ENTICE: Substack 2 word challenge

I-talk: Thinking about the smallest word in any writer’s dictionary

Newsletters live in the realm of personal communication, even when they focus on data and information: a dance between “I” and “You.” However, the lead, the reason for the newsletter, is “You,” otherwise we’re just writing a diary and hoping someone will peek over our shoulders.

We talk a lot about the power of first sentences … however, I’m wondering if the first two words are also an indicator of the direction to come. To get a better sense of how we begin our posts, I looked at the first two words (after the salutation, if any) of the newsletters backed up in my inbox and here’s what I found … a lot of what I’m calling “I-talk.” First the Substack newsletters;

I’m sharing

I’m reading

We were

I’m currently

The 1950s

One of 

This week

There’s something

We are

One night 

Prior to

Today, I 

I was 

My new

Quickly: Many

You might 

Things feel

As I 

I did

I wondered how I would fare on this same examination. Here’s my last 10:

When my

Many of

One lonely

YAY! Field

Substack Guides:

What an

I am

This year

Substack is

I was

The volume of “I-talk” surprised me (mine as well as others). Yes, this is a personal connection form of communication and we need to connect and build relationships. Yes, we need to write about and share our life lessons. Yes, we will inevitably use “I.” However …

Is there a message here?

Please … let us hear from some of you writing craft experts. Is this something we should be more conscious of? 

Are the first two words we use somewhat like sign posts pointing us down a path? Not bad things; maybe just tools to sharpen and understand.

How about a challenge? 

Look at your last 5 or 10 posts and note the two words that start them. What do you think about the power of those first two words … feel free to share some of your first two-word entries of a post that managed to skirt around the “I-talk.”

P.S. The non-Substack newsletters I receive do not seem to reflect this level of “I-talk. They are much more removed, perhaps because they are on more of a commercial path. Here are just a few examples:

Please find

There's something

Have you 

After the

If someone

Before we

You might 

In life

Every creator's

If the

Father Richard

Things feel

In the meantime … a word from Ray Bradbury:

"I am a dedicated madman, and that becomes its own training. If you can't resist, if the typewriter is like candy to you, you train yourself for a lifetime. Every single day of your life, some wild new thing to be done.

“You write to please yourself. You write for the joy of writing. Then your public reads you and it begins to gather around your selling a potato peeler in an alley, you know.

“The enthusiasm, the joy itself draws me. So that means every day of my life I've written. When the joy stops, I'll stop writing."