Shoulda been a tweet: Craig Mod

Craig Mod is an author, writer, walker, philosopher, and photographer living in Japan. I think I first heard of him through Daniel Milnor, but now I see references to him everywhere, often in relation to the huge resurgence in newsletters. A rare glimmer of hope for journalism and independent writers. Substack, Medium, Patreon, etc. If you visit the LA Times or New York Times, you'll see several references to newsletters. (Initial title had interview in it - intended to link to an interview he gave. But when I chose another link, I realized the title sounded click baity - sorry if you got baited.)

After four years of sporadic blogging, holding the blog at arm's length for the first two years, I realized that I very much enjoyed it. I reckoned I should get more disciplined with it (and with a lot of things). Craig Mod's essays about independent writing and newsletters have been valuable. But not nearly as valuable as his writing about life.

I've been in cruise control for a while now. After I left my USG gig, my sense of direction has been a bit off. Craig Mod's writing is compelling, makes you think. Being on cruise control might be easy, but it's not rewarding.

Here's a good example - A Retreat, a Walk, SMS Publishing, Advice to a Young Me