#Education for Substack writers

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Rise Above Mediocrity to Win as a Creator or Freelancer

Inspiration for Skeptical Creators and Freelancers on Medium Stop Thinking Small and Manufacturing Excuses Congratulations, Aiden, the instructor of From Zero to Substack Hero, for becoming a Bestseller on Substack, gaining 99,000 subscribers in a short time. There are more success stories in this post that can inspire you. Do not stop writing about your Substack experience — just because…

[lettersxcaffeine]

New Life Lesson Unlocked! 🚨🚨🚨 Progress can't be rushed. I've tried so hard, in so many different ways, to make this happen-- and it simply doesn't work. I've got to meet myself where I'm at and build from there. I can't build from a place where I want to be, because I'm not there yet. Essentially: You can’t rush what takes time and commitment to build, but you can put in time to guarantee that you’re building. For More: https://patiencewilliams1.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile&utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F95681788-p-a-williams&utm_medium=reader2 #newsletter#entrepreneurship#substack#goals#literature#writing#pleaseshare#education#images#womanownedbusiness#advice#stationerylover#blackownedbusiness#free#adviceoftheday#stationerylove#quotes#nostalgia#daydream#blackwriters

[grungeincluded]

Grunge Included | @37fotosb | Linktree

[bynataliezubi]

Cannabis enthusiasts, this one’s for you! 🌟 Whether you call it Mary Jane, cannabis, or something else, it’s a plant that’s sparked joy, creativity, and even controversy. For me, it’s been a ride-or-die companion—helping me write, game, and vibe to music. But let’s be real: it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. Balance is key.

Overindulgence can turn a chill session into an anxiety spiral (been there, done that 😅). So why not normalize moderate consumption? Let’s ditch the 1000mg edible flex and embrace mindful use. Oh, and did you know hemp products with CBD can offer relaxation without THC? Game-changer! 💡

I dive deeper into cannabis culture, moderation, and more on my Substack: Natalie After Dark. It’s raw, unfiltered content on everything from relationships to skincare to cannabis. 🌙 Subscribe to join the conversation and support bold storytelling.

✨ What’s your relationship with cannabis? Have you found your balance? Share your thoughts below! 👇

[toverdrankje]

Do It For Your Sake

Be on the forefront of a collective healing revolution, of your healing revolution.

Learn the craft of healing your thoughts, physiology and self.

Practise the art of restoring regulation to your system.

Commit to being the advocate of your mind, health and life choices.

All of that awaits you in consumable nuggets of healing information.

Do it for your sake.

Free Advice: Commit to yourself

I wanted to make it as affordable as possible. Truly.

When I began healing, I ate plain pasta with cheap ketchup and shared a room that used to be stables or something.

I want to give you what I wish I had been given.

To tell you what I wish I had been told.

The cheap-ketchup times taught me two things:

The free subscription must be an option because there are fellow plain pasta eaters.

The paid subscription (at the price of one cup of Starbucks coffee/month) must be there to give me the time and freedom to give you even more.

The first post, FOR MY SAKE: The Simplified Version, is your go-to guide to FOR MY SAKE!

HERE IT IS!

[jamgrlsart]

I love your "art requests for political action" project!

Is there any way folks can help you?

Hello!! Thank you so much!! I super appreciate this question😄😄😄. Below are some ways folks can help:

If you are yourself an artist or writer, feel free to start your own art or writing requests for political action!! Tag me in your post and I will reblog it—the more people promoting political action, the better!!!

I would like to put together a post of resources to help people get started: things like 5 Calls or mobilize.us. If you have a website or organization or substack or anything like that that you think would be helpful for folks, send them my way or make your own post and tag me. I will integrate your resources into my list! Let’s make it easy for folks to find actions they can do!

If you are experienced in things like calling representatives, going to protests, getting involved in organizing groups, etc, send me or make a post (and tag me) with your advice that could help newbies feel more confident!

My own political action has been very focused on protecting public services and defending workers rights in response to the attack on the federal workforce, which I am a part of. My original post highlighted the news of the plan to dissolve the Office of Research and Development in the EPA, which is deeply personal to me as my place of employment, but also very important to me as an environmental scientist dedicated to protecting human health—but there is so much happening, it’s hard to keep up with all of it! If there are other issues related to the federal workforce—like if you are specifically concerned about USAID or Social Security or the Department of Education—or issues not related to the federal workforce, like the issue of passport denial for trans folks, or anything else you have heard about that you want to shine a light on, put together a post about that issue and a call to action for folks to respond to that item directly!! Tag me so I can reblog it 😄!

