1. consider the possibility that not defining what you're doing is better than succumbing to the relentless pressure to "brand" things. Not everything needs to be summed up in three words -- speaking for myself at least, most of what I love most in life I love because it falls into the liminal of not this nor quite that, that "you just have to read/listen/see/experience" it to understand. I would put HMF into that category for sure.
2. I need more clarity on what phantom scrolling is. I think I sort of get it, but more please.
3. relative to your reframing your muscle aches from a problem to a part of the process, I had a similar revelation relative to my creative work. Those times when I sit and stare at the screen (or do things like comment on a friend's substack when I'm meant to be writing my own...) are not in fact a diversion, but part of the creative process, as are the times when it all seems to fall apart. Once I figured out that both avoidance and the falling part are just stages in the game, things got a whole lot better. Not that those aches and pains are fun, but they're native plants in the garden.
4. Your descripton of the manga novel remind me of one of my favourite ever TV series -- the Canadian series "Being Erica," which deals with the same premise of whether going back to fix the regrets of your past would actually make life better or whether it would just create a new set of problems. Available on most streaming platforms, highly recommend, with the usual caveat that the first few episodes of the first season are about finding their footing and it takes a bit to settle into the more mature series that it becomes in later seasons.
1. I mostly thinking about the marketing frame and definition when I actually have to describe what this thing is in online forms. Sometimes there are drop-down menus and I'm like...I do not fit neatly into these selections.
2. Phantom scrolling is like the mental equivalent of the smoke left behind by a skywriter, except that there's a physical sensation (pain?) attached to the smoke dissipating. Phantom scrolling, though, is a specific scenario attached to technological appendages like a mobile phones; for instance, how do most people feel if they accidentally or deliberately leave their phone at home? Phantom scrolling is the process the brain goes through as it signals our conscious self to reach into a pocket or purse to check the device. For a moment, we think we'll get that fix before realizing that the device is not there. Even more specifically, phantom scrolling refers to that situation related to social media. As I allude to in that section and the title of the newsletter, I see the phenomena as fitting within the glossary of craving and addiction.
3. Exactly.
4. I'll need to check that show out. Right now I'm still watching the anime "Attack on Titan" and I only have one show slot in my life. But afterward, "Being Erica" will be somewhere in the queue. Imho, it's actually a fairly common idea. But as with many common ideas, it's not so easy to deliver it well.
1. I get that. I have the same problem with The Abbey, which people think is a music substack, and it's not. I tried to deal with that a bit in the last Red Abbess, but judging by that that installement is (as of this writing) the least opened of any Red Abbess ever, I doubt I succeeded.
2. Ah, I see, yes. I think of it as that feeling of almost reaching for the phone and then not. That mental near-physical twitch.
3.
4. Being Erica does it better than anything I've seen, though of course, I've not seen everything and I think there's a "hot" novel out right now that has a similar premise. The challenge with all series is that it gets better, and sometimes it's hard to get people ti stick with something until it hits its stride. This one gets there pretty quickly, though.
naming things isn't easy. as a fellow blogger, I've read much about how people are sooner to seek out sites where they can say to themselves, "ok, this is the blog where I learn about xyz." Unfortunately, focusing on only one singe thing is too dull & difficult for me. my Happiness Between Tails was meant to encompass my 'tales' life as a writer, & 'tails' life with 2 dogs -- & now I only have one haha. as a writer, I'm not thrilled with the time suck of social media. but I need it for 2 things: 1. as I'm querying literary agents, they prefer people with followings. 2. if I end up self-publishing, I'll also need to know people who might like my books. for both those reasons, I seek to meet individuals within literary fiction loving circles
Naming isn't so much the problem as defining. I like "Hello, My Friends". Ashley and I were talking about this post the other evening and we agreed that HMF is really most like a personal blog. But that's not a Substack category. "Happiness Between Tails" is a great, catchy name.
As for social media, I'm not very much cut out for the algorithm. Updating the world once a week is good for me, more than that seems excessive. And on the other end, feeds are too much irrelevant information overload for me. I feel like a hamster on a wheel when I'm scrolling hoping for a nugget of something interesting.
