Taking the Next Step on this Substack Journey
Exciting Changes for this Newsletter: New Content, More Writing, Collaborations
This year, I have been doing a lot of soul-searching. Well, I guess that describes every year. Let’s just say I have been thinking a lot about this newsletter, my writing, and what kind of work I want to be doing. Throughout this process, I have already written multiple posts detailing some of my thoughts and changing perspectives, so I won’t go into everything again here. You can find those posts here and here. One of the things that I realised was how little sense it made for me to spend so much of my time working a job that, while useful and worthwhile, is not my primary purpose in life. My purpose has always been writing. About anything and everything. That is why I wrote my first book when I was 5 (I still have it, every time I read it, it shows me how much I have developed in my writing since then), although I obviously did not do with such a clear purpose in mind.
Why did I do it? Why did I keep doing it? In a way, it is just what I do. It is a spiritual and intellectual need that needs to be satisfied. Call it an urge to create, to express myself, to leave something behind. If I don’t write, I quickly feel as if I’m wasting my time in this short life on this beautiful planet, as if I’m squandering my potential, my value to society, and like I’m losing touch with some deeper part of myself. Writing is also incredibly fun, too, of course. Only later did other reasons come into play, like conveying a deeper message, making people think and feel, or changing/improving the world in my own unique way. There is just so much you can do with it. Playing around with language, coming up with stories that I am in complete control of, learning how to use language to reach and move people, I love every second of it in every way. Articles, essays, speeches, stories, poems, it doesn’t matter.
The reactions to my newsletter that I have been getting, both on this platform and offline, from both subscribers and casual readers, have been incredibly motivating and heartening. Nothing is more valuable than seeing my writing resonate with people. It is yet another reason to never give up. That is why I want to really try to make something of this newsletter, and try to find my audience for what I want to add to this world, namely mutual understanding, love, and support in the many struggles that need to be fought to make it more liveable, free, fair, and less blown up by nuclear war.
That means that you can expect more regular content, as you may have noticed in recent weeks already, as well as different types of content. Longer, thorough, and informative articles will remain an essential part of this newsletter, because I believe that journalism, when done right, is a powerful tool to educate ourselves about the world, tell the truth and hold the powerful accountable, and look past the issues that divide us and instead find the many things that unite us.
The tough thing about real journalism is that it, first of all, is incredibly hard and time-consuming. You have to dig through mountains and mountains of information, never sure if it will yield anything, sort through and weigh varying narratives, facts, opinions, points and counterpoints, and decide on what is worth reporting. Add to that the fact that if you report something that is unpopular or that goes against what could be considered ‘mainstream consensus’, you are rewarded with a whole bag of consequences, ranging from public outrage and campaigns to smear your character or work to shadow banning and threats of jail time. I am definitely not influential enough to warrant most of these responses, I think, but it is something that I can look forward to if I succeed in my ambitions. What essentially protects you in such a situation are, as has become abundantly clear, not free speech laws or solidarity amongst your fellow colleagues, but having an audience, having you, to throw up a stink and let other people know about it. It is yet another reason why it is so valuable to have you here.
It is also why it is essential to be independent financially, not only to preserve my own integrity and objectivity, but also because it gives me the freedom to give thorough reporting and heartfelt writing the attention and energy it needs to flourish. My hope is that Substack, or another place if this platform becomes less accommodating to independent thought (see this recent post by
), can be part of facilitating the work that I want to do and of finding an audience that sees its value.Throughout this post, I have laid out why I love writing, why I think journalism is important, and why I believe in the importance of forging an independent path so that I can contribute to our society and our world in my own unique way, without compromising my values or who I am. However, a reality of this kind of work, for any kind of work really, is that it does require financial support to remain sustainable. While I remain fully committed to keeping my journalism as accessible as I can, I also need support to keep doing it. That is why I want to ask you, if you also think that my reporting and writing is important, informative, entertaining, or has value in some other way to you, to consider supporting it with a paid subscription. As an appreciation of your trust and support, and to give you enough time to get more familiar with the new content schedule, I am offering a 75% discount (off 60$/year) if you take an annual subscription before the end of November.
I remain committed to keeping the journalism that I do on this newsletter accessible to everyone, but will start experimenting more with different ways to offer content to both free and paid subscribers. I am open to your opinions or suggestions about the things that I am trying out. Just like anyone else trying to chart their own path, I am figuring things out as I’m doing it, seeing what works and what doesn’t and making sure I stay true to who I am and want to be. I’ll try my best to be as transparent and open as possible about my decisions and thought processes.
This is the kind of content you can expect to see each month going forward:
Once a month:
An in-depth article about the topic that I decide to tackle that month. I am also looking into ways to add to these posts, for instance with video content, voiceovers or summaries at the beginning. You have let me know that you prefer to receive these in the weekend, so that is when you can expect these, usually in the first week of the month.
→ All or most important content accessible to all.A creative post. This can be an essay, thoughts, poem, or something else entirely. Experimentation is the name of the game here. I am not sure whether I will have enough inspiration to come up with one of these once a month, but we’ll find out together!
→ Accessible to all subscribers, possibly with extra content for paid subscribers whenever that makes sense.A passage from or a text related to my novel. I will occasionally share some details about the story, without spoilers. The goal here is to facilitate discussion, get your feedback, and/or share part of my writing process with you.
→ This is something I’m trying out, so I am not yet sure how I feel about sharing this writing more publicly. I will be trying out different formats, depending on the passages, freely accessible but for a limited time, a longer post for paid subscribers, and paid.On the last or first Wednesday of the month: Monthly Musing. I share my thoughts, struggles, and bits from my personal life with paid subscribers. This is also a place where I talk about changes that I’m contemplating for the newsletter, giving paid subscribers a chance to be involved in that process.
→ Accessible to paid subscribersI am also considering recording voiceovers for some of these posts, let me know if that is something that you would listen to.
Other types of posts:
Collaborative content. I am currently working on some interesting collaborative projects with other Substack writers. Those will be published as soon as they are done, hopefully also leading to several longer term collaborations. If one of these becomes a regular post or recurring series, I will incorporate them into my monthly planning. Among this content is an upcoming podcast about AI, as well as a series of articles about how your data is used to influence you online (‘microtargeting’).
Surprises. Writing is a dynamic process. Sometimes you just have an interesting idea and decide to do something with it.
Lastly, I’m excited to show you an updated logo for the newsletter. I have tried to keep the original design, but it now has a spiffier, more modern look to it (I also have some colour variations that I might decide to use at some point). I don’t think I ever explained in detail what the deeper meaning behind the logo is, so this is a good opportunity to tell you my thoughts behind it.
I used the image of one of those deep-sea fish that have a light on their head, wanting to evoke a theme of seeing where all is dark and of shining a light on things. It is also an image of a bigger fish eating a smaller fish, which represents how the powerful often ‘feed’ or use the powerless. The fish are also shaped like C's to spell the name of the newsletter, Critical Consent, a name that to me represents that people need to be able to think critically & consider the facts about what is done in their name before they give their consent to anything.
Let me end by saying that I’m glad to have you here, and I’m excited to find out what the future holds.