[See my pinned post for info on Art Requests for Political Action!]

[mariacallous]

It’s very easy to laugh at those who earnestly demand to be taken seriously. This is especially true if they are deficient in the mitigating balms of humour and irony.

The Canadian professor Jordan Peterson evokes mirth for this very reason. The populist Right doesn’t like being laughed at and it likes even less to be sneered at by latte-swilling cultural ‘elites’. This was apparent in a piece I read this week about Peterson in The Critic which accused The Times of having a ‘strange fixation’ with the Canadian professor and of treating him with ‘condescension’. The article concluded that

‘Behind all of this lurks fear of the old media’s loss of status.’

I don’t think this observation is without merit. Traditional media gatekeepers (overwhelmingly privately educated) are gradually losing their ability to direct the public conversation as the cost of producing content goes down (as an example I don’t need to pitch this article to a legacy media gatekeeper in order for it to be published). It’s probably also true that some newspaper columnists do look down their noses with haughty contempt on the hoi polloi over at YouTube and here on Substack.

But the writer at The Critic confuses popularity with merit:

‘a freely available four-minute discussion online could barely muster a tenth of the views that Peterson’s three-hour paid lecture did.’

Moreover if Peterson is so popular, why worry what a failing legacy media is saying about him?

To state the obvious, just because something is popular it shouldn’t be beyond criticism. Much of Peterson’s output is silly, from his paranoid ramblings about ‘cultural Marxism’ to his ranting about the ‘tyranny’ of a paper towel dispenser to his claim that Britain is about to go communist under mild-mannered son of a tool maker Keir Starmer. Moreover, the man is utterly devoid of any sense of irony and regularly gets weepy during interviews (I dare somebody to watch this and conclude that he isn’t doing it at least some of the time for dramatic effect). Perhaps I’d find these tearful episodes more poignant if Peterson hadn’t sternly instructed readers of his bestselling book 12 Rules for Life to ‘Toughen Up, You Weasel’.

The thing to understand about Peterson and the wider populist Right is that they aren’t anti-elitists. They simply have their own pretensions to elite status and resent the fact that they aren’t treated with the prestige and reverence they believe they are entitled to. In the familiar populist tradition, they are the humiliated little men and women left behind by history. They are angry at not being invited to dinner at the big table and they just won’t take it anymore.

The French economist Thomas Piketty has written in the past about the ‘Brahmin Left’ and the ‘Merchant Right’ as a way of understanding political competition in contemporary society. Piketty makes four main arguments: 1. There has been a decline in class voting. 2. A wealthy ‘merchant class’ votes for Right-wing parties. 3. Educational voting has inverted, with educated voters increasingly voting for the Left. 4. All of this is feeding into a new division of globalists versus nativists*.

This argument has became more salient since Piketty first made it, at least as it pertains to social media. Something I find interesting about the so-called Merchant class is the way in which some of its members, despite being materially wealthy, strive for recognition from the same Brahmin cultural elites they publicly disdain. When that recognition isn’t forthcoming they seethe with resentment. People on the Left are frequently accused nowadays of adopting ‘luxury beliefs’ and ‘high status opinions’. I think this definitely happens; but it also smacks of projection because I don’t think any political faction is more obsessed with status than the insurgent online Right.

Elon Musk is a fitting example of this: a thin-skinned businessman who, despite being the richest man in the world, chafes bitterly at the fact that educated people scoff at his puerile frat-boy humour and culturally conservative politics. Again, here is somebody who possesses otherworldly riches yet his chief gripe is that this success isn’t reflected back at him by cultural elites, who regard him as a gauche figure of fun.

Notably one of the first things Musk did upon acquiring Twitter (apart from changing the name to X) was to get rid of legacy blue ticks, a status symbol of the online cultural elite. He was cheered to the rafters for doing this by the online Right, who immediately went out and purchased their own blue tick for $8 once Musk had made it possible to do so. Because it was never about being anti-elitist. It was a bunch of people whose pretensions to elite status were being thwarted by the old system.

Of course a blue tick is now cringe precisely because anybody can purchase it for pocket change and thus there is nothing ‘exclusive’ about it. Instead it demonstrates that you are probably trying a little too hard to look important, like the people who post photos on their Instagram grids of themselves standing next to Lamborghinis they’ve rented. Trying to look high status is low status.

