Hi Victoria! I took the survey, but I'm not sure if I was very helpful. I liked this piece a lot, but I have to say I enjoy everything you write since you're such a talented writer. I especially like the posts where you step back and analyze what you've written - it's a perspective I've not seen very often on Substack, and I think it's not only really interesting, but helpful. Happy 1st Anniversary to you!
Thank you both! I haven't ever asked for explicit feedback before so it's useful to hear. I very much appreciate the encouragement in general and the specifics are helpful too.
Hi, Victoria. Don’t I know that “twang of pleasure” that used to come (rarely now) from acquiring something. I didn’t take the survey because I am convinced that art, including Substack posts, should begin with the artist’s need to connect with readers, viewers or listeners. I want to read what you feel compelled to write, in search of the twang of pleasure. I come from the former world of mass-market magazines, where reader surveys mattered as we sought to entice hundreds of thousands of readers. I don’t see what surveys have to offer you or me on Substack. I am looking for the twang here, however it may come. Onward!
Thanks, Rona. I get your point. I am not sure, honestly, what I'll do with the feedback anyway. There's no contract that I have to follow it! But I'm curious about readers' responses since this format can be so opaque. With someone like you, who comments a lot (and I so appreciate that!), I have a sense of who you are and where you're coming from but most readers don't respond at all. That's fine too. But since I am running out of memoir material I am at a pivot point. Where I go next is ultimately up to me, but I'm still curious about whether I'm making the connection you describe.
BTW I'm also inspired by your model: of having paid subscriptions that are entirely voluntary. As you intended, I pay for your newsletter just because I like hearing your voice regularly. You always have something interesting to say, and I don't need any other perks! So you're a good example for me.
"The city itself— the mild breeze and over bright sunshine, the people jostling on the sidewalk, the leaves piling on the ground, even the helicopters humming overhead— was enough." The joy of wandering around a city you love in good weather with no particular purpose! You capture it beautifully.
As a writer, I always want my work to connect with my audience. It’s so hard to know when I’m doing that online. Comments, likes, shares… but I know that there’s more going on in readers’s heads that I’m not getting.
I’ll fill out the survey and reply here.
My favorite of the memoir posts was A Death In The Family. So moving. I love the mix of archive, process, and storytelling in that piece.
I love these musings-style posts. (This one!) I also like the art roundups a lot.
Thank you! I worry the musings aren't "enough" and maybe that's why I'm fishing for reassurance. (When is asking for feedback helpful and when is it just fishing? Not sure. I guess it really depends on what you do with it.)
Hi Victoria! I took the survey, but I'm not sure if I was very helpful. I liked this piece a lot, but I have to say I enjoy everything you write since you're such a talented writer. I especially like the posts where you step back and analyze what you've written - it's a perspective I've not seen very often on Substack, and I think it's not only really interesting, but helpful. Happy 1st Anniversary to you!
I agree with this feedback!!
Thank you both! I haven't ever asked for explicit feedback before so it's useful to hear. I very much appreciate the encouragement in general and the specifics are helpful too.
Hi, Victoria. Don’t I know that “twang of pleasure” that used to come (rarely now) from acquiring something. I didn’t take the survey because I am convinced that art, including Substack posts, should begin with the artist’s need to connect with readers, viewers or listeners. I want to read what you feel compelled to write, in search of the twang of pleasure. I come from the former world of mass-market magazines, where reader surveys mattered as we sought to entice hundreds of thousands of readers. I don’t see what surveys have to offer you or me on Substack. I am looking for the twang here, however it may come. Onward!
Thanks, Rona. I get your point. I am not sure, honestly, what I'll do with the feedback anyway. There's no contract that I have to follow it! But I'm curious about readers' responses since this format can be so opaque. With someone like you, who comments a lot (and I so appreciate that!), I have a sense of who you are and where you're coming from but most readers don't respond at all. That's fine too. But since I am running out of memoir material I am at a pivot point. Where I go next is ultimately up to me, but I'm still curious about whether I'm making the connection you describe.
BTW I'm also inspired by your model: of having paid subscriptions that are entirely voluntary. As you intended, I pay for your newsletter just because I like hearing your voice regularly. You always have something interesting to say, and I don't need any other perks! So you're a good example for me.
Victoria, I will send you a private message.
"The city itself— the mild breeze and over bright sunshine, the people jostling on the sidewalk, the leaves piling on the ground, even the helicopters humming overhead— was enough." The joy of wandering around a city you love in good weather with no particular purpose! You capture it beautifully.
Thank you! You do a lot of this sort of writerly "wandering" too and I enjoy it likewise--
As a writer, I always want my work to connect with my audience. It’s so hard to know when I’m doing that online. Comments, likes, shares… but I know that there’s more going on in readers’s heads that I’m not getting.
I’ll fill out the survey and reply here.
My favorite of the memoir posts was A Death In The Family. So moving. I love the mix of archive, process, and storytelling in that piece.
I love these musings-style posts. (This one!) I also like the art roundups a lot.
Thank you! I worry the musings aren't "enough" and maybe that's why I'm fishing for reassurance. (When is asking for feedback helpful and when is it just fishing? Not sure. I guess it really depends on what you do with it.)
Also: I love the photo of the glass-brick sidewalk. Magic. (Twang?)
"I wanted the twang of pleasure" - wow - it strikes me!
Isn't it interesting what hits? This sentence you pulled out is in fact about that, really. :)