10 Comments

Really grateful for this one - If You're So Smart, Why Can't You Die was stuck in the draft stage for months, and this hard deadline was the kick in the ass I needed to change the format into something that could actually be finished. Reminder to anyone else out there that when you feel like you need to write thousands of words of apologetics and preamble before you can get to the point you're actually excited about, you can just literally cut it all and start at the good part and it will make the essay better 98% of the time.

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Thanks so much! I needed this little boost. I can't figure out algorithms. I had one essay in January get almost 5K views and then this last one got 44. I'm not that different of a writer from one essay to the other. Anyway, here's to reaching out to a human. You're the best!

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Appreciate the uplift!

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Just go ahead and copy the approach of the always insanely long view from the window contest at The Dish, and put up front that people need to click the headline and read it on the web. Starting there avoids having to find where you were in the email.

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Always excited to be on this list and check out new and interesting writers, too :-)

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Thank you for doing this, Freddie!

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Having something to plug on here is weird, but gratifying. Really thankful to you for your promotion of other writers.

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It tickles me to have two specific FdB #reaction essays, except taking the opposing side, featured in this month's writerly roundup. Hooray for free speech! (Yes, I know it's a more complicated topic than that, mostly I just mean it's a straight-shooter thing to give honourable critics the time of day and I appreciate that.)

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Comment got eaten by the updated Substack UI, I guess, but I just wanted to register that The Greatest Heist made me kinda sad. (Although I'll grant that perhaps I'm being a Negative Nancy and taking the joke too literally.)

[line break for spoilers]

Sure, some retailers suck, #wagetheft, lotsa hourlies are just chasing the clock. But as a grocer at a really busy location that genuinely takes pride in her work and tries to provide exemplary service...I dunno, man, intentionally wasting a retail employee's time with superlatives and confabulations *is* a form of collatoral damage. There's that much less service to go around for customers who actually need help. I really prefer to believe in a world where assistance-seekers genuinely need assistance, rather than second-guessing that maybe they're bullshitting for the lulz, you know?

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Thanks for this. It means a lot coming from you.

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