The process of writing these blogs means that at any time I have a queue of 3 or 4 articles in the pipeline ready to be published. Before an entry makes it into the final queue, I proofread it as well as asking my partner, Emma, to read and comment on it. Sometimes she will make observations or suggest small changes to help clarify things that perhaps I have overlooked.
A bit late to the party, but I'd attribute the up/down subs to the algorithm Substack designs. People might opt on either inadvertently or to get a taste; after a while, they may trim back. I'm probably one of a few who actively prunes my social media "friends", particularly if there seems to be little contact. I think we're all overloaded with content nowadays, unlike when kids who were hungry readers would read the back of a cereal box to stimulate their minds.
If you believe you are a writer, you are. So there you go, and congratulations. If you have doubts, that makes you human. Another congratulations on that. ;)
I enjoy the ease at which you shape your prose and the absence of pretentiousness. In a jungle of word salad rants, it is needed. Your voice is needed.
Your "non expert" perspective is refreshing we have so many "naturist experts" among the naturist content creator class that perspective of ordinary everyday people has been lost and in its stead is something that I believe causes us to lose the very soul of naturism. But that’s just my opinion. Nonetheless I am amazed by your process and the discipline of it. I throughly enjoy the results and look forward to your writing. So I hope you keep on sharing your non expert thoguhts despite fluctuations in your subscriber base.
You say you’re not a naturism expert, but by acting as a voice for the rest of us who don’t write that’s really what you are, Steve. Or at least, perceived to be, even if you don’t feel it! In a way, though, we are all experts in naturism - after all, getting naked isn’t a difficult skill to master - but we don’t all commit to the weekly discipline of writing about it and providing focus for the wider naked community, many of whom may have no one to share it with in the day-to-day.
Re proof-reading, a vital contribution to written communication. In the good old days (I used to be in publishing) the writer would be read by an editor, the typesetter by a proof-reader, the corrected proofs then finally read again before publication - and we still missed some errors. Newspapers and magazine seem to have missed out on some of that these days (in the name of economy and spell-checkers, no doubt) but on-line writers rarely seem to read over their own work, let alone have someone else do it. So keep on keeping on, Steve and Mrs Steve!!
Sep 15, 2023·edited Sep 15, 2023Liked by BOPBadger
What I feel that the writer has to express his/her thoughts/feelings as their heart feels & without distorting it. The writer cannot please everyone, every time at once. It's a part of writer development process. It will go on..
The page ahead in the user manual is about right ... 50+ books later, I am not a writer. To my mind. I am a storyteller who writes his stories down so that more people can share them.
And I am feeling a bit down as sales and page reads are very low this month. I guess we all like to be recognised.
Cathy and I used to write books, they were published by Harper Collins and we made a bit of money. But we had no immediate feedback, and the measure of our success was in the royalty cheques we received every quarter. And proof reading was a mission. We hired someone to do that as well. We still get small amounts of money 15 years after writing some of thise books! In some ways I would rather that than the instant feedback available on platforms these days.
As usual Steve., well compiled and thought provoking too. Ta.
In days gone by, conversations along the lines of your nearly 100 blogs would have probably happened at the pub, over a few jugs of beer and a few games of pool. Or - some other local place at a gathering.
However - that was then and this is now.
Sooooo many conversations today are via a keyboard etc.
Todays blog has reminded myself of something that I haven't done ; to make contact with you to let you know that I have recently unsubscribed from receiving your weekly dialogue via email.
My reasons - (1) absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with yourself, your content, your topics etc (2) I have lately felt a real need to cut down on the number of emails that I have subscribed to. I then realised that I can still receive your interesting blogs via your MeWe page :) (3) my unsubscribe was not as a result of the meerkat blog !
Please continue earnestly, and I look forward to some wonderful reading each Friday.
Please do not be despondent - just keep going . . . . . . as long as you feel that you have the fire in your belly.
Peter, Thank you for your comments. It hadn't occurred to me that people might prefer to access my blog from other social media sites rather than by subscription.
I totally agree with Bill Bowser - proofreading your own work has very limited value. It's important to have one or two others do the proofreading, for the very reasons Bill mentioned.