Sartre once said that antisemites like to view themselves as part of an alternative intellectual elite. Conspiracy theorists - antisemitism is the ultimate conspiracy theory - are much the same, and alt-Right spaces nowadays are awash with a supercilious sense of unacknowledged intellectual superiority. They have ‘red pill awareness’ and wear t-shirts which say ‘they lied and you complied’ and have ‘pure blood’ because they didn’t get vaccinated.

Again, it’s usually the Left that is accused of being motivated by a ‘politics of envy’ - of wanting to cut down the tree because the apples are too high for them to reach. Yet today it is the Right that seeks to smash things up because late capitalism hasn’t turned out as they imagined it would. Everywhere you look today the ‘little guy’ is furiously railing against the system he has repeatedly voted for.

The row over companies pulling their ads from X/Twitter is an illuminating example of this latter point. People who have spent their adult lives arguing that capitalism is good and benevolent and that corporations can do as they please are aghast because big companies don’t want their ads appearing next to tweets by neo-Nazis. Musk and co know very well that it wasn’t ‘Left-wing censorship’ that resulted in people like Alex Jones (who was this week reinstated) being banned from Twitter. It was corporations not wanting their brands to be associated with extremists because it’s bad for business.

Something similar happened with YouTube during the so-called ‘Adpocalypse’ of 2017 when 250 brands pulled their advertising from the platform because it was appearing next to videos of hate preachers and fascists. The Adpocalypse resulted in a slew of policy changes at YouTube which made it easier for advertisers to select categories of videos they didn’t want their ads to appear alongside. A bunch of far-Right and manosphere channels subsequently found themselves demonetised. Predictably, the Right blamed political correctness and the Left for the adpocalypse, when again it was an example of corporations trying to protect their bottom line.

As I’ve pointed out previously, the contemporary Right has no coherent critique of consumer capitalism so instead it has to pretend that big corporations are secretly controlled by a cabal of ‘woke’ Marxists.

*Jan Rovny gives a good account of these changes over at the LSE page here.

[free-luigi-mangione]

i'm actually more like a ghost on here, sooo lol idk, i did think about it but I don't know if I'd be able to post somewhat regularly. it's def something i'd have to think about. (and if i'll create a luigi blog ofc i'll tell you!!)

and i get what you mean, sometimes i open reddit because I hate to say it but everyone's pretty active on there and there's a lot of discussion and I'm not american, so I get to see what they think and how things work there. but sometimes, when reading comments i just get so mad because very few people seem to be in the right mind on there. they're either delusional and sound like little kids or they're people supposedly supporting him but are haters in disguise imo. sometimes i just feel like telling everybody to stfu lol

but honestly, what are we supposed to do? contributing like we can and trying to educate/make people think it's all we can do rn. couldn't even bring myself to write him a letter because everything i write sounds awful and at the same time i have so many words of support but i'm afraid it would come off weird sooo… if someone is reading this and can write to save their life please write him supportive words to make up for me lol

yes!!! do tell me about the blog if you make one!!

i open reddit for the exact same reasons and i really dislike reddit for the same reasons you do too. even then, i regret opening the floodgate that is hating on reddit on this blog, because it really distracts people from the issue we're gathered here for. and since i opened the floodgate and flooded my inbox and this blog for days, only i can stop it. so i'm urging you and others to please not shit talk about people shit talking about Luigi, unless that person/group of people are extremely influential and could/are actively trying to sway the jury pool in their favour and effectively tainting the jury. like sure, if a certain nazi canadian speaks about Luigi on twitter again and i haven't said anything about it, tell me. and even if i have, you're free to send me an ask about it. or if NYT comes up with another article shilling for the authorities, i will talk about it and you're welcome to talk about it here too. otherwise i will not be allowing random substackers and rednoters and tiktokers vile opinions to be the main theme of the blog, because that's not what this blog is about.

and to everybody reading this, if possible and if you can write to Luigi and spread a word of support, please do. it'll mean a lot and i'm sure everybody's favourite letter writer would like to continue getting letters and connecting with the outside world the only way he can right now.

[crispyanonart]

Hi! Loved your recent art post and the message with it, was wondering if you have any tips/resources/ideas on where to start researching the things you mentioned? Like the important parts of history and how it repeats itself, stuff like that,, thanks!!

Hello anon 🖤 I'll start with a disclaimer: I’m just someone who shares fan art online, I am no expert or anything, but I’ll do my best to offer some useful references and share how I personally stay informed - I'll keep this list updated if I find interesting sources

@ everyone pease feel free to correct me or add to this post

I know that diving into topics like politics and history can feel overwhelming, but I promise it’s manageable if you ease into it with media and languages that feel comfortable to you. Of course, it’d be amazing to read and study every history book and testimony out there, but realistically it’s tough to find the time and energy to consistently do so - at any point in life. The best way to begin is to follow intersectional educators and historians on your socials to get small interesting informations little by little, and go check the sources they provide any time a topic sparks your interest.

