Yes and amen to all of this. I’ve been struggling to balance the desire to find more people who will benefit from my words with the knowledge of where this can lead. There’s no easy answer. It really does require prayerfully taking just the next step. Would you be terribly offended if I shared this on Notes, though? 🙃
"As writers, we face a temptation to write from a reactionary posture instead of a deliberate one — as we have since the advent of the internet. We wonder how we could write about anything other than the biggest issues of our day, and many voices on the internet are happy to affirm that that’s the only thing worth writing about.
We can’t give in to that temptation if our writing is to be effective, as astringent or balm."
Thanks for these thoughts that show their percolation time. I appreciate your integrity here.
Substack has definitely been a platform for writers and I so enjoy access to work that as a NZer, I would never normally have access to.
However, I cannot fathom how people afford multiple paid subscriptions and how much time can be taken being ‘sucked’ into this on-line world.
I feel the tug of SS to draw people into more and more (Notes) and writers to hawk for subscribers (knowing content is worthy, but is part of the SS deal).. it feels more and more now like the primary motive is to make money.
I agree Donna, it takes a while to find the writers who are in it for the long haul, to create something true and lasting. I have little bandwidth financially or mentally to keep up with too many subscriptions, so I regularly have to cut myself off from things. The benefits of turning homeward, away from the internet noise, have been immeasurable.
Gleaning, gleaning, gleaning. Always gleaning. Trimming my feed and pressing pause on how I show up on Substack and in Notes is a constant dance. Thank you for articulating this so well, Chris.
I’m so grateful for your articulation of this perspective. It encircled a few feelings I’ve had into a cohesive whole.
I have been thinking about the breathing room that the pace of correspondence by mail imposed on our communication; and how the expectation of immediate response to everything, no matter where in the world (or life) you may be, likely amplifies the negatives of thoughtless, toss-off responses and squelches the considered and pondered reply.
I also have made a loose rule in which I read very few memoirs by people under 40 (and this rule was made while I was under that age myself). This is not to negate the value of wisdom of younger people, but because I had noticed that there seemed to be a rush to publish before the emotional dust has time to settle. I know that my own story would be told now in a radically different way that I would have been in the immediate aftermath of the “drama.” Trauma should not be shared gratuitously, and a rush to publish is more exploitative than beneficial.
Just because the pace and scope of the information we are saturated with has increased so much does not mean human capacity has actually changed. And I think that those who write with a mind to actual human capacity are who I want to read, who I gain wisdom from reading.
Love this, Christine. I need the mercy in the writing of those who understand our limits as humans, of those who have practiced having mercy on themselves and others. Those writers offer much-needed relief from the burdens we tend to accumulate.
I deleted the Notes app from my phone last month because of the very same reasons you point out. It was becoming too habit-forming. Writing is the actual habit I want to cultivate. Seeing and being seen is not the goal here. Thank you for presenting a well-percolated perspective on the whole thing. And that C. S. Lewis quote has been a favorite of mine for years, one that I teach my kids as they become more aware of global, national, and regional things to worry about. I want them to see needs they can touch and respond to them with mercy.
That worry as an excuse to avoid charity thing bites pretty deep. Ironically, it's the doing of the next right thing that actually helps others and actively combats worry.
Wise words, and they couldn't have been more timely. I decided yesterday to clean my feed, step back, and perhaps step away. The everything and all at onceness right now is too much. I'm grateful for your words today, thank you.
I've considered stepping away too, Susan; there's so much at stake on the home front. Taking things in 2025 a day at a time for now. We'll see where things go from here!
Yes and amen to all of this. I’ve been struggling to balance the desire to find more people who will benefit from my words with the knowledge of where this can lead. There’s no easy answer. It really does require prayerfully taking just the next step. Would you be terribly offended if I shared this on Notes, though? 🙃
Thanks Tabitha. Haha, not offended at all.