You should consider yourself a writer. You write articles for others to read; that makes you a writer. Your question should be about what level of expertise you feel you've reached as a writer. You are certainly well beyond "beginner" status!
The same could be applied to your level of expertise when it comes to naturism. Like any other philosophy, how expert you become at it depends on how long you've been involved and how much you've studied. You don't have to be 10th Dan or beyond to be considered expert in a subject. No matter how expert we become in any subject, there is always more to learn. We never know absolutely everything! And remember also that some people who enjoy clothes-optional living don't wear the "naturist" label anyway. As you said in a previous blog, what you wear doesn't have to define you.
As for people subscribing or unsubscribing - who knows? There could be infinite reasons for this. There are times when I have a sudden epiphany - a moment of enlightenment that I think should change the world! And I write an article on it, expecting a million congratulatory comments - only to find that no more than two or three folks actually found it mildly interesting! What a come-down! I've learned that I can only share a small portion of the total offering out there, like one plate on a huge banquet table. Some will like to partake - many won't.
It is important that one carefully reviews what s/he has written before sending it, but our subconscious mind makes us poor proofreaders of what we’ve written. Because we know exactly what we meant to write, when we review what we wrote we see what we expect to see, even when it’s not there. Having someone else proofread your work seems to work better.
Readers abandoning your blog is an interesting topic. I’d bet that most blog readers read only bloggers with whom they agree. Of course there probably is more value in reading what those with whom you disagree have to say, but few of us do that. In either case, whenever a blogger expresses an opinion, it may affect the number of readers who are interested in what is being written.
As nudists we have, at most, one common characteristic. Sometimes we prefer not to wear clothes. Beyond that we have a vast array of opinions on every topic. Many years ago I was accused of being some sort of snob who thought his opinion was better than everyone else’s opinion. We’ll, of course I think my opinion is best. If not I would change it. That’s how opinions work. We used to be able to have differing options and still get along together. Now there are those who will hate you if you don’t agree with their opinion, while they claim to love everyone.
I find you writings to be interesting. When I ask people how they got interested in naturism and then how they actually made the leap to social naturism , I find their responses revealing, no pun intended.
A bit late to the party, but I'd attribute the up/down subs to the algorithm Substack designs. People might opt on either inadvertently or to get a taste; after a while, they may trim back. I'm probably one of a few who actively prunes my social media "friends", particularly if there seems to be little contact. I think we're all overloaded with content nowadays, unlike when kids who were hungry readers would read the back of a cereal box to stimulate their minds.
If you believe you are a writer, you are. So there you go, and congratulations. If you have doubts, that makes you human. Another congratulations on that. ;)
I enjoy the ease at which you shape your prose and the absence of pretentiousness. In a jungle of word salad rants, it is needed. Your voice is needed.
Thank you.
Your "non expert" perspective is refreshing we have so many "naturist experts" among the naturist content creator class that perspective of ordinary everyday people has been lost and in its stead is something that I believe causes us to lose the very soul of naturism. But that’s just my opinion. Nonetheless I am amazed by your process and the discipline of it. I throughly enjoy the results and look forward to your writing. So I hope you keep on sharing your non expert thoguhts despite fluctuations in your subscriber base.
You say you’re not a naturism expert, but by acting as a voice for the rest of us who don’t write that’s really what you are, Steve. Or at least, perceived to be, even if you don’t feel it! In a way, though, we are all experts in naturism - after all, getting naked isn’t a difficult skill to master - but we don’t all commit to the weekly discipline of writing about it and providing focus for the wider naked community, many of whom may have no one to share it with in the day-to-day.
Re proof-reading, a vital contribution to written communication. In the good old days (I used to be in publishing) the writer would be read by an editor, the typesetter by a proof-reader, the corrected proofs then finally read again before publication - and we still missed some errors. Newspapers and magazine seem to have missed out on some of that these days (in the name of economy and spell-checkers, no doubt) but on-line writers rarely seem to read over their own work, let alone have someone else do it. So keep on keeping on, Steve and Mrs Steve!!
Thank you.
What I feel that the writer has to express his/her thoughts/feelings as their heart feels & without distorting it. The writer cannot please everyone, every time at once. It's a part of writer development process. It will go on..