Second disclaimer: I don’t know your background or where you’re from, and I think this makes the difference when figuring out where to start. I live in Italy, so many of my usual sources are Italian educators, historians, or social commentary pages that align with my own political and ideological views (se c'è qualche Italian*: il king Alessandro Barbero, Michela Murgia 💔, Claudia Fauzia, Tomaso Montanari, Diletta Bellotti, Cathy La Torre, Loredana Lipparini, @aestheticasovietica, @madonnafreeda...) but I started out just simply by browsing the internet, listening to some (wise) older people talk and perking up my ears in class.

My first tip would be to start local at first, and work outward. Look into the history of your town, community or area. What struggles and key issues have shaped it over time? If you have the means even directly ask people in your circles. We often hear about broad, all-encompassing issues that can feel unfathomable and far beyond our reach and control, but it’s important to remember that everything always starts within local communities, and only grows from there.

On the opposite side of this, my second tip would be to try and keep your sources as diverse as possible, and hear out people from all backgrounds. When events affect a specific community or minority, seek out creators and reporters directly from those groups and involved in said issues. Mainstream news is known to be very partial and biased more often than not - I personally tend to avoid it completely.

☆ now some actual sources:

Profiles

Historycoolkids & Decolonialatlas (these two are honestly just very fun but also educational) / so.informed / IMEU / JP Hill / seastersjones / decolonizemyself / seedingsovereignty / queerbrownvegan / workingclasshistory / brownhistory / propublica / motherjonesmag / ajplus / I'll add more as I find more

Readings

substack: us politics / world politics / history

the electric typewriter: Politics / History

are.na: Politics / this platform is full of great resources and full on books/pdfs to download, but it's better to just browse it by topic

a great library to explore is JSTOR ( @jstor ) / politics

Some writers I recommend are Susan Sontag, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, David Olusoga, Thomas Piketty, Keisha N. Blain and Margaret MacMillan (you can also look on youtube for lectures they did)

Accessible history

Ryan Chapman

Then&Now

HistoryExtra

CrashCourse

What is Fascism (suggesting this video specifically bc it's the best english one I've found on the topic. Fascism is a word that gets thrown around a lot - and will be in the near future - often without a real knowledge about its origins and meaning, and I think this explains it very well and as quickly as humanly possible.)

This is everything that comes to mind right now!! And by the way remember to always remain full of curiosity and hope xxx

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

The Meaning of an Education Badge from Substack

ILLUMINATION Writing & Reading Academy Helped Me Get My First Badge on Substack Gratitude: As it was about education, it meant a lot to me. Dear Writers and Readers, Happy Weekend! This is a brief post to inform you about the wonderful messages we have received related to our new venture to empower writers and inform readers on Substack, as well. It has been an absolute pleasure for me to…

[ohwolfling]

Project Evelyn etc

WOW, FRIENDS! I look away from tumblr for a little bit and lots of my Cyberpunk 2077 stuff- including Project Evelyn- circled a little bit. Thank you so much! pic so the post doesn't get lost

I have a few overlapping things in the inbox, so let me just do a little FAQ:

The two pieces currently available related to Project Evelyn- A Tale of Two Moxes & 15 Million Merits — the Illusion of Choice in a Techspace of Coercion (this just went public this morning - ko-fi subs got it a month early, it'll hit substack tonight)- are not final products. These are check ins, a little less polished than what I'd hand to an editor were this a paid gig and not a passion project, meant to show proof of concept and show progress. Final pieces will be much more polished, include more citations, and more of an examination of how these media representations reflect our irl sociopolitical climate for sex work

I am a disabled freelance writer who fought the AI shuffle and lost. I haven't had a gig in two years. This project cannot have a concrete timeline or a specified monetary goal (at least not right now) because it happens as it happens. I'm managing homelessness/transience, chronic pain/fatigue, and c-ptsd on no income. That is the priority. Subs on Substack or Ko-fi determine whether I get groceries or not currently. If I pass that mark, then I can work on timelines and prioritizing this as a video essay project instead of just written work. <3

I fully intend to reach out to sex workers/advocates/etc if this makes it to the video essay stage. It would be wrong of me to try to make contact now while I still haven't finished the bare bones analysis stage before taking apart how these stories parallel reality. Any final product, whatever it is, will be that dual focus and so will organically quote and direct folks to advocacy groups, etc.

