When I tried to kick off this newsletter again in September, I bit off more than I could handle. I deal with multiple mental health issues and need to be realistic about what I can expect to do.
I was originally trying to get this newsletter going along with a second one, The Skeptic’s Path, and that just wasn’t realistic. The other thing was trying to put out content on too frequent a basis and realizing I don’t want to put noise or garbage out into the world.
We all have so many inputs coming at us, and I don’t want to add to that. I want to write and share stuff that interests me and may help others, not try to follow someone else’s plan.
Even before the current saga of Twitter, I was getting turned off by social media. It seems there is a class that wants to preach to the masses, and it isn’t really about conversation anymore. It is more of a case study of confirmation bias and the psychology of group mindset.
I have been publishing some daily thoughts at rob.williger.me but I do want to get this newsletter going again.
Here are some of the thoughts I have on that.
I am not going to have an established posting schedule at this time. I will share content when I have something to say. That may be a couple of times a week or a few times a month. As I get into a system, this may become more refined, and I will update the readers when that happens.
I have put The Skeptic’s Path newsletter on hold and have made it a separate section under Rob’s Random Writing that one can separately opt-in to read. This section will deal with systems of control and topics such as free thought, secularism, and atheism. I know these are sensitive topics and not for everybody, and I don’t want people who don’t want to hear about these things to have to. There was always a crossover between the newsletters I was just trying to keep the religion stuff separate.
I will not be serializing classic books at this time but will share large sections of different books. I believe there is a lot to learn from these older books, and it is a shame that some excellent writers were silenced in their days. But I realized I wouldn’t say I like reading in a serialized email format, so I probably shouldn’t be putting content out like that. I may do some experiments with putting some of this content into audio or other formats so it can reach a wider audience.
As we wrap up the year, I am reflecting on 2022 and what I can hope for in 2023. My main thing is to get away from social media and focus on creative output. In addition to the newsletter, I am writing a memoir about my time in the Army and working on a play based on my experience in Afghanistan. There are some other nonfiction works in progress.
I hope you stick around to see what develops but respect your decision if this isn’t for you.
Some Further Reflections after initially posting:
I want to clarify I do enjoy serialized content in some forms. I think that books that are already completed are not best in a serialized format.
Some classic books have content or terms that are unacceptable in our society, and I don’t want to be obligated to share a full text.