Post One
I have blogged on wordpress for almost 15 years. And I still love my blog! But for the rest of this year I am trying writing in this new space. Welcome to my substack newsletter.
New blog/newsletter
As I said, I still love my original blog - there is so much writing there and so many memories. I'm quite sure I'll be back there now and then. But change is in the air. You know it, and I know it. As 2022 ended, Twitter got weird, AI got famous, and after three years of already-uncertainty I have to throw my hands up.
Confront the discomfort. Prepare to play again.
In recent years the pressure (from myself, on myself) to maintain writing on my blog, and now the conflation of that time with pandemic-living, makes this clean slate very attractive.
1. Writing on a Clean Slate
I almost called this blog ‘something-something clean slate’, or ‘clean slate something something’, because that is ultimately what has called me here. When I direct someone to my old blog, I’m sending them to a web of my old ideas. Which is helpful, mostly. But not always appealing.
This year, as everything keeps insisting on changing, I want to be open to letting go of some old ideas. I want a writing space outside my own matrix (and where I don’t give a damn about the analytics).
2. Writing to be read
What I loved most about the good old edu-blogging days was that we all read each others’ posts and often responded (at least) or had ongoing discussions in comment threads. I’ve noticed a few friends doing this again on substack blogs (sorry, newsletters).
So, if you read my posts here, don’t be shy about commenting, if you want to. The sub-heading of my old blog has for a long time been ‘sharing findings, inviting conversations’ and I hope that still rings true here.
3. How often?
The substack template wants me to tell you how often I’m going to post.
Subscribe and let’s find out!
Tbh honest calling it a ‘newsletter’ does make me want to write more regularly. Relatively speaking.
4. This is just to say…
My substack title is taken from a famous poem by William Carlos Williams, ‘This is just to say’.
I think it’s a cool poem because it is light in style, open to interpretation, and because I had a blossoming plum tree in the yard of my childhood home. As a bonus the poem has been the subject of a twitter meme.
But yes, I gave this sucker a ‘Semi-colon: Subtitle’ title, just so you know I am going to write about education and sometimes specifically English teaching.
I also like poetry, so the title is a nod to that. Like an onion right? The layers!
See you in the comments
…probably on one of your posts, while I think of what to write next ;)
Huzah! First comment. Twitter + Poetry was a weird page lol! I've managed to knock up a series of little blogs that are excitingly scheduled from now until 3 months in the future, every friday at 5:30pm, which should pop up as suprisingly to me as to everyone else (if anyone deigns to read them that is!)
Here are my suggested topics for you to write on:
- How parenting changed me as a professional
- How time-sharing as teacher and lecturer went
- Should academics also write for fun?
HI Kelli,
I too am new to substack, but excited with what I'm discovering here. Including your stack.
You wrote
"When I direct someone to my old blog, I’m sending them to a web of my old ideas. Which is helpful, mostly. But not always appealing. This year, as everything keeps insisting on changing, I want to be open to letting go of some old ideas."
This challenges me. Am I too old to let go of old ideas? I find myself trying to articulate the old ones more clearly.
But with any luck I'll be challenged. I'll keep this thought of yours in mind, and try to convince my old brain that it's capable of letting go of the old. :-)