Love "the H.I.P. folks." I want more of that too. Please.
"As writers, we face a temptation to write from a reactionary posture instead of a deliberate one — as we have since the advent of the internet. We wonder how we could write about anything other than the biggest issues of our day, and many voices on the internet are happy to affirm that that’s the only thing worth writing about.
We can’t give in to that temptation if our writing is to be effective, as astringent or balm."
Thanks for these thoughts that show their percolation time. I appreciate your integrity here.
Thanks Janna!
Thank you, so well said.
Substack has definitely been a platform for writers and I so enjoy access to work that as a NZer, I would never normally have access to.
However, I cannot fathom how people afford multiple paid subscriptions and how much time can be taken being ‘sucked’ into this on-line world.
I feel the tug of SS to draw people into more and more (Notes) and writers to hawk for subscribers (knowing content is worthy, but is part of the SS deal).. it feels more and more now like the primary motive is to make money.
I agree Donna, it takes a while to find the writers who are in it for the long haul, to create something true and lasting. I have little bandwidth financially or mentally to keep up with too many subscriptions, so I regularly have to cut myself off from things. The benefits of turning homeward, away from the internet noise, have been immeasurable.
Gleaning, gleaning, gleaning. Always gleaning. Trimming my feed and pressing pause on how I show up on Substack and in Notes is a constant dance. Thank you for articulating this so well, Chris.
That's what it is, absolutely! Sifting the wheat and the chaff.
I’m so grateful for your articulation of this perspective. It encircled a few feelings I’ve had into a cohesive whole.
I have been thinking about the breathing room that the pace of correspondence by mail imposed on our communication; and how the expectation of immediate response to everything, no matter where in the world (or life) you may be, likely amplifies the negatives of thoughtless, toss-off responses and squelches the considered and pondered reply.
I also have made a loose rule in which I read very few memoirs by people under 40 (and this rule was made while I was under that age myself). This is not to negate the value of wisdom of younger people, but because I had noticed that there seemed to be a rush to publish before the emotional dust has time to settle. I know that my own story would be told now in a radically different way that I would have been in the immediate aftermath of the “drama.” Trauma should not be shared gratuitously, and a rush to publish is more exploitative than beneficial.
Just because the pace and scope of the information we are saturated with has increased so much does not mean human capacity has actually changed. And I think that those who write with a mind to actual human capacity are who I want to read, who I gain wisdom from reading.
Love this, Christine. I need the mercy in the writing of those who understand our limits as humans, of those who have practiced having mercy on themselves and others. Those writers offer much-needed relief from the burdens we tend to accumulate.
I deleted the Notes app from my phone last month because of the very same reasons you point out. It was becoming too habit-forming. Writing is the actual habit I want to cultivate. Seeing and being seen is not the goal here. Thank you for presenting a well-percolated perspective on the whole thing. And that C. S. Lewis quote has been a favorite of mine for years, one that I teach my kids as they become more aware of global, national, and regional things to worry about. I want them to see needs they can touch and respond to them with mercy.
That worry as an excuse to avoid charity thing bites pretty deep. Ironically, it's the doing of the next right thing that actually helps others and actively combats worry.
ugh. that letter from c.s. lewis. so good. thanks, chris.
Definitely finished with that and thought: as usual, C. S. Lewis says in two paragraphs what I've tried to say in thousands of words... haha
Ha! As usual. Thanks alot Clive. Sometimes we just need more words to work it out :)
Really grateful for these words as I consider how I want to show up here and in this time. Thanks, Chris.
Thank you, Kris!
Thank you, Chris. So good.
Grateful, Patricia!
Wise words, and they couldn't have been more timely. I decided yesterday to clean my feed, step back, and perhaps step away. The everything and all at onceness right now is too much. I'm grateful for your words today, thank you.
I've considered stepping away too, Susan; there's so much at stake on the home front. Taking things in 2025 a day at a time for now. We'll see where things go from here!