I Start To Write My Newsletters

1. Reason

1.1. Reflection

As mentioned in 自说自话 Weekly Review and 关于这封 newsletter, since the college entrance exams, I have not written down anything for a long time excluding the exams.

Reviewing the information channels I have subscribed to, I have almost always received information passively from platforms such as WeChat and Weibo. Although it is easy to view on phones, the platforms are often filled with irrelevant information, which is sometimes bothering.

In my sophomore year, I was introduced to blogs, news aggregators like “今日热榜”, and videos. During my postgraduate period, I was introduced to newsletters and podcasts that surprised me with their usage of links.

In addition, there is actually a lot of exciting literature besides the hardcore articles. But apart from group meetings, I don’t try to share interesting articles with others before.

1.2. Availability

Soon after I started contacting the newsletter, I felt that it was not that difficult, as there are ready-made platforms. Compared to video, the threshold of creation has been lowered a lot. Why not give it a try?

I also listen to a podcast episode in which Kecheng Fang divides newsletters into three categories, that is curation, diary, and professional content in specific areas. The curation newsletter has the lowest threshold and is the most open and easy to write among the three categories.

#198 反抗平台，与老派传播形式的复兴

▼主要话题 [02:24] newsletter/电子报：群发的 email [08:44] 算法分发给信息生态带来的问题：碎片化、标题党、隐私侵犯 [13:36] 在美国，Substack 是怎么火起来的 [22:24] 「平台拥有人」的时代或将结束 [30:28] 个体的生动叙述，会有更亲密的内容联结 [37:49] 阅读之外，也来做 newsletter 创作者吧！ [44:59] newsletter 的商业生态会怎么演化 [50:15] 在国内做付费订阅，选好 newsletter 订阅工具有点难

https://etw.fm/198

While reading important papers I always make notes using templates. Even I want to share the papers in my newsletter, the workload is acceptable.

1.3. Practice My Output

It feels terrible to write e-mails to professors with limited writing experience. During my internship and academic period, I wrote e-mails to both domestic and foreign professors asking for advice. But either I couldn’t figure out how to express my confusion and organize the words together, or my e-mails are mixed with nonsense and Chinglish.

I favor some newsletters and try to write replies but struggle with how to express my favor. I tried to write a reply to 若有所播丨To Be Podcasting after having class and receive a reply saying “Don’t explain, just feel.”

1.4. Satisfy The Desire To Share

It’s said that if I can’t retell the knowledge in my own words, I haven’t mastered it. It’s mentioned in The 3-2-1 Newsletter that “If you can't learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details.” Although this quote is taken out of context, all of the above reinforces the question in my mind. “Why not give it a try?”

I have shared some interesting news and information with my good friends before, and I have forwarded some newsletters to them. So I think it’s kind of an early experiment for my personal newsletter.

I hope sharing will not only satisfy my desire to share but also be a channel for me to meet new friends.