How About This - the tenth month update

Has it already been 10 months?

For this first year of publishing

How About This

I’m doing a monthly update on how things are going. Month 10 has just ended, so here are some highlights of what’s been happening.

Photo by Scott Hewitt on Unsplash

By the Numbers

As I mentioned last month I’m no longer reporting the views metrics from Substack’s dashboards as they can be influenced by unusual events.

My subscriber count is 820 as of the end of the month, an increase of 45 subscribers from last month’s total of 775. Thank you! And many thanks to paid subscribers!

I have 53 Substack Recommendations - greatly appreciated!

By the Words

I’ve now settled in to a publishing schedule of 1 - 2 posts per week, for a total of 8 posts in February.

Interviews continue to be enjoyed by H.A.T.T.E.R.s. This month I published interviews with Canadian journalist Paul Wells, Canadian writer Stella MacLean and Canadian writer/editor Lee Thompson. In addition to an open thread I also published a couple of posts: one about the contrasts between a day job and creative work and another about the use of ink and paper in three movies and TV shows that I’ve recently watched (or re-watched in some cases).

Interestingly enough, I also made my first mistake in scheduling my regular Wednesday morning posts and published one on a Tuesday night instead. Oops.

By the Gut Feel

My writing rhythm has been off for a couple of months now, primarily due to day job demands including some travel. I am hoping things will calm down a bit by April. I’ll keep plugging away regardless.

On a marginally related note, It’s been four months since I deleted my Twitter account. Most of my social media presence has significantly slowed down of late. I tried Mastodon for a few weeks but I don’t think it’s going to stick. Sometime (perhaps in March) I’ll write a post about my post Twitter era.

Unfortunately I’ve fallen way behind on reading the newsletters of other writers, including many of my favorites, alas. I may not be Liking and commenting as much as I have been in the past but I’m still very interested in what you have to say!

Final Thoughts

I’m feeling some joy in seeing a fair amount of light in the sky at 6 PM. The tide is turning and the days are getting noticeably longer. We’ve had some bitterly cold days in February but hopefully, as March beckons, we’ve seen the worst of the cold here in my part of Atlantic Canada. I’m keeping up with my daily journaling practice (it will be 2000 consecutive entries by the end of May!) My habits tracking has fallen by the wayside during the past two weeks but I haven’t completely given up on it yet!

I hope you’re all doing well and thanks for your continued support!