The page ahead in the user manual is about right ... 50+ books later, I am not a writer. To my mind. I am a storyteller who writes his stories down so that more people can share them.
And I am feeling a bit down as sales and page reads are very low this month. I guess we all like to be recognised.
I guess we can only control what we produce, not what others consume.
Cathy and I used to write books, they were published by Harper Collins and we made a bit of money. But we had no immediate feedback, and the measure of our success was in the royalty cheques we received every quarter. And proof reading was a mission. We hired someone to do that as well. We still get small amounts of money 15 years after writing some of thise books! In some ways I would rather that than the instant feedback available on platforms these days.
As usual Steve., well compiled and thought provoking too. Ta.
In days gone by, conversations along the lines of your nearly 100 blogs would have probably happened at the pub, over a few jugs of beer and a few games of pool. Or - some other local place at a gathering.
However - that was then and this is now.
Sooooo many conversations today are via a keyboard etc.
Todays blog has reminded myself of something that I haven't done ; to make contact with you to let you know that I have recently unsubscribed from receiving your weekly dialogue via email.
My reasons - (1) absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with yourself, your content, your topics etc (2) I have lately felt a real need to cut down on the number of emails that I have subscribed to. I then realised that I can still receive your interesting blogs via your MeWe page :) (3) my unsubscribe was not as a result of the meerkat blog !
Please continue earnestly, and I look forward to some wonderful reading each Friday.
Please do not be despondent - just keep going . . . . . . as long as you feel that you have the fire in your belly.
Peter, Thank you for your comments. It hadn't occurred to me that people might prefer to access my blog from other social media sites rather than by subscription.
I totally agree with Bill Bowser - proofreading your own work has very limited value. It's important to have one or two others do the proofreading, for the very reasons Bill mentioned.
You should consider yourself a writer. You write articles for others to read; that makes you a writer. Your question should be about what level of expertise you feel you've reached as a writer. You are certainly well beyond "beginner" status!
The same could be applied to your level of expertise when it comes to naturism. Like any other philosophy, how expert you become at it depends on how long you've been involved and how much you've studied. You don't have to be 10th Dan or beyond to be considered expert in a subject. No matter how expert we become in any subject, there is always more to learn. We never know absolutely everything! And remember also that some people who enjoy clothes-optional living don't wear the "naturist" label anyway. As you said in a previous blog, what you wear doesn't have to define you.
As for people subscribing or unsubscribing - who knows? There could be infinite reasons for this. There are times when I have a sudden epiphany - a moment of enlightenment that I think should change the world! And I write an article on it, expecting a million congratulatory comments - only to find that no more than two or three folks actually found it mildly interesting! What a come-down! I've learned that I can only share a small portion of the total offering out there, like one plate on a huge banquet table. Some will like to partake - many won't.
Always a good read. If those that unsubscribed did so because they recognised they were meerkats, then good riddance I say!
It is important that one carefully reviews what s/he has written before sending it, but our subconscious mind makes us poor proofreaders of what we’ve written. Because we know exactly what we meant to write, when we review what we wrote we see what we expect to see, even when it’s not there. Having someone else proofread your work seems to work better.
Readers abandoning your blog is an interesting topic. I’d bet that most blog readers read only bloggers with whom they agree. Of course there probably is more value in reading what those with whom you disagree have to say, but few of us do that. In either case, whenever a blogger expresses an opinion, it may affect the number of readers who are interested in what is being written.
As nudists we have, at most, one common characteristic. Sometimes we prefer not to wear clothes. Beyond that we have a vast array of opinions on every topic. Many years ago I was accused of being some sort of snob who thought his opinion was better than everyone else’s opinion. We’ll, of course I think my opinion is best. If not I would change it. That’s how opinions work. We used to be able to have differing options and still get along together. Now there are those who will hate you if you don’t agree with their opinion, while they claim to love everyone.
I find you writings to be interesting. When I ask people how they got interested in naturism and then how they actually made the leap to social naturism , I find their responses revealing, no pun intended.
One always has to listen to their inner voice and continue to march to their own drummer. :)