The ice cream image will make sense when you finish reading the newsletter. I swear!
I’m feeling overwhelmed…
In a good way! Don’t worry, mom. I’m fine!
Last week was my first Equip Story newsletter. I sent out the email on Thursday to everyone who has subscribed to my old Adventure Snack newsletter on Substack. But I wanted to make sure all my Substack subscribers knew I’d switched over to WordPress. In theory, everyone should’ve gotten the first email, but when you switch systems, things can go haywire. (Imagine a 90s TV commercial where a girl in a lab coat and goggles shouts, “There’s been a mix-up at the newsletter laboratory!”) So on Friday I sent out a quick note on Substack saying I’d moved off the platform and if you didn’t get Equip Story in your inbox or your spam folder, you should probably re-subscribe.
I forgot that I get an email from WordPress every time I get a new subscriber. My inbox got flooded with dozens and dozens of subscriber sign-up emails! As an inbox zero person, it was a heartwarming nightmare!!! But in all seriousness, I want to take a moment to thank you for reading, commenting, replying, re-subscribing, and making me feel welcomed back after almost half a year away.
So, let me get you up to speed. My last post on Adventure Snack was in November. My Pokemon evolution finished last week, end of April. Five months is a long time to be cramped up in a pokeball. So, what happened? Why did my newsletter-morphosis take so long?
If you’re like, “Adventure What? I just got off the bus and I need a brochure.” That’s fair. Adventure Snack was an interactive fiction project where I published 100 short games in 4.5 years via email newsletter. At the end of last year, I wrote two newsletters: one about how I thought Adventure Snack went (it was a mixed success, one I’m proud of it) and the other about how my newsletter was going to change on a broad level.
Back in November, when I was first planning to launch Equip Story in late January, my hope was to make the transition as technically smooth as possible for readers. I was going to change the name, the header image, and my about page on Adventure Snack to “Equip Story” and keep writing on my pre-existing Substack account. Why mess with a good thing? Substack, as an organization, was very good to me personally and I’m grateful to them. I found a community of writers there who’ve become my friends, like Equip Story’s first commenter, Michael Estrin, who writes the hilarious newsletter Situation Normal. I’ve been to Substack sponsored drink-ups, events, and classes. Substack featured me three years in a row. One year they sent me a gift basket with a tote bag and a t-shirt. (I have too many tote bags and t-shirts. I tried to do the Marie Kondo thing on my t-shirts and every single one of them sparks joy apparently?)
However, last December, Substack’s top brass decided to pull down their pants and show the world their entire asses and corresponding holes. To summarize, when it was pointed out by news outlets that Substack not only allows white supremacist content on their platform, but encourages it by giving nazis the tools to profit from their newsletters – profit of which Substack takes a 10% cut – it sent me into a mini-crisis. Is it morally wrong to continue posting on Substack? If I leave Substack, where will I go? Don’t other newsletter platforms cost a ton of money to use, whereas Substack is free? What about the community I’m part of there? Why am I scrolling Substack’s Twitter clone Notes on the toilet for posts about nazis when I should be enjoying Christmas oh god?!
After talking with my family, friends, and fellow newsletter creators, I decided to leave Substack for a number of reasons – moral and technical. But I want to focus on one reason in particular: having fun.
I love starting a new project. It’s my favorite part of the creative process, where everything feels possible, and that’s thrilling. My second favorite part is finishing a project. There’s a satisfaction in that. The story ends. A sunset is walked off into. In a distant third is the horrible middle slog where you have to put in all the effort while doubting if the project will even succeed and asking yourself whether or not you’re a fraud. Hate you, Slog!
Okay, back to that first one: starting fresh. Imagine drawing on a blank sheet of paper. That’s fun! You can draw anything you want, at any size, with any materials you want. Now imagine drawing on a W-9 form from the IRS. The page is already filled with text, so there isn’t a lot of space to let your imagination go wild, and the pre-existing text reminds you of income inequality and how you pay more in taxes than many multinational corporations. (By the way, if you’re reading this and thinking you want to start doodling on IRS forms just to see what that looks like, you’re my people and please leave a comment linking to your creation.)
What I realized was that rejiggering the old Adventure Snack site would be like drawing on a W-9. Substack has a lot of limitations when it comes to image and text formatting. All the newsletters and their websites have to follow strict guidelines. Before I knew I was leaving Substack, I worked with a terrific graphic designer, Mike Reddy, on the Equip Story branding. He asked me questions like, “What kind of font do you want to use on your site?” and I was like, “I’m locked into, like, three choices with Substack and none of them spark joy, unlike my promotional t-shirt for the film Wild Hogs.” It was a bummer.
When I decided to send newsletters through WordPress (if anyone’s curious, I’m using WordPress + The Newsletter Plugin + Postmark and it costs me $15/mo to send newsletters, which is more than free but still pretty affordable), it opened up a world of possibilities. I could design a home page with a unique design. I can use fonts and colors that express the vision of the project. And when I send an email to you, I don’t have to worry about whether my writing will somehow algorithmically lead you down a white supremacy or anti-science rabbit hole. The only rabbit hole I want you to go down is into the world of VCR board games, but that’s for another newsletter.
Also, I’m still going to Substack meet-ups in LA. I didn’t get ex-communicated for leaving the Churchstack. (Subchurch? Eh, neither work.) My fellow writers are curious about life outside the ‘stack and I’m happy to explain why and how I left. The irony is that I was an early adopter to Substack. I told many creators why having a Substack was a good idea, and now, five years later, I’m telling creators why it’s a good idea to leave Substack. *Weary Sigh*
To design a WordPress site from scratch, research the plugins, find an email service provider – it took a lot of extra effort. I started a new job as the Narrative Lead for a game studio, so finding pockets of free time to build the site was a challenge in and of itself. And the launch wasn’t perfect. There was some kind of issue with sending my emails through a company called MailerSend that dropped the spaces betweenwords randomly like that and ihateitaaaaah. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again on this newsletter or I will crawl under a blanket and do some cool screaming today.
So there were trade-offs with starting fresh. I had to work a lot harder to launch, and I’m still ironing out the kinks, but in the end, I don’t regret a thing. In fact, it was a joyful experience, all told. I had a lot of fun designing the email template, sourcing pixel art, and allowing my vision for Equip Story to fill a whole page, rather than squeezing it into a box. It’s like when you make yourself a banana split at home. Sure, you could just eat ice cream out of the carton, but with a little more work – peeling a banana, finding a long bowl, unfreezing the maraschino cherries lost in the back of your refrigerator – now you’re living like a goddamn Archie comics protagonist.
Ironically, when I play games, I’m an “Easy Mode” / “Story Mode” kind of guy, but completing a creative task in “Hard Mode” definitely has its rewards.
🔌 Plug: I wrote an article for Twist Tales with my 5 tips on game writing, plus my pitch for an audio-only Mega Man game.
📨 Next Week: Go down the warp pipe into the hidden level in Super Mario Bros. that inspired my new philosophy on creativity.
🎲 Your Turn: What creative projects have you been up to in 2024? Reply to this email. Or share with the world by hitting the comment button below.
Image Credit: freepik
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