😊
You are a brave and honest writer, which might be why I respect you most all.
Write on, Ramona!
That's so kind of you to say. But I don't feel brave at all!
How 'bout I be the judge of that? ;-)
I do believe in what some call "The Artistic Personality" and I don't mean this in a woo-woo, superior, New-Agey kind of way. To me, it's more to do with one's wiring - being more sensitive than many (do not insert "overly sensitive" here!) and caring, caring *all the time* is just part of that. Empathy lives close by and I wouldn't give that up for anything. These are not character flaws. Making yourself vulnerable, being honest, taking a chance, making people feel less alone, putting your words out there - this is what writers do! Stay proud, Ramona!
I guess it is a kind of super-sensitivity--annoying as all get out fairly often! Or maybe it's a need to communicate, as much as anything. To get a conversation going. It just feels strange, as if I'm in a room full of people and I'm kind of talking to myself. 😳
You said it, Speranza! I think we artists and writers are so very sensitive, not fragile necessarily, just sensitive and empathetic. Our super powers but it certainly doesn’t shield us from what feels like negligence, people ignoring our voice. I wanted to read your piece, Ramona, but I kind of ran out of time. I circle back later sometimes on another day, just fyi. We are so vulnerable when we put something honest out there to the world. But, I love that you have decided it goes into the “gold” pile. I say you are brave and I do garner a lot from your comments/essays, Ramona. Sorry, not sorry. ;)
Thanks, Suzanne. Super powers, huh? I like that!
Hello, I read your post, and it resonated
Thank you, Terri.
It feels like a very quiet time here on Substack. I know I have been quiet myself, my energy is low and I'm finding it hard to participate, writing or reading. I totally feel you on this, I think we all do. I wish you had linked to the post you are referring to, I would like to read it and could not find it.
Thanks, Pamela. It's on my other Substack.
Well said piece, Ramona. I could not comment because I am not a paid subscriber. I'm with you 100% on all of it, as a fellow Liberal, a Kennedy Liberal, a Kerry Liberal.
OMG!!!! I had no idea! For some reason I didn't catch that it was on paid subscriber only comments! OMG.
Fixed now.
omgomgomgomg!!! 😳😳😳
It's a good thing I went looking for it!
I just can't thank you enough.
How embarrassing! 😳
We all do it!
This is an easy fix if you become your own primary audience. The rest will figure itself out. Can’t worry about what you can’t control.
I wonder about that. I agree that everything I write comes from a want or a need to write it, so in that sense I suppose I am my own primary audience, but this isn't my diary or my journal, it's my public space. I've chosen a newsletter format, not because I want to write only for myself but because I want to reach out to other people.
I think a big part of who I am as a writer builds on reaching out. I want to present my side of everything, but I also want to know how and if it affects someone else. Not as a kind of therapy session but as a part of an enlightening conversation.
I'm happiest when I get more out of my readers than I do out of whatever it is I put out there.
If that makes any sense.
Being invisible online, except for the noise I make, has been a blessing. I’ve made a lot of mistakes didn’t cost me what they’d cost others more in demand with the algorithm.
Yes! There's something to that.
Rather than posting a new comment I'm dropping in here because your response to JB is what my comment would be (Hi JB!). I have, pretty much, been my own primary audience in the past but at this point, I want to write for an engaged audience and hope it enriches their life in some small way. Despite my best efforts otherwise, I can't help but hope, every time, that my writing draws some kind of communication and positive response.
Ramona I take my hat off to you for posting this with the preface that you had paid comments turned on. It's a tough knock for you but thank you for teaching us in a few different ways in one small post, you're awesome!
JB you are exactly right that we can't worry about what we can't control. I just have to get this message to my heart🤣
Thank you, Donna. The best part of this whole experience for me here at Substack is that we can talk together, sharing our own viewpoints and experiences and learning from others. It's the sharing that gives me the motivation to keep on doing this.
Even though it ended up being my mistake (I think. Maybe nobody would have commented anyway!), my reaction to that empty comment section kind of shocked me. It was little me out on the playground wondering why nobody wanted to play with me. 😏
It was me questioning what I'd written, even though I'd written it with my heart wide open, hoping for some understanding about my own need to go into the election season with my hopes and beliefs intact. If it hadn't been such a vulnerable piece I might not have cared as much, but I went into it with some trepidation and when nothing happened, when nobody responded, I took it personally.
I hope I've learned something from this. Not that I shouldn't care but that I shouldn't base my writing on any one encounter or evaluation. As I said, this wouldn't have mattered at my old blog, where I didn't have the kind of relationship with my readers that I have here. I need to understand that not everything is going to hit the mark, that not everyone is going to want to read it, and that it should be enough that I wrote it the best I could and now it's out there and it says what I wanted it to say. I want that to be enough.
I think you may have hit the bullseye with the vulnerability, heart wide open part of the equation. I think we can write some things that, while still being a piece of us, are not quite so honest and raw. When we go out on a limb and also put in a huge effort we are on shaky ground. It's an important process to stand in uncertainty but uncomfortable for sure. Those pesky lessons always take us by surprise! You are not alone.
