Hello everyone. Is it too late for a 2023 recap? I hope not. The past year has been good to me in many ways, but in other ways not so much. For almost half the year, I didn’t publish anything here.
But despite that setback, I had 872 subscribers at the start of the year and now I have some ~2,650 subscribers. Thank you for sticking around.
A Short 2023 Recap
My initial plan for 2023 was to pursue a weekly series where I reviewed stories that interested me. I thought this would help connect me with other writers on Substack.
However, I discontinued the series in early March because not only was it too time consuming, but it was also not something people could easily share.
In April, I returned to my preferred long-form writing style with my critical essay on the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. I talked about how the ideas behind it made modern America. To my surprise, the piece picked up in a big way and my newsletter was made a featured publication on Substack.
Since I was not publishing from June to November, there is honestly not much to recap. I have not written as much this year as I would have liked, but people still seem to have enjoyed what I did put out. Happy to say that my last long-form essay There Once Was an Empire was my most-viewed post since late 2022.
One of my observations from writing this past year is people are most interested in ideas and narratives. Events themselves are often well-documented, and we have endless information at our disposal, but how these fit together in a coherent story, that’s much more difficult to come by.
This is especially how I approach my historical essays, where I focus on inflection points that reach out to the present in a meaningful way. Not only has this exercise been rewarding for me personally, but they’ve also been some of my best-received articles, so thank you for that.
Here are a few of my essays from 2023 to check out:
Also, I should mention that I have some 20 publications recommending my newsletter now, so I suggest giving them a look too:
… and many more!And whoever was the stranger that pledged a paid yearly subscription if I ever decide to go that route, thank you.
The Year Ahead…
Many people have written about 2024 being a watershed year and I agree. So, one of my personal goals is to be very archivist with what I am reading this year, especially as it pertains to culture, politics, world events, and other noteworthy stories. If you are planning to do something similar, or are just trying to organize notes more effectively, I suggest trying out Obsidian. It’s what I’ve been using for the past year.
As for this substack, I plan to commit myself to ideally publishing twice a month. I have a collection of essay topics already, but need to will myself into writing them. I am considering other ideas like a book club, but it’s too early for that. A yearly goal of mine is 10,000 subscribers by the end of 2024. Let’s see how it goes.
To whoever’s reading this, while the world may be in an uncertain and difficult place, I hope 2024 is good to you personally. Thanks for subscribing.
— Anton
Thanks for the shoutout. I think you're right: narratives that connect and add depth to pieces of data are the real gems of today. Indeed, the more data we have, the richer our narratives need to be, posing a challenge to every modern writer (and reader).
I try to write weekly and find myself drowning in data at times, so your more spontaneous publication rhythm is inspiring. Keep writing and I'll keep reading!