Going to gently call folks in here - I understand that it comes from a good place & fully understand concern over who tells who's stories. It's not great to ask anyone to divulge their relationship to/experience with sex work publicly if they have not already done so. I do not have the protection of any organization here. I am doing all of this on my own at a time when I'm already blacklisted by one huge corporation and almost every job available is AI training (so not an option). There are sex workers who are open about it, voluntarily or unavoidably, many of them involved in education and advocacy. I will reference their work and reach out to them when possible.

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

First Things

*** Updated February 08, 2025 ***

I've been publishing more and more on substack. I will occasionally republish things I've written here on that platform, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this project as I focus more and more there.

This project will remain alive for sure as long as I'm still in the process of moving things over, but beyond that, I can't say.

Hopefully the handful of people who follow me will transition, but if they don't, I guess they don't.

It has been an interesting experience to read articles in the wider world regarding topics only I felt like I was addressing when I wrote them. As I wrote to a close friend of mine recently...

"When I started blogging on Tumblr, I was the only person I knew saying the things I was saying.  I loved Christ, but hated the bulk of Christianity as practiced.  I wandered a bit, tackling other, somewhat related issues, and then I started noticing others picking up my thoughts.  My writing is crude, and I've never been credited, and to be honest, I don't even think some of these other writers even read me, but I was throwing my thoughts into the universe, and it felt like the universe was responding and replying back.  Now Paul Kingsnorth is a big deal, as is Jonathan Pageau, Dr. Nathan Jacobs, and Martin Shaw.  Fr. Stephan Freeman, who has his own popular blog, seems sensitive to what I've written, but I have no idea if he's seen what I write. I have absolutely no realistic expectation that any of these men have ever read anything I've written...

Now I have suspicions that some of the lifeless accounts that follow me could be accounts held by some of these people, but then again, they might not be. Either way, this project is going to see less activity then in the past.

The world is filled with far better writers than me, and it was my pleasure to highlight online essays that meant something to me, I may still do that here given the nature of the medium.

But after ancient faith discontinued their blogs, I had to start creating more original material on my own anyway, so the move to substack is the logical evolution.

Thank-you for your patronage.

May the Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy upon me, A sinner.

************************************************************************

I've been thinking of making this post for awhile. If you go directly to the full page of Adventism, Atheism, Orthodoxy & Me, there's an About page that most people may miss. I haven't updated it in awhile, but it is still accurate, as far as it goes, and provides a snapshot of where my mind was when I began this project.

In this pinned comment, I would like to, instead of rehashing all the things you can read there, bear down on a few points.

Christians are always asking, how can one witness to Americans in an American Context? Papers are written about "American" values and how those values can be used for witnessing, evangelizing, or frankly - marketing. While I may not be a "typical American", I do live a typical American lifestyle. I converse with typical Americans day-to-day at work or in recreation. I read American news feeds, I enjoy American produced entertainment. I have a higher education than I use, and at the time I started, was frankly looking for a way to put a bit of that education and life experience into something useful. Why not document why Evangelical Christianity failed me, how I dealt with my disenchantment, and what changes I had to witness, experience, and eventually accept before I found a form of Christianity that I could accept?

My first post was on Adventist apologetics. Are we like the Jehovah's Witness and think of Christ as a created being named Michael? Like many things in the early days of Adventism the answer isn't exactly simple. The Short answer is I, at least, thought of Michael as just another name for the (largely) trinitarian Christ. However, early Adventism was populated by a lot of different small "c" christians with all sorts of beliefs, including forms of Christological Arianism. My intent was to debunk certain popular assumptions about Adventism that were clearly wrong. I actually consider it interesting that our founders never wrote a disparaging word about Orthodox Christianity. The Papacy, yes; but the focus was on the faults of Western Christendom - not the East. The great Schism never even made a footnote in anything our founders wrote. Increasingly though, I'm compelled to ignore apologetics as a distraction to living the Christian life.

Beyond those apologetics, I started posting particular Orthodox Blog Posts that spoke to me personally. I've recently throttled back a great deal on consuming Orthodox Christian content, as I'm more intrigued by Atheist Christian dialogue, practical day-to-day praxis, and if I'm going to talk about theology, then Theism generally. Someone asked at some point, "why do you post what you do?" From that point on, I felt the need to provide commentary on most of the entries I would post. Sometimes an entry is still posted without comment, mostly because in my mind the post's relevance should be self evident. A part of me knows that's disingenuous. I can't expect casual people who've never met me to see what I see when I read something - Heck, not even my wife understands me anymore. Nevertheless, I will occasionally make a post with no comment, if for no other reason then to keep it in mind.