Writing is so personal, you are offering the essence of you, and hope your readers are responsive. I write short stories ( which are too long for most). It’s scary, exhilarating , and you bare yourself. I am glad you write.
I missed it because I've had a storm-related migraine that made me ill. So I wouldn't say your column was necessarily not well-received just because people didn't comment.
And if it's any consolation, the owner of a website I admire has told me that over the years she's seen a major decline in comments on guest blogs and there's no connection to content: "People would rather spend time on Instagram and TikTok."
I hope you're feeling better. And I hope we have no more storms!
I do think the more there is to read the less time there is to comment, but it seemed so odd. And now I find that it may have been my fault, anyway. Pamela just told me in the comments here that she couldn't comment because it was for Subscribers Only! Somehow I missed ticking that box, so now I don't know what to think!
But I'm glad I started the conversation anyway. We'll see where it goes.
Thanks. I am. And the storm came later and was less snowy here than predicted. But we have some enormous branches down. I posted a photo of one on FB.
I'll look for it. It's nine degrees here right now and I have some really artistic snow drifts. I also have a humongous drift in my flat side yard that I'm thinking of turning into a sledding hill. Not that I would use it...
I love that you brought this up. I have been fascinated to notice how much I appreciate those swift, same-day, same-hour responses in this medium where they are possible (so their absence feels like absence!), even though for 30 years I’ve written articles and sent them off to silence, or I’ve heard from one or two readers on this or that article over a period of years. I knew those articles were gold myself, so I first experienced what you describe here with alarm in this instant medium. I do have to coach myself more, as you do here, when no one but me knows there’s gold. I may be fortunate to have those long earlier silences to draw upon.
It is a different world, isn't it? Before the internet I would have to wait to get letters through the publisher, or maybe have someone yell something to me in passing.
I would miss these conversations if they stopped.
I got a lot of mail delivered right to me with just my name and my town since everyone at the post office new me well. It always made me smile to just see "Lev Raphael, Okemos Michigan"
I had a guy yell at me at the grocery store once, three cashiers over, because I wrote something he didn't like in my column. I told him to have a nice day and a few people clapped.
I don't know how he even knew who I was. My column photo didn't look a thing like me.
One of the joys of being an author is fan mail. I've gotten tons of it even before the e-mail era and I always reply.
Now that you mention it, I suppose the equivalent of fan mail for academic writers would be invitations to be on conference panels and thesis committees or advisory boards or to contribute to another publication. We skip over expressions of appreciation and just put each other to work! Hmm. Seems a bit pale when held up to messages of appreciation. :-)
Yes! Thank you so much!
I don't know why I didn't think of that. Too busy feeling sorry for myself!
I don’t know of a single serious writer who has not felt this way from time to time. Whenever I wrote about politics I know I’m going to get “unsubscribes” and that’s ok. I still have something to say and I’m putting it out there, no matter what, so, hold my beer. The beauty and the terror of this work is that we are public and we have opinions and we may get verbally attacked or ignored for holding whatever views we expressed. It’s part of the deal. Good for you for writing about our shared vulnerability.
I wrote my political blog, Ramona's Voices, for 12 years and never worried about followers or comments or anything else, but here it feels different, maybe because it's a newsletter format. It feels more intimate somehow. At RV I had no idea who was reading it, if anyone.
It just kind of threw me and I realized it did mean something to have that kind of interchange, so of course I had to write about it.
I have a tough skin when it comes to criticism or attacks, but apparently not so much when it comes to being ignored. 😏
I feel the same way alot of the time, but then I take a look at my page and I can't help but feel a sense of pride about the things I've written over these past three or so years, the people I've met and the things I've learned. I've found that if no one is around to clap the least you can do is clap for yourself.
Great attitude!
Thank you! I'm writing an article about it right now! Inspiration hits when you least expect it so thank you!
The opposite of love is not hate. It’s indifference!
Oof!
I hear you Ramona.
It takes me what seems like forever to get all my thoughts together for one piece. Once my heart and soul has been exposed, I let it go and push publish. My hope is others will read, but often I'm disappointed in the numbers. But just as my work in the art studio, the process is what's most important. But connectivity is a different kind of reward.
There are so many wonderful writers out there and time is limited. I myself can't keep up. So I repost, restack or share older writing because most of my pieces are not dated. Besides, I like what I have written and genuinely believe others will too.
I enjoy your writing.
I love it when writers admit they like their own writing. Of course we do! We wouldn't be doing it otherwise! ❤️
There's the writing we do when no one is looking and there's the writing we do when we want someone to see it. They're nowhere near the same.
A wise woman once told me - and that would be you - that we each have something to say - and that we need to say it. No matter if it seems like the message is heard or not - you really never know for sure. So, my hat is off to you for putting into words, thoughts that I can't even begin to articulate.
I'm always glad when you're here, Janice. You ground me. 😏💕
And I am always glad when you are here.