1. consider the possibility that not defining what you're doing is better than succumbing to the relentless pressure to "brand" things. Not everything needs to be summed up in three words -- speaking for myself at least, most of what I love most in life I love because it falls into the liminal of not this nor quite that, that "you just have to read/listen/see/experience" it to understand. I would put HMF into that category for sure.
2. I need more clarity on what phantom scrolling is. I think I sort of get it, but more please.
3. relative to your reframing your muscle aches from a problem to a part of the process, I had a similar revelation relative to my creative work. Those times when I sit and stare at the screen (or do things like comment on a friend's substack when I'm meant to be writing my own...) are not in fact a diversion, but part of the creative process, as are the times when it all seems to fall apart. Once I figured out that both avoidance and the falling part are just stages in the game, things got a whole lot better. Not that those aches and pains are fun, but they're native plants in the garden.
4. Your descripton of the manga novel remind me of one of my favourite ever TV series -- the Canadian series "Being Erica," which deals with the same premise of whether going back to fix the regrets of your past would actually make life better or whether it would just create a new set of problems. Available on most streaming platforms, highly recommend, with the usual caveat that the first few episodes of the first season are about finding their footing and it takes a bit to settle into the more mature series that it becomes in later seasons.
1. I mostly thinking about the marketing frame and definition when I actually have to describe what this thing is in online forms. Sometimes there are drop-down menus and I'm like...I do not fit neatly into these selections.
2. Phantom scrolling is like the mental equivalent of the smoke left behind by a skywriter, except that there's a physical sensation (pain?) attached to the smoke dissipating. Phantom scrolling, though, is a specific scenario attached to technological appendages like a mobile phones; for instance, how do most people feel if they accidentally or deliberately leave their phone at home? Phantom scrolling is the process the brain goes through as it signals our conscious self to reach into a pocket or purse to check the device. For a moment, we think we'll get that fix before realizing that the device is not there. Even more specifically, phantom scrolling refers to that situation related to social media. As I allude to in that section and the title of the newsletter, I see the phenomena as fitting within the glossary of craving and addiction.
3. Exactly.
4. I'll need to check that show out. Right now I'm still watching the anime "Attack on Titan" and I only have one show slot in my life. But afterward, "Being Erica" will be somewhere in the queue. Imho, it's actually a fairly common idea. But as with many common ideas, it's not so easy to deliver it well.
1. I get that. I have the same problem with The Abbey, which people think is a music substack, and it's not. I tried to deal with that a bit in the last Red Abbess, but judging by that that installement is (as of this writing) the least opened of any Red Abbess ever, I doubt I succeeded.
2. Ah, I see, yes. I think of it as that feeling of almost reaching for the phone and then not. That mental near-physical twitch.
3.
4. Being Erica does it better than anything I've seen, though of course, I've not seen everything and I think there's a "hot" novel out right now that has a similar premise. The challenge with all series is that it gets better, and sometimes it's hard to get people ti stick with something until it hits its stride. This one gets there pretty quickly, though.
naming things isn't easy. as a fellow blogger, I've read much about how people are sooner to seek out sites where they can say to themselves, "ok, this is the blog where I learn about xyz." Unfortunately, focusing on only one singe thing is too dull & difficult for me. my Happiness Between Tails was meant to encompass my 'tales' life as a writer, & 'tails' life with 2 dogs -- & now I only have one haha. as a writer, I'm not thrilled with the time suck of social media. but I need it for 2 things: 1. as I'm querying literary agents, they prefer people with followings. 2. if I end up self-publishing, I'll also need to know people who might like my books. for both those reasons, I seek to meet individuals within literary fiction loving circles
3 words? Fathering, books, and art?
Naming isn't so much the problem as defining. I like "Hello, My Friends". Ashley and I were talking about this post the other evening and we agreed that HMF is really most like a personal blog. But that's not a Substack category. "Happiness Between Tails" is a great, catchy name.
As for social media, I'm not very much cut out for the algorithm. Updating the world once a week is good for me, more than that seems excessive. And on the other end, feeds are too much irrelevant information overload for me. I feel like a hamster on a wheel when I'm scrolling hoping for a nugget of something interesting.