Why I write such excellent posts

It's a Nietzsche reference, look it up ... also "slow boring" is about Max Weber

My little joke at the top of last week’s post about Northeast Corridor high-speed rail prompted some interesting discussion in the comments about Slow Boring’s mix of content. And although I’ve written in the past about my philosophical priorities in terms of covering the Trump era, that discussion made me realize that some readers might be interested in my more practical thoughts on editorial strategy, especially as more and more writers think about pivoting their career in the independent direction.

Our approach isn’t the only one that works on Substack, of course, or the only genre of content that sells. But I do think that a lot of what works for Slow Boring probably also applies to audiences that don’t necessarily share my tastes, interests, or political views.

I think this starts with the fact that it takes a certain personality type to succeed here:

• It helps to be able to write fast, but regardless of pace, I think it’s crucial that you genuinely enjoy writing.

• You have to have thick skin and be willing to get yelled at by lots of people without counting on institutional support to cushion the blow.

• It’s also good to be flexible, because the news environment is always shifting, and you can’t really afford to just let your beat go on the back-burner while someone else hogs the front page.

Those personality attributes, though, are good for a lot of internet-type activities. They were helpful for old-fashioned blogging, they’re good for having a lively Twitter or Bluesky feed. It’s just the nature of being a lone wolf on the internet.

But on Substack, given the more formal nature of publishing columns rather than tweets, I also try to be thoughtful about what we post. To that end, I like to use a three-pronged test for article ideas:

1. Is this idea interesting?

2. Am I the right person to write this article?

3. Is this an idea that I feel proud of?

Not everything can be a three-point banger. Ideally, though, you come up with an idea that really spikes on at least one of those tests and is good enough on the other two.

Is this interesting?

On one level, it’s obvious that articles should be interesting rather than boring.

On another, I think that actually goes against a lot of deeply ingrained instincts.