It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Chris? Max must be quite a little man by now, and I hope you’re enjoying him immensely!
I haven’t been reading your newsletter for a while, but I wanted to connect with you. I’m still waiting for a Medium story to cross into my reading list, but I think you may be too involved with music to grace the storytelling world in which I live.
Kathi! It's been too long, my friend! It is so good to hear from you!
Yes, Max is growing like a weed. He turns 4 in about 3 weeks and I can hardly believe how time has flown. We made it through terrible twos and now we're almost done with the "threenager" stage. Moving on to start 4k in the fall. He's still as much as handful as he ever was, but growing sweeter and smarter by the day. I'm incredibly proud of him.
I drop in on Medium every once in a while just to check on what's new and see how the platform is (or isn't) changing. From what I've seen, the platform itself hasn't improved any and writers seem to have either left altogether or resigned themselves to the fact that it'll probably never change for the better—at least in terms of how it still doesn't reward writers the way it should.
I am thinking about moving Zappagram to a different platform which would be Ghost. Jessica Wildfire and a number of others have made that transition and I feel it might be good for me too. I'd like to have the ability to keep the music newsletter, but also write about other things (politics, humor, my usual topics.)
I hope to get back to writing more regularly soon. If it doesn't happen before Max starts 4k in the fall, I should definitely be able to make time then.
How have you been? What's new in your world? I miss you too!
Oh, my dear friend! Thanks for the update and positive news that you’re considering Ghost. I follow Umair Haque there, and he only submits to Medium on occasion now, mostly to invite his tens of thousands to join him at Ghost.
It’s hard to believe Max is ready for preschool now! My autistic greatgrandson, also age 4, taught himself to read and is now a fluent reader, even of billboards while riding in his car seat! 😂
I’m preferring Substack over Medium now, though I still read certain writers’ content who have remained on that site. It will never improve I’m sure.
I’m happy we reconnected, Chris. Let’s do it a little more often!
Kathi, that's wonderful that your grandson taught himself to read! It sounds like he's making great progress and that's a highly encouraging development. We're still nowhere near that over here, but we're hopeful that 4k in the fall will help jumpstart his learning and social skills.
I am really torn on whether I'm switching to Ghost or not. There are many advantages, but a few disadvantages as well. Substack has this built-in audience, much like Medium, whereas Ghost doesn't seem to have the community aspect from what I've seen. I think it's a solid move for the Umair Haques and Jessica Wildfires who have tens of thousands of readers, but for someone like me who is still struggling to build an audience, I'm not sure I'd survive such a move. I don't know. The jury is still out on that one.
However, what I know that I do want is to start writing again about other topics besides music. I will always keep Zappagram music-focused, but I am looking for a way to incorporate other aspects of what interests me in my writing...just like the old days back on Medium.
We'll see how that goes, but I am very happy we've reconnected and I hope we'll talk more often, too!
May 26th is a very auspicious day indeed!With that many music artist born on that date, it should be venerated in some way!
We'd lose a big chunk of music if that day didn't exist! No Yellow Submarine would be a tragedy for sure! The stars must have lined up pretty straight on this date!
I love me some Oliver Kemp and Deep Cuts on YouTube. I have learned so much from that channel and I long for more, but alas, his updates are few and far between these days. I know he was in school for a while. Maybe someday he will come back and add more. I considered starting a channel similar to his, but there is no way I can speak about music and songs as well as he does. It is certainly a talent!
Yeah Brad, me too! I'm also bummed that Oliver isn't really putting out new videos anymore. But man, I've not found anyone better. I love everything about his channel from his format and commentary to the subject matter and his personality/delivery. I also hope he gets back to it eventually. I know how much work goes into what those videos though so maybe he wasn't seeing a good ROI. Or maybe it's just school keeping him busy. I might drop him an email at some point and ask what his future plans are with regard to the channel. If I ever do, I'll let you know what I find out.
It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Chris? Max must be quite a little man by now, and I hope you’re enjoying him immensely!