Per my roots, I try to comment on other Christian or Atheist items that I periodically encounter. I frequently pull up the Adventist Today ( a lay Seventh-Day Adventist) website, Spectrum Magazine (another lay Seventh-Day Adventist) website, or Fulcrum 7 (another Lay Seventh-Day Adventist) website to see what my fellow Adventists are thinking about. I'd pull up more, but I don't really know all the lay Adventist blogs that might be floating around out there, and these are the biggest.

Because philosophy plays a big part in how you see the world, was what I could cling to during my Evangelical deconstruction, and can give words to concepts that are hard to explain otherwise - you will see the occasional quote or link to a philosophical idea. In one case that I can think of, I saw an unintended confirmation of Orthodox - I lack the word - Cosmology? Belief and Praxis?.... that I think many Evangelicals would find insulting, or just "unrealistic". Broadly included within philosophy, I also include Alexandra Hudson's Civic Renaissance project.

I like pretty pictures. Landscapes mostly. I also post music. I may also add the occasional odd random thing beyond those. I try to keep this Blog curated and fairly tightly focused, but sometimes I'm impressed to break out of that particular box. If you don't like it I'm sorry. Rest assured, we will resume our regular programming momentarily.

I know some find this insulting, but I try not to follow anybody who is overtly "Roman" Catholic - Latin. First off, I don't have a lot of nice things to say about the Papacy. It is my opinion that the the Latins were the first Protestants. Their progeny includes the ever expanding number of denominations that populate the globe, and many people forget that there was also a period of rival Popes. The Latin Church is a top-down hierarchy prone to instability without the force and power of the Pope to keep everything in place. And the doctrine of Original Sin, as instituted by them, has led to increasing trinitarian distortions, and actual pastoral abuses of the kind you would find in any top down system. Unless your theology is decidedly communitarian, with the Holy Spirit acknowledged as head, and having an active roll in Church management, I'm not interested. I also do not want to offend - so, while I won't stop you from following me, I won't allow myself to get triggered by you trying to pass off as Orthodox some form of Just War Theory, immaculate conception, indulgences, or whatever else is clearly a Western innovation. I also do not care about the differences between Tridantine vs Novus ordo masses - If the liturgy had been in the People's languages to begin with, you wouldn't have to be worrying about it now. I've never blocked anyone over their Latin affiliations, but I have been known to unfollow in a few cases when it was clear that we had nothing in common.

Lastly, I will block followers who look enough like spam, or porn accounts to justify the block. One post, maybe a brief account description, a header image, a personal image. Followers help a lot - if I can see who you're following, and it doesn't look like some random collection, you're probably okay. A personal ask will definitely keep you off the block list.

So to answer the question that keeps getting asked - My theology not withstanding, day-to-day, I remain a Seventh-Day Adventist, and go to a Seventh-Day Adventist Church with my wife and family who have been perplexed as to why the Adventism I grew up with isn't enough.

The last two times I went to an Eastern Orthodox Service was once in, I think, 2017 when I took my wife for her first time, and discovered that the Church I had catechized in had transformed from a vibrant convert church to a small Syrian village Church, seemingly overnight. The next time was in January 2020 at an OCA Church - I remember the month specifically because after that one Vespers visit, Covid shut the door for the next two years. And while I spent a few Holy Week services here and there between those two dates, I haven't committed to an Orthodox Christian community since then.

Throughout this time I tried to retain the Orthodox Christian theology and praxis I had received in my Catechesis back in 2016. But, given the ongoing challenges of family, friends, responsibilities associated with my Seventh-Day Adventist Church community, and most importantly engagement with the world around me, I've had to reluctantly let it go; and while I was disappointed with this dawning realization, I've come to accept it.

This blog will continue, but I might change the title at some point. Because, while the word "Orthodox" isn't copywrited by the Orthodox Church, and it's just as likely to return Jewish topics in a Google search, I wouldn't want to be seen as mischaracterizing Orthodox Christian belief. As is, I've tried to clearly separate my personal opinion from official Church Dogma in my posts, but sometimes I don't think that delineation has been clearly understood by my readers - even some who should know better.

This blog has always been about my journey and providing an account my kids can read after I'm gone. And at this point, the journey continues outside and with less and less influence by the Orthodox Christian faith.

Lord, Jesus Christ Son of God, Have mercy upon me, A Sinner.

