When I first encountered outfits like Medium and Substack, my response was something like: “great, you’ve invented blogging”. With the added risk (at least in the case of Medium) of writers getting their work zapped for crossing any one of a number of ideological lines.
I enjoyed the tete a tete of the comments section on more or less private blogs. I've been a lot more guarded, not to mention have significant less time, in the age of Facebook
I've made a formal decision not to sound off on social media and confine anything spicy to my published writing (for which I'm paid). This isn't perfect - I trended on UK Twitter for two days in 2019 for a piece I wrote in the Speccie that happened to piss off the greenies - but it certainly makes life a lot easier on the whole.
I miss the blogs from the Early Years. Most nights I used to read the Cat, Club Troppo, Larvatus Prodeo, Thoughts on Freedom, swing by Skeptic Lawyer and squeeze in a bit of Tim Blair. Probably because back then I lived alone and didn't own a TV...
It's a period I generally remember with fondness as well. And it did allow me to "show my wares" as a writer of non-fiction, so that was a genuine positive.
I enjoyed the tete a tete of the comments section on more or less private blogs. I've been a lot more guarded, not to mention have significant less time, in the age of Facebook
I've made a formal decision not to sound off on social media and confine anything spicy to my published writing (for which I'm paid). This isn't perfect - I trended on UK Twitter for two days in 2019 for a piece I wrote in the Speccie that happened to piss off the greenies - but it certainly makes life a lot easier on the whole.
I miss the blogs from the Early Years. Most nights I used to read the Cat, Club Troppo, Larvatus Prodeo, Thoughts on Freedom, swing by Skeptic Lawyer and squeeze in a bit of Tim Blair. Probably because back then I lived alone and didn't own a TV...
It's a period I generally remember with fondness as well. And it did allow me to "show my wares" as a writer of non-fiction, so that was a genuine positive.