I haven’t been reading your newsletter for a while, but I wanted to connect with you. I’m still waiting for a Medium story to cross into my reading list, but I think you may be too involved with music to grace the storytelling world in which I live.
I hope you are well and happy. I miss you.
Kathi! It's been too long, my friend! It is so good to hear from you!
Yes, Max is growing like a weed. He turns 4 in about 3 weeks and I can hardly believe how time has flown. We made it through terrible twos and now we're almost done with the "threenager" stage. Moving on to start 4k in the fall. He's still as much as handful as he ever was, but growing sweeter and smarter by the day. I'm incredibly proud of him.
I drop in on Medium every once in a while just to check on what's new and see how the platform is (or isn't) changing. From what I've seen, the platform itself hasn't improved any and writers seem to have either left altogether or resigned themselves to the fact that it'll probably never change for the better—at least in terms of how it still doesn't reward writers the way it should.
I am thinking about moving Zappagram to a different platform which would be Ghost. Jessica Wildfire and a number of others have made that transition and I feel it might be good for me too. I'd like to have the ability to keep the music newsletter, but also write about other things (politics, humor, my usual topics.)
I hope to get back to writing more regularly soon. If it doesn't happen before Max starts 4k in the fall, I should definitely be able to make time then.
How have you been? What's new in your world? I miss you too!
Oh, my dear friend! Thanks for the update and positive news that you’re considering Ghost. I follow Umair Haque there, and he only submits to Medium on occasion now, mostly to invite his tens of thousands to join him at Ghost.
It’s hard to believe Max is ready for preschool now! My autistic greatgrandson, also age 4, taught himself to read and is now a fluent reader, even of billboards while riding in his car seat! 😂
I’m preferring Substack over Medium now, though I still read certain writers’ content who have remained on that site. It will never improve I’m sure.
I’m happy we reconnected, Chris. Let’s do it a little more often!
Take good care!!!
Kathi
Kathi, that's wonderful that your grandson taught himself to read! It sounds like he's making great progress and that's a highly encouraging development. We're still nowhere near that over here, but we're hopeful that 4k in the fall will help jumpstart his learning and social skills.
I am really torn on whether I'm switching to Ghost or not. There are many advantages, but a few disadvantages as well. Substack has this built-in audience, much like Medium, whereas Ghost doesn't seem to have the community aspect from what I've seen. I think it's a solid move for the Umair Haques and Jessica Wildfires who have tens of thousands of readers, but for someone like me who is still struggling to build an audience, I'm not sure I'd survive such a move. I don't know. The jury is still out on that one.
However, what I know that I do want is to start writing again about other topics besides music. I will always keep Zappagram music-focused, but I am looking for a way to incorporate other aspects of what interests me in my writing...just like the old days back on Medium.
We'll see how that goes, but I am very happy we've reconnected and I hope we'll talk more often, too!
May 26th is a very auspicious day indeed!With that many music artist born on that date, it should be venerated in some way!
We'd lose a big chunk of music if that day didn't exist! No Yellow Submarine would be a tragedy for sure! The stars must have lined up pretty straight on this date!
I love me some Oliver Kemp and Deep Cuts on YouTube. I have learned so much from that channel and I long for more, but alas, his updates are few and far between these days. I know he was in school for a while. Maybe someday he will come back and add more. I considered starting a channel similar to his, but there is no way I can speak about music and songs as well as he does. It is certainly a talent!
Yeah Brad, me too! I'm also bummed that Oliver isn't really putting out new videos anymore. But man, I've not found anyone better. I love everything about his channel from his format and commentary to the subject matter and his personality/delivery. I also hope he gets back to it eventually. I know how much work goes into what those videos though so maybe he wasn't seeing a good ROI. Or maybe it's just school keeping him busy. I might drop him an email at some point and ask what his future plans are with regard to the channel. If I ever do, I'll let you know what I find out.
That would be great - thank you, Chris!