[bynataliezubi]

The Cognitive Benefits of Video Games 🎮🧠

Video games are more than just entertainment—they’re a powerful workout for your brain! From improving attention and memory to enhancing problem-solving skills, gaming engages distinct brain regions and promotes neuroplasticity. Whether it’s competitive games boosting reaction time or cozy games reducing stress, there’s a genre for every cognitive need.

In my latest Substack article, I explore the neuroscience behind gaming, its mental health benefits, and how different genres strengthen your mind in unique ways. Curious about how video games can make you sharper, more resilient, and even happier?

✨ Dive deeper into this fascinating topic by reading the full article on my Substack! Let’s rethink the way we view gaming. Subscribe to my substack for more on psychology, mental health, personal growth, productivity, life, and more!

[xpressluna]

I Hate Seeing Writers Not Making MoneySo Here Are 8 Ways to Make More as a Writer

Here’s the truth: great writing alone doesn’t guarantee great income.

I’ve seen too many talented writers underpaid, undervalued, or stuck in passion projects that don’t pay the bills. And it frustrates me — because writing is a skill that’s in demand everywhere. You just need to know how to position it, sell it, and scale it.

If you're ready to stop writing for exposure and start earning what you're worth, here are 8 practical, proven ways to make more money as a writer.

Freelance for High-Paying Clients (Not Content Mills)

You don’t need to accept \$20 blog posts when there are companies and entrepreneurs willing to pay \$300–\$1,000+ per article. The secret is targeting niches that need content to drive business, like:

SaaS and tech

Personal finance

Healthcare

B2B services

Pitch directly, build a niche portfolio, and learn how to charge by value, not word count.

✅ Pro Tip: Start by rewriting your services to focus on outcomes — like “I help SaaS brands attract customers with SEO content” vs. “I write blog posts.”

Offer Ghostwriting Services

Ghostwriting is one of the highest-paying forms of writing — and most clients don’t care about you getting credit; they care about results. You can ghostwrite:

LinkedIn thought leadership

Executive blogs

Nonfiction books

Email newsletters

It’s creative, lucrative, and repeatable.

✅ Rates: Ghostwritten LinkedIn posts can earn \$200–\$500/post. Books? Thousands.

Sell Digital Products

Turn your knowledge into scalable income with digital products like:

Ebooks

Notion templates

Writing guides

Pitching scripts

Once created, they can sell indefinitely with no ongoing labor. Perfect for writers with an audience or niche expertise.

✅ Tools: Use Gumroad, Payhip, or Podia to start selling fast.

Start a Paid Newsletter

If you love writing essays, storytelling, or niche commentary, why not monetize it with a paid newsletter? Services like Substack or Beehiiv let you build free + paid tiers.

You don’t need 10,000 subscribers — just 100 people paying \$5/month = \$6,000/year in recurring income.

✅ Best Niches: Personal finance, creator economy, niche analysis, industry trends.

Teach What You Know (Courses & Workshops)

Writers often forget — the way you write, think, and communicate is a teachable skill.

Package it into:

Online courses (e.g., “How to Write Better Cold Emails”)

Cohort-based workshops

Private coaching for new writers or business owners

✅ Platforms: Teachable, Circle, Maven, or even Zoom + Stripe to start.

Monetize with Affiliate Writing

If you write product-based content or reviews, affiliate marketing is a great passive income stream. You write once, and earn commissions every time someone buys through your link.

Best niches: Software, writing tools, education products, lifestyle gear.

✅ Pro Tip: Focus on high-ticket or recurring commissions (like SaaS tools).

License Your Writing

You can earn money by licensing your existing content to brands, newsletters, or websites. If you’ve written a high-performing article, offer a non-exclusive license to republish it for a fee.

Also consider:

Licensing quotes or content to marketers

Offering a “writing bundle” to creators or agencies

✅ This works well for evergreen, data-driven, or inspirational content.

Write for Yourself — Then Monetize It

Blogging, storytelling, or journaling can become income if you build a brand around it. Writers like Morgan Housel and Anne-Laure Le Cunff built huge audiences through consistent, personal writing — then monetized with books, speaking, courses, and sponsorships.

✅ Just start: Build your platform. Even 1,000 loyal readers can turn into six figures over time.

Final Thoughts

Writing is not a dead-end job. It's a high-leverage skill that can create freedom, income, and impact — if you treat it like a business.

If you’re a talented writer struggling to make money, it’s not a lack of skill. It’s usually a lack of strategy.

Pick one or two methods from this list. Go deep. Get paid.

And never again write “just for exposure.”

