You have spent years and years of your life engaged in the hard work of engineering it to fit your preferences just so. A commitment that I admire. But you have found, as nearly everyone does, that such an effort doesn’t yield the happiness they expect it to. Things aren’t just right. If only this thing was different. If only I had this. If only I didn’t have that - THEN I’d finally be satisfied.
A tale as old as time.
The way is to accept limitations as a constant. There no matter what you do. Maybe you should consider being a postman to pay the bills, and then your passion/art can be completely on your terms. In your off time, you can read and write and hand out pamphlets on the corner.
I can't speak for any other paying subscribers, but I chose to support you not for the content, but simply because I believe you are worth supporting. I would actually prefer you to be writing a book over posting articles here. Or maybe even more importantly than writing a book, trying to build IRL community in some way. We need more people like yourself looking to inspire and build real community. Afterall, that's what we are all most hungering for.
if you do snail mail the annual subscription should have a contract with it such that the recipients must respond in kind with letters. a last gasp milieu amidst The Slop.
In Delaware, visit cape Henlopen State Park. I go there sometimes to clear my head. Ricketts Glen State Park in PA is another good place. You can spend a day hiking out to the old dam and down the falls to the bottom of the mountain. If you follow the small trees carefully, you might even find the old trails where they used to make moonshine during prohibition days. I did, many years ago.
Great recs, I appreciate them. I know on our way down here, we took Old Route 100, aka Creek Road out of Chadds Ford PA. Ever taken that road? It's amazing -- feels like an old Indian trail or something. Truly one of my favorite roads on the East Coast now. A real gem. Could see someone riding shine down that road for sure...
Can’t leave a pic of my scoot, but I ride all through there, down through WVA, out into Ohio Indian mound areas up north, and out through TN. I’m an Appalachia boy at heart. Always will be. Some things stick with you through everything, no matter how far they might set you apart from the noise of life.
One of my favorite hikes ever was a night hike in Cape Henlopen. Great recommendation! No social media should be a bragging right, better off is a great rec too.
Well written,except the cow part,unless ironically?
I would very much recommend John Michael Greers latest blog post. Where in fact despite making 6 figures as a writer,he has come to the opposite conclusion,has no social media presence,and states there is huge demand from smaller independent publishers.
I feel for you man. I came across your work on Substack and just read your posts as they come-your work is really great-I'm not on any other social media and so didn't realize you're in the harassed tier of humanity. That hamster wheel made of eyes that you're on is actually a circle of Hell, no doubt, and I hope you find a way off it that is sustaining and good.
Curious--do you see much benefit of being published if you have to do all the marketing, etc. yourself? And then get just a slice of royalty? Publishers now want every writer to be a sure thing and do all the work--their validation may not be worth it.
If you have a poet's soul, metrics will be the death of you. Writers, the wild ones, are shy exhibitionists and the 'shy' needs protection. It's a devil's deal, to have to be public all the time just to get people to read your work. I won't make that deal, myself, except in small, controlled ways. Maybe that'll fuck me as a writer, maybe it won't, I don't know, but as soon as my work starts to feel like 'content' it's time to find another life.
Also, you may want to check out Magazine Non Grata (on Substack). They have a print edition and are doing some cool things IRL. Anthony Marigold seems like a standup guy.
The question of whether trad publishing matters at all at this point is definitely a valid line of inquiry, Alex. Jury's out on that, I suppose -- though I do get the sense that if you can get at least ONE decently-selling traditionally-published book, it unlocks a certain type of legitimacy that one simply cannot access by other means. And in the era of AI -- I suspect anyone who aims to keep writing seriously is going to need all the help they can get, not just financially but in terms of finding avenues to get one's work before large audiences.
At the same time, of course, as the trad publishing world gets "tighter," the compromises one has to succeed in that world become more and more intense. Perhaps the gamble isn't worth it as of now. No idea. I'm going to try anyway; at a minimum I have a small press in mind that I'd like to work with.
In either case, thanks for reading Alex, God bless you.
Your struggle reminded me of Thom Yorke's conversation with Michael Stipe on the overwhelming pressures of public life (as a musician/performer) and how to pretend they're not there. They both wrote songs based on that conversation, one on Radiohead's KidA ("How to Disappear Completely") and R.E.M's "Disappear". You're not the first to struggle, once you figure out a secret, pass on your knowledge to today's influencers.
I would go to old new castle just to look around I grew up there and it is lovely given its buildings date back to the the 1700s I believe not all but many do
I wonder if you and Keturah could do something like the Amish "Budget" newspaper, for the non-Amish freethinkers, cultists, fringe groups, community-minded liberals, idealist housewives, conservatives, and anybody else. I would pay to read that!!
I was wondering what happened to you. I would pay for a written sort of newsletter/paper thing mailed to me. I am so tired of being on the computer. As always, sending luck to you.
After reading this in my early morning bed I’ve decided to name my old new-to-me RV ‘OFFLINE’.
I don’t have any particular destination in mind when it’s completely operable though your description of Delaware as “just OK scenery“ illustrated by the three smiling guys against a background that I didn’t see is appealing. I don’t know how the story would develop or where it would lead but just to be in that moment, whatever the situation was, seems to me to be a memory worth the trip. Your idea of the IRL meeting place is intriguing. Maybe the spot you choose/build doesn’t even need a real name but ‘Thanksgiving’ sounds good to me. Just a quiet spot somewhere to stop and rest and be thankful.
You have spent years and years of your life engaged in the hard work of engineering it to fit your preferences just so. A commitment that I admire. But you have found, as nearly everyone does, that such an effort doesn’t yield the happiness they expect it to. Things aren’t just right. If only this thing was different. If only I had this. If only I didn’t have that - THEN I’d finally be satisfied.
