Between research for Comics Plus (aka, the day job) and many hours of the wonderful Mangasplaining podcast, I've been able to zero in on stories that are most likely to be up my alley without putting too big a dent in my wallet. As a result, manga has become the majority of what I've read and enjoyed this year.
This time around, we skipped the origin story and jumped right into things. Epp let me rattle on about Comics Plus (aka the day job), Panorama Project and libraries, DOJ vs. PRH, and Twitter — and then cleaned it all up so I sound reasonably coherent. It's also on video this time, which caught me by surprise as you may be able to tell from the hat I'm wearing — I was a couple of weeks overdue for a haircut!
Of course, like quitting smoking or other addictions — and let's be honest, for some of us, Twitter had become an unhealthy addiction — it's left a gaping hole in my life. Over the years, Twitter had evolved into my main source of current events, engagement with topics of interest, and connections with people I've known for years but am unlikely to see in person any time soon. The spoke became a hub, something the marketer in me knew was very wrong.
I’m still not sure what I’m planning to do with my Twitter presence, but I’ve decided to make a related jump and move my newsletter from Revue (now owned by you-know-who) over to Substack.
Twitter is an irreplaceable platform for me, and I recently learned I'm among its small minority of "heavy users" who drive the platform's revenue. I've invested 14+ years and more than 51,000 tweets in curating an optimal feed that keeps me informed, entertained, visible and connected to the topics I care about most, and more importantly, other people who share those interests. I'm not as active as I used to be, but I'm still way more active than the vast majority of users, even among those I follow.