What's Your Favorite Substack Post?
When unexpected circumstances have a silver lining: more time to read
Dear Inside Readers: This is a news update regarding changes to my summer plans — and a request to tell me about your own best Substack writing. (Please!)
I earlier announced I would begin lessons in June on Inside Reader for “Finding Your First-Person Voice” — and I’m still hoping to do this later in July. But a series of health problems have limited my own posting here.
So, that’s the bad news. There’s a silver lining, though, one connected to the ever-evolving landscape of Substack. As I’ve been laid up in bed, I’ve had more time to read what others are posting in Notes and newsletters. I can’t keep up with the constant stream regardless, but your words and wide-ranging opinions have sustained me.
Substack is such a wild and woolly landscape. It’s glorious. It’s frustrating, and normally I have to limit the amount of reading I do on it. During my usual work week, I check in briefly several mornings. I do more leisurely reading on the weekend, kind of like what I used to do on Sunday mornings with print newspapers. (I’m not counting the time I take to write my own posts.)
Even stating that, however, it sounds like too much. I haven’t solved the problem of setting the right limits for a social-media platform like this one — and I need those limits. That leads to my second question below.
But the first and main question involves you telling me about a post of your own you really like. Chances are, I’ve missed it, so I’d love your suggestions.
My Questions:
What is a favorite recent post of yours that I may have missed? Please list it in the comments with a link that hasn’t been archived. (See the following notes about my preferences.)
How do you handle your reading time on Substack? Do you set limits for yourself? Again, please comment.
I doubt it’s a surprise to any subscriber that I’m a feminist and humanist. But I’m also a contrarian, and I like a range of opinions. Strong views are good, especially if they’re bolstered by credible evidence, including personal experience. One of the reasons I like Substack is that it pushes me to think. I’m not frightened by essays that run long, and I comment when I’m engaged by something. I enjoy the conversation.
I am put off by mean-spirited writing, a condescending or an accusatory tone, self-righteousness, or a lack of empathy. I’m sure at some point in my writing life I’ve committed these sins (they’re hard to avoid), but I’m drawn to pieces that acknowledge a writer’s limitations and particular perspective.
Even with the stacks I subscribe to, I can’t read everything, so I make choices. Currently, I’ve been following Haley Larsen’s
notes about The Age of Innocence as well as ’s take on Emma. I’m reading the “Saturday Morning Serial” by of her sharp-edged memoir. I rarely miss ’s “Xeets and Giggles” — humor from a political perspective I share that’s sorely needed. When posts poems, I go for them.There are more, too, but what am I missing from you? I welcome suggestions of other writers you appreciate on Substack, but this is a chance for me to get to know your work better. I can’t call an unexpected idling of my physical reserves a gift, but reading excellent writing is something I’ll always embrace.
Hi Martha! I'm so sorry to hear your bed bound -- although there's much worse things that can happen so I hope you enjoy the down time. It was so nice to see this because it reminded me I wanted to catch up on a few things you've written too. Reach out if you want to schedule a little time to chat like we said we'd do again during one of Sarah Fay's workshops. I've got some time in the next 2 weeks and happy to say hello and connect again.
So I something around Father's Day that I quite like:
https://jenbaxter.substack.com/p/the-father-who-raised-me
BUT - I was also in Morocco for 3 weeks in May/June. So if you'd like a little arm chair travel, the next few weeks are posts about the trip.
I started with this one that's all photos. People have been enjoying the photos.
https://jenbaxter.substack.com/p/oh-the-colors-of-morocco
And please shoot me an email or a note or something if you want to chat. I mean it. Feel better.
Hello Martha, what a nice invitation. Several people post on our site, each with their own focus and own sense of meaning. Writing (anywhere) can have the objective to investigate a topic in depth, or it can have a focus to avoid a series of topics. The world is such a mess, there sure is plenty to avoid. We have our reasons; focus on positive thoughts and all that.
Yet we all know avoiding doesn't resolve much. It is just a short-term "fix", and maybe just our emotional fix. One of our writers just posted a monologue from the theater. It was written 33 years ago, but seems more timely now than ever.
It is a sequence of a traveler who is stricken in the night with a heavy bought of fever. In that debilitated state he has thoughts, almost hallucinations about the state he is in, and his travels through 3rd world countries. The theater is a way to say things, that a story book cannot. If impactful is any measure, this is one of our best. No need for a link, it is right on top. It has been cross posted several times. I hope that you will post a comment.
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