Starting Multiple Views and...News?

By TLS

Why Substack, why all this writing? It all started by trying to get published, of course. But also, more recently, I have seen a far more important goal and have come to realize I need to do my part as well to mitigate the migration to the poles of the masses. Whether remotely helpful or not.

But, to go back, I definitely wanted to get published, for my own vanity almost certainly, but I’m not a writer by trade. Sooo, that kind of makes things difficult, right? Probably. Here’s the condensed version of how we arrived at: Multiple Views and…News?

Blurry fade out to a long time ago…

I didn’t go to college, at first. Instead I joined the military and ended up doing a little over twenty years. I was in the Air Force and I was a mechanic. Noooo, I was not an aircraft mechanic. I get that one all the time. I was an automotive mechanic, yes in the Air Force, aaand another big sigh… Anyways, automotive mechanics in the Air Force deploy quite a lot, and I deployed a fair amount as well. On one of those deployments I was trained as a combat lifesaver. That’s kind of like a very condensed version of a medic. This turned out to be my first real exposure to medicine, and healthcare. It also happened near the end of my Air Force career.

I knew after retiring from the Air Force (AF) I would still need to work, but I did not want to be a mechanic anymore. After much consideration and significantly strong pressure from friends and my wife, I decided to become a Registered Nurse (RN) after the military. Once retired (my wife and I are both retired AF) I went to school and started working on the necessary prerequisites for a nursing program. I finished those and submitted my first application to a program and was accepted, first try, yaaay!

I made it through the program, also first try, with an associate in nursing and then got my license. I started working in the field and also continued my education and received a bachelor’s in nursing. I was weeks away from starting a master’s program when the course requirements changed. Long story short, the change was something I didn’t want to deal with and so I stopped there. But I had developed a taste for education and specifically writing. Working in the healthcare field and reading professional papers, literature, and books got me thinking, I wanted to contribute. So I started looking into what it would take to get published.

I was very dissatisfied with what I read in a lot of nursing literature and journals. They are almost universally heavy in meaningless jabber and very light in useful and practical. I wanted to write useful and practical, but I was not encouraged by what I found. Virtually every publication I looked at only wanted submissions on very specific subjects, acceptance might take a year or better, the work could not be submitted anywhere else, and the work would belong to them. My experience may be the exception, but it’s what I found. So I didn’t really pursue it much further. But I still liked to write, so what was I to do?

Languish in writer Purgatory for several years apparently…

Getting started: The Year of Nothing.

At the time, I didn’t really know of any good place to write. There was Facebook of course but forget that mess. I didn’t really know where to go or what I was looking for. Soooo…

Nothing really happened for several years. I would occasionally consider writing but couldn’t actually put words to the proverbial paper. I like and follow Z-Dogg MD. He eventually had a guest who became a bit of a regular, Vinay Prasad, MD. If you don’t know VP, he’s off-the-charts smart and driven. Anyway, he was always mentioning his site on Substack. Voilá, my introduction to Substack. All I need do now is sit back and collect all my accolades, right? Yeah, ahh, wrong.

Now I had free reign to write but I ran into a different problem. A BSN, RN doesn’t really have any great credentials to use as writing credibility so that was kind of a dead end. But, I created a Substack account January 2023 anyway. My plan? Start writing about healthcare, medicine, and nursing in general. How did that turn out? Not one single word written in an entire year. The Year of Nothing.

Along comes January 2024 and I have a bit of an epiphany. The whole time my perspective had been “What do I write for others?” Now, for some reason I thought “What do I want to write about for myself?” That seemed to break the damn loose and words started dropping on paper like a giant flock of seagulls overhead.

Just start, improve as you go. So I started writing, but is it good enough? Should I post it yet?

I listen to a few podcasts, Sam Harris is one. During one of his episodes this subject came up. His advice? Don’t wait for perfection, just start. Get better as you go. If you wait for perfection, you’ll never get started.

I’m sure he’s not the first to say this but I think it was the first time I’d heard it, or at least listened to it. Excellent advice I think, regardless if this work does well or not.

My first post here was short and to the point. It was the first thing I thought of that I really wanted to get down on paper. Good or bad, high-quality or not, it got me started. Now comes the real challenge, continuing and getting better, and hopefully good enough that people want to actually read this material.

This first year of writing was done completely incognito. I didn’t say anything to anyone. It felt liberating to write anonymously and helped keep things progressing. But I can’t keep it quiet indefinitely. Eventually I’ll need to let a few know but I’ll still try to keep it from spreading. Why? And why didn’t I pimp my friends and family from the beginning?

First I didn’t want to subject them to the growing pains and clumsy start of this endeavor. Second, I didn’t want them to see me stumbling either. But, and I think this is the biggest one, I also don’t like it when people start something, sales for example, and immediately hit up all their friends and family. I find that very annoying. I think I’m more of the mind of ‘get out there and get to work!’ Also, I’m sure I wanted to be able to eventually present a successful site. That would be pretty darn cool I think.

Can I attract readers?

Here’s the real point, right? I hope so, after the crap I’ve seen attract viewers, readers, and supporters, it would be rather disheartening to not be able to at least make a dent in readership. This, it turns out, is a frustrating area. When I first started posting, my site quickly began receiving hundreds of views. It was fantastic, my views count was going up shockingly fast. Then, the cliff came. After just a few months my views count plummeted to near zero. My posts go out to two emails, both mine. I use them to see what the posts look like on different platforms. Those are now about the only view counts I get anymore (on Substack). The change in view rate is very odd, but I’ll keep banging away.

(Late entry, this paragraph was written in December, 2024. Things are certainly not a huge success at this point, but I’m happy with what I’m getting. I tried several social media apps to help with exposure but most were a dead end. I finally landed on LinkedIn and it seems to be a pretty good match. I’m actually starting to get some traction with readers. It’s nothing big but it’s fairly consistent, so I’m happy. Also, I got a full-fledged follower on the Substack app, very cool as well!)

My writing history and adapting my writing.

I can definitely say this first year of writing has been educational. I’ve identified a style or direction of writing I prefer. However, it is still difficult to achieve. The gist is: come up with a subject, cover it in an orderly manner, then wrap up with a clever point or question. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? However, doing that well is actually quite difficult.

Can I keep this going? Like most everything, time will tell. I have my dry spells but so far I’m able to stay at least a few weeks ahead of the posting schedule. I shoot for at least a couple months ahead though. But, I’m finally writing consistently and I’m receiving a little bit of reader interaction. This isn’t exactly what I was originally after, but I like what I’m doing now and I think I like where this is going, even if slowly. But like the old saying goes; slow and steady wins the race, and maybe along the way I can bring a few people to the middle.

If you’ve ever thought about writing but hesitated, let this be the nudge. Don’t wait for perfection, just start. If my journey resonates with you, subscribe and share this with someone who’s also waiting for their “first post.” Together, we can build a community that values consistency, honesty, and perspective over perfection.

Thanks for reading!

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