One Year of All Trades
It's my First Substack Birthday!
Have a topic, idea, or question you want me to write about? Send it to me at shjohnson17@comcast.net or leave a comment below!
One year ago today I released my first post on Substack, “Why We Cry at Sunsets.” I wrote it in perhaps an hour - if that - and immediately published it without proofreading. I mistakenly said that something could not be understated when I in fact meant that it could not be overstated. Let this count as my first correction. For that post I didn’t even send it out via email, I deliberately unchecked that option because I didn’t know if anyone would actually want it in their inbox. I have, to my great joy and surprise, been proven incredibly wrong in that regard. I must say that I am astonished that anyone would care about my opinion on any subject, so thank you all for subscribing and continuing to read (and maybe even value) my work.
Everyone with whom I have spoken has enjoyed what I’ve had to say so far and mention they look forward to my next post. In this regard I must apologize for a rather sporadic upload schedule. I originally had the incredibly lofty goal of publishing every other week. If that were true then this would be my 26th article, not my eighth (I don’t count the default introductory article Substack populates for you, but if you do, then this is my ninth). I later settled on the goal of publishing monthly. This lasted for a short while, but after starting a new job and slowly taking on more responsibilities at work I had already spent my creative energy and couldn’t come up with a subject or article that I thought was good enough to publish. I decided that I was going to wait until I actually liked what I had written instead of sticking to some arbitrary timetable I had set for myself. I still value quality over quantity. Hopefully with time, as I continue to write more frequently, I will write quality works more easily and more quickly. Time will tell.
I enjoyed writing a good many of my past articles while working slow dinner shifts as a restaurant host. Cold and dark winter nights spent inside an oppressively hot restaurant, oftentimes with a space heater cranked up right next to me, loitering at the host stand using any scrap of paper I could find to write on. They were usually ripped up scraps of kid’s menus that were printed incorrectly and never used. Sometimes I would find random bits of regular paper or torn up adult menus. I would write my ideas on them in the smallest size possible to absolutely maximize my limited space, front and back, ending up with an almost solid wall of text for myself to re-read either that night or the next day. Whenever a server or other host would walk by they might ask me what I was doing, and would be taken aback when I showed them what I was writing, saying they couldn’t read it due to the size and the fact I write in cursive.
After my shift ended I would stuff all my paper scraps into my wallet, which would give them a rather annoying three-way fold, and transcribe them at my desk at home. Many of my ideas came from or were more fully developed during those slow dinner shifts. Standing at a desk for eight hours without much to do really makes your mind wander. It was also a phenomenal way to spend otherwise wasted time in a productive manner. I don’t work at that restaurant anymore but I will always think fondly of those cold, dark, wintry nights spent writing with a cramped hand at the host stand.
If I could one day make a living just writing I will have truly found success in my professional life. I just love it. This whole endeavor started because my sister thought that a conversation we had over the phone was worth sharing. Since then I have been able to pester people other than my incredibly patient family with my nonsensical drivel. I do hope to continue writing - hopefully with greater regularity - in perpetuity. This has been a wonderful medium for me to fully lay out my position on a subject, analyze it, rewrite it, and obtain feedback.
What am I actually doing here? I’ve had people tell me they didn’t even know a particular topic existed, much less that someone could have a strong opinion about it. I guess I’m just exploring, and taking you all with me. I’m not entirely sure. But it sure is a lot of fun.
Thank you all very much for reading, sharing, and giving me feedback. I hope that you continue to enjoy what comes from me in the future.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Spencer.