The Light

I started this Substack five months ago with no plan other than to have a space to “write whatever I want.” I didn’t do a big packaged launch that established it as its own publication, and I did not (and still do not) plan on making it my primary source of income. Simply put: I needed a place to re-learn how to write.

When I published my first post here in December, I had no idea where my career was headed. I had just kamikaze’d my way out of one of the few remaining stable jobs in journalism and had no fallback plan. It was simply the crash landing of an exceptionally intense emotional spinout that began around this time last year.

I want to thank everyone who has read my work on Substack over the last few months. I have been amazed by how many of my sports journalism readers have stuck it out with me as I try something new. It has been equally amazing to find a new audience, too. It shocks me that anyone reads my work at all.

Personally, I value my time above all else, and I am stretched for financial resources. I know that I have to be selective about how I spend my time and money. The recognition that readers spend their precious time and, sometimes, actual money on consuming and supporting my work is deeply meaningful to me. My hope is that what I am writing here is worth it to the people who make the effort to read it.

The goal of every piece I write — as it has been throughout my career — is to present a perspective that may lead to even one reader seeing themselves in it. Maybe it allows someone to synthesize some disparate thoughts. In reality, I don’t actually know what my writing is trying to achieve. I just think we’re all connected more than we like to think.

So, thank you to the readers who are new to my work and to the ones who have long been acquainted with my writing tics and points of view. Those of you who subscribed at the start of this project have witnessed the rebuilding of my confidence, and hopefully the rebuilding of my writing.

To quote Leonard Cohen: There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

You have all provided a light for me during a very difficult time in my life. Thank you.