I Was The Only One Who Knew I Quit – Writing Update by Greg Luti
Updated: 8 hours ago
A writing update about a private decision and what came after it. In “I Was The Only One Who Knew I Quit,” Greg Luti looks back at a moment when he stepped away from the work, then shares the changes he’s making to his newsletter, free posts, and the books he’s choosing to finish.
The Newsletter Scare
A few things have happened in the past week or so for me and my writing.
The first is that I had a bit of a scare with my email newsletter. For those who don’t know, the email newsletter is the lifeline of a writer. It is more important than social media or anything else, in terms of marketing. Without it, there is no real consistent way to get in front of readers.
What happened is that I was cleaning out my email newsletter, and I was notified that the site wanted to see about some of the spam on it, since I did import some of the list. I was nervous that I would end up losing all of the few readers I already had, but to make a long story short, I did not have that problem, and the email newsletter is now fine.
Why Newsletters Matter Again
I am not sure when email newsletters became such a big deal again, because I remember at one time they were very popular, then they went down in popularity, and then people started promoting them again. Now everyone has an email that you can sign up for to get updates on everything. There is the funny issue in that since everyone has an email newsletter, the possibility of a reader seeing that newsletter goes down. It is like that line from The Incredibles, “If everyone is a super, then no one is.”
Personally, I don’t get the people who have email newsletters that have thousands upon thousands of people…. I mean, I get that you can be popular and have an audience, but I sure as hell don’t know how to get one in that capacity.
Yeah, so instead of having no one read my newsletter, I now have four people: one of my family members, a person whose book I discussed with once, and me (twice). I click on it from different devices sometimes.
There is something fun and unique about being in the pocket of a reader and having them take a quick second to read an update or whatever it is I am writing on this site (probably stories). Like you are going to the grocery store deciding on whether to get cereal or not, or you are coming home from church, or you are at your lunch break, and then you see my email newsletter pop up.
“Oh boy! I gotta read how this guy has an issue with his email…!”
In hindsight, I am not sure if telling you about my problem with the email newsletter is as interesting as I thought it was. I can tell you that I was ecstatic when I got an email from the site during the middle of the day telling me that my email newsletter would not be restricted or stopped. Can you imagine after months of telling you about building the email newsletter, making it twice a week, that the newsletter is now gone… Damn, that would stink.
I Was the Only One Who Knew I Quit
It reminds me of a joke I heard from Rodney Dangerfield. “I quit. I tell you how I was doing the time I quit. I was the only one who knew I quit.” That is kind of where the writing is right now…
Making Most of the Site Free
I realized that I was doing a disservice to the few who actually read the email newsletter by having some of the stories behind a paywall, so I decided to only have book updates be for the literary club. The deal here is simple: all the short fiction and poetry, advice, and writing updates will be free for you to read, but the book updates will be a part of the literary club. I was thinking that I really don’t have the audience to charge people yet. I mean, I have all of four readers; why am I charging them to read some of my poems? That seemed silly to me, so when you get an email from me, you will be able to read most of it there.
I also had a few short pieces that I really liked the ending of, but the ending was behind a paywall, so not that many people got to read the piece in its entirety. I was there like, “Damn, this has such a good ending. I don’t know if I want this behind anything.” Now, you can read those endings.
Little Fires Is Not Happening
That gets me to another major update I wanted to tell you, and that is the flash fiction collection Little Fires is not going to happen, since I am making all of those flash fiction pieces free for you to read here. The book was nothing more than the fiction in book form. I really wasn’t adding much to it, so I felt it would be best to move on from it.
What is really funny about that update is that I was halfway done with proofreading the book, Little Fires. It was basically done, but then the issue with the email newsletter happened, and that made me second-guess how I handle the audience.
Focusing on One Book
Concerning the books, I am now focused on Hit of Henry, and a major goal I am working towards is to look it over every day, since I find I just run out of energy by the time the book comes up. After writing up a blog post, doing social media, and then taking care of business matters, I look at the clock and think, “Eh, I would like to have some sleep tonight.”
I am working on focusing on one book, and then having that book be the priority and then finishing it. I have so many ideas that I try to write everything all at once, and then I end up writing nothing.
Rocky and Passion
On a side note: did you know that Rocky was filmed in less than a month? Yeah, I know. I just learned that too. I guess that movie is proof that you can make something really great on a tight budget, with a tight schedule. The key, from what I gathered, is passion. If you care about what you do and give your all to it, then you will be able to do it.
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