[citrus006]

What’s a Blog? And Where Can You Unleash Your Inner Digital Overlord?

So, you’ve stumbled upon this post. Maybe you’re curious, maybe you’re procrastinating on something important, or maybe—just maybe—you’ve finally decided to let the world witness your genius thoughts (or chaotic ramblings). Either way, welcome! Let’s talk about blogs—those digital realms where people pour their souls, spill tea, or casually rant about life.

First Things First: What Even Is a Blog?

Imagine a place where you can write whatever you want—no judgment (well, except for internet trolls, but we don’t acknowledge their existence). A blog is basically an online journal, but instead of locking it away like your old embarrassing diaries, you put it out for the world to see.

Blogs can be about anything—your existential crises, fashion trends, weird book theories, or why your favorite fictional couple deserved better. Some people use blogs to educate, some to entertain, and some to scream into the void (relatable).

Types of Blogs (A.K.A. The Many Flavors of Digital Chaos)

Personal Blogs – Your online diary, except strangers can read it.

Niche Blogs – Focused on a specific topic, like "Underrated Web Novels That Deserve a Cult Following."

Business Blogs – For those who want to sound professional and make money (or at least try).

Review Blogs – Movies, books, music—you name it, you judge it.

Portfolio Blogs – A digital art gallery but make it ✨aesthetic✨.

Where Can You Create This Masterpiece?

Ah, now comes the fun part. You need a platform to house your brilliant thoughts. But which one? Let’s break it down.

1. WordPress (The King of Blogging)

Perfect if you want your blog to look fancy and customizable.

Pros: Tons of themes, plugins, and absolute creative control.

Cons: Might make you cry if you hate dealing with tech stuff.

2. Blogger (Google’s Baby)

For those who want something simple and straight to the point.

Pros: Free, easy, and Google-friendly.

Cons: Feels a bit… ancient. Like using a flip phone in 2025.

3. Medium (For Writers Who Want to Look Intellectual)

If you’re all about the writing and not the design, this is for you.

Pros: Minimalist, classy, and gives you an audience.

Cons: You have little control over how your blog looks.

4. Wix (For The Aesthetic Queens & Kings)

Drag, drop, and boom—your blog looks like it was designed by a pro.

Pros: Super pretty, user-friendly, and fun.

Cons: Not the best if you want to be a blogging powerhouse.

5. Substack (For Future Newsletter Moguls)

Want to make money by writing long, deep essays? Substack’s got you.

Pros: Perfect for paid subscriptions and serious writing.

Cons: Not ideal for casual blogging.

6. Tumblr (The Chaotic Good Option)

Where blogging meets social media. If you love fandoms, memes, and unhinged posts, welcome home.

Pros: Fun, interactive, and perfect for short, quirky posts.

Cons: Not the best for serious, professional blogging.

Which One Should You Pick?

Want full control? WordPress.

Just wanna write without worrying about design? Medium.

Need something so easy even your cat could use it? Blogger.

Love aesthetics? Wix.

Want to make money from long, emotional essays? Substack.

Want chaos, memes, and fandom vibes? Tumblr.

Final Thoughts: Should You Start a Blog?

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Also yes.

Whether you want to write for fun, build an empire, or just have a place to dump your thoughts, blogging is a great way to express yourself. Who knows? Maybe your words will inspire someone, or maybe you’ll just have a digital archive of your questionable late-night thoughts. Either way, it’s worth a shot.

So, are you starting a blog or just here for the vibes? Let’s discuss in the comments.

[otherpplnation]

Special Announcement

A quick Sunday episode wherein I share some exciting news: Later this year, I will be launching a new company called DeepDive, which specializes in the creation of long-form educational audio. The debut course from DeepDive will be 'How to Write a Novel,' and it will feature more than 50 hours of never-before-heard conversations with dozens of today's leading writers, including Emily St. John Mandel, Porochista Khakpour, Melissa Broder, Steve Almond, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Lynn Steger Strong, Vauhini Vara, Lydia Kiesling, Madelaine Lucas, Matt Bell, Jerry Stahl, Hannah Pittard, Kimberly King Parsons, Gina Frangello, Stephen Graham Jones, and many more.

The official DeepDive website is www.deepdive.audio. And please follow DeepDive on Instagram and on BlueSky.

You can sign up for the official DeepDive newsletter right here. And you can read my Substack announcement here.

***

Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.

Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.

Subscribe to Brad Listi’s email newsletter.

Support the show on Patreon

Merch

Twitter

Instagram 

TikTok

Bluesky

Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com

The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.

www.otherppl.com