A tale as old as time.
The way is to accept limitations as a constant. There no matter what you do. Maybe you should consider being a postman to pay the bills, and then your passion/art can be completely on your terms. In your off time, you can read and write and hand out pamphlets on the corner.
I can't speak for any other paying subscribers, but I chose to support you not for the content, but simply because I believe you are worth supporting. I would actually prefer you to be writing a book over posting articles here. Or maybe even more importantly than writing a book, trying to build IRL community in some way. We need more people like yourself looking to inspire and build real community. Afterall, that's what we are all most hungering for.
Apparently #Analog2026 is a thing.
People ditching smartphones for flip phones. Or locking their smartphone apps.
Real life newspapers like County Highway. I just saw St. Mary of Egypt Orthodox Church in Kansas City started publishing a newspaper!
And more people talking about face to face experiences.
Great article; social media seems like a counterfeit to building a proper “spiritual life”, as this has been classically defined in the past.
Probably why I never look at it 😃
if you do snail mail the annual subscription should have a contract with it such that the recipients must respond in kind with letters. a last gasp milieu amidst The Slop.
In Delaware, visit cape Henlopen State Park. I go there sometimes to clear my head. Ricketts Glen State Park in PA is another good place. You can spend a day hiking out to the old dam and down the falls to the bottom of the mountain. If you follow the small trees carefully, you might even find the old trails where they used to make moonshine during prohibition days. I did, many years ago.
Great recs, I appreciate them. I know on our way down here, we took Old Route 100, aka Creek Road out of Chadds Ford PA. Ever taken that road? It's amazing -- feels like an old Indian trail or something. Truly one of my favorite roads on the East Coast now. A real gem. Could see someone riding shine down that road for sure...
Can’t leave a pic of my scoot, but I ride all through there, down through WVA, out into Ohio Indian mound areas up north, and out through TN. I’m an Appalachia boy at heart. Always will be. Some things stick with you through everything, no matter how far they might set you apart from the noise of life.
One of my favorite hikes ever was a night hike in Cape Henlopen. Great recommendation! No social media should be a bragging right, better off is a great rec too.
Well written,except the cow part,unless ironically?
I would very much recommend John Michael Greers latest blog post. Where in fact despite making 6 figures as a writer,he has come to the opposite conclusion,has no social media presence,and states there is huge demand from smaller independent publishers.
I feel for you man. I came across your work on Substack and just read your posts as they come-your work is really great-I'm not on any other social media and so didn't realize you're in the harassed tier of humanity. That hamster wheel made of eyes that you're on is actually a circle of Hell, no doubt, and I hope you find a way off it that is sustaining and good.
Curious--do you see much benefit of being published if you have to do all the marketing, etc. yourself? And then get just a slice of royalty? Publishers now want every writer to be a sure thing and do all the work--their validation may not be worth it.
If you have a poet's soul, metrics will be the death of you. Writers, the wild ones, are shy exhibitionists and the 'shy' needs protection. It's a devil's deal, to have to be public all the time just to get people to read your work. I won't make that deal, myself, except in small, controlled ways. Maybe that'll fuck me as a writer, maybe it won't, I don't know, but as soon as my work starts to feel like 'content' it's time to find another life.
Also, you may want to check out Magazine Non Grata (on Substack). They have a print edition and are doing some cool things IRL. Anthony Marigold seems like a standup guy.
The question of whether trad publishing matters at all at this point is definitely a valid line of inquiry, Alex. Jury's out on that, I suppose -- though I do get the sense that if you can get at least ONE decently-selling traditionally-published book, it unlocks a certain type of legitimacy that one simply cannot access by other means. And in the era of AI -- I suspect anyone who aims to keep writing seriously is going to need all the help they can get, not just financially but in terms of finding avenues to get one's work before large audiences.
At the same time, of course, as the trad publishing world gets "tighter," the compromises one has to succeed in that world become more and more intense. Perhaps the gamble isn't worth it as of now. No idea. I'm going to try anyway; at a minimum I have a small press in mind that I'd like to work with.
In either case, thanks for reading Alex, God bless you.
Your struggle reminded me of Thom Yorke's conversation with Michael Stipe on the overwhelming pressures of public life (as a musician/performer) and how to pretend they're not there. They both wrote songs based on that conversation, one on Radiohead's KidA ("How to Disappear Completely") and R.E.M's "Disappear". You're not the first to struggle, once you figure out a secret, pass on your knowledge to today's influencers.
I would go to old new castle just to look around I grew up there and it is lovely given its buildings date back to the the 1700s I believe not all but many do
I wonder if you and Keturah could do something like the Amish "Budget" newspaper, for the non-Amish freethinkers, cultists, fringe groups, community-minded liberals, idealist housewives, conservatives, and anybody else. I would pay to read that!!
FTR, I plan on subscribing to the first round of physical written Hickman fare!
I was wondering what happened to you. I would pay for a written sort of newsletter/paper thing mailed to me. I am so tired of being on the computer. As always, sending luck to you.
Thank you dear friend. I never knew that all this time, my real tribe was the Wordless.
Take care of yourself and your family. Write when and what you want to write.
Thank you.
After reading this in my early morning bed I’ve decided to name my old new-to-me RV ‘OFFLINE’.
I don’t have any particular destination in mind when it’s completely operable though your description of Delaware as “just OK scenery“ illustrated by the three smiling guys against a background that I didn’t see is appealing. I don’t know how the story would develop or where it would lead but just to be in that moment, whatever the situation was, seems to me to be a memory worth the trip. Your idea of the IRL meeting place is intriguing. Maybe the spot you choose/build doesn’t even need a real name but ‘Thanksgiving’ sounds good to me. Just a quiet spot somewhere to stop and rest and be thankful.
Happy Trails.