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More or less on the same page here. What makes Substack the same as the others is that they, too, have to play by the dopamine rules. (I suspect they might also shadow-ban writers; it would be an easy "solution" to the "Nazi problem" from earlier) That ghost in the machine that needs you to feel validation from likes still dwells in there. I can't stand it. For that reason I no longer look at any of the metrics, except the ones in my inbox about each post.

I sure don't miss the submission process. While I did build up a nice little resume of published poems, I don't feel it brought me any closer to making anyone interested in a poetry collection. And while many journals were nice in terms of artistic setup, it's true that very little actually spoke to me. Of the big ones, only Tin House felt like it had different voices. But even then, many were simply the best-known creative writing program automatons. (Who, as you can imagine, are exactly the kind of people who would celebrate writing as something that employed you)

Unloading the backlog of unpublished writings are the best part. A writer needs to keep the pipes flowing.

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Definitely need to blow through my backlog. Gotta get back on equilibrium after starting my new job but totally feel you there.

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Cheers Justus. And congratulations on the new job!

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Thanks! Three weeks in and so far so good!

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Cheers to all that. I should check out Tin House! In general, some part of me dies any time I open up a literary magazine. It's interesting why that's the case. And, yes, to clearing out backlogs! Even very successful writers tend to have backlogs of work that never come out. Always a bit sad to think about that.

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