Reflections, and What's To Come
Looking back, looking forward, and some site housekeeping
On November 1st of last year, I made a change to my online life… that became something bigger. Something more.
At that point I was highly frustrated. I had spent many, many years fragmenting my efforts into multiple platforms, and I never seemed to break ground on any of them. While I had managed to build a modest - ‘modest’ compared to others, at any rate - following on TikTok (once upon a time, their algorithm was amazing), the censoring and shadow-banning had gotten so wretched I felt like I was speaking into a void.
I needed to make a change.
So, on the fateful day just over a year ago, I did just that; I committed myself to channeling all of my time and energy into this venture here on Substack for one full month. At the time I had 90 subscribers who had signed up over the previous 18 months (most of whom coming from TikTok itself), and while I was grateful for those subscribers? I needed to see if I, as a writer by drive and trade, could grow this into something more.
Thus, I committed the month of November to Substack, and The Stone Age… and I made that commitment very public.
One month became two, becoming three, and on and on until today. And, I am grateful to say, the subscriber base has expanded beyond that 90 mark.
So many factors have gone into that; the growth of both Recommendations and Notes, the wonderful readers like you who have been gracious enough to ‘like,’ share, and comment upon my work, and the Paid Members whom literally make it possible for me to offer a majority of my posts paywall-free. Without these, I could not have done what I have done here.
But first, it had to start with me committing to the project, and putting in the work.
In that vein, I want to take this post to recommit myself to The Stone Age, and - again, very publicly - let you know of my plans for the next year. Here is a breakdown…
- The Three-Dot Tablet [TDT] is going to return as as a bi-weekly offering. It will be posted every two weeks (a minimum of 22 total editions annually), and drop on Friday evenings.
Going bi-weekly instead of doing the once-a-week thing will assure I have a fresh stable of stories from which to choose for each edition. Keep in mind, however, that the weeks on which I post can shift, depending on a variety of factors; during heavy news-cycles, for example, it is possible I will post a TDT two weeks in a row, while in lighter cycles the lull between editions could be more pronounced, especially in the summer months.
There will be one big change to the TDT, however, one which I discuss below. In the meantime, the next posting will be November 15.
- Stone Age WX [SAWX] will drop every Sunday (with a minimum of 48 total editions annually), with the posting times determined by whatever is happening on any given weekend. Obviously having a WX in the name means they will be weather related posts, giving you forecast trends for the entire work-week to come.
This is different from previous weather-related posts, in that those were focused only on the weekend. I started noticing, however, that people were visiting two or three days AFTER a forecast was viable, which made it kind of useless for them. By giving you a full work-week outlook, however, visiting the drop on a Tuesday will still have relevant information for you.
These will start anew November 10.
- The Icons series is finally getting on a schedule… sort of. I plan to post one of these stories at least once a month, though it could well be more frequently; times and dates will fluctuate, depending on what is going on - both in my world AND with the bigger ‘world’ - but it IS still coming.
- I am also planning to work on some ‘Extras’ into the mix here, with more of a focus on adding entertainment to this site. That means fresh meme-drops, groovy ‘jukebox’ posts, perhaps some new poetry, and maybe a fictional work or two as well. These will be random drops, which means when they get done… they will get offered.
- Of course, Written In Stone - the exclusive newsletter for paid Members - will continue to be presented every week, always being posted no later than Thursdays.
Which brings me to the change to the TDT mentioned above. I have talked here before about my desire to keep as much of The Stone Age open to all readers as possible, whilst still providing value to paid Members. This balancing act is one with which I have seen other writers struggle here - I have as well - but the format of the TDT allows me an opportunity to strive for that balance.
As such, with next edition of the TDT (and each edition to follow) will be a split drop. The first segment - known as the ‘Prime Cut’ - will be available for all to read in its entirety (I absolutely hate it when I hit a paywall in the middle of an article), while the rest of the stories will be exclusively for paid Members. This allows me to provide something for free subscribers, while giving additional value to those who are paid Members.
And speaking of ‘Members?’ You can now receive comped access to Member’s benefits, as I have now opened the ‘Referral Program’ which Substack provides us writers. For every share which becomes a subscriber, you get a ‘referral’ in your bank… and it only takes three referrals to get your first comped month. Visit the Leaderboard to get started, or click on the button below.
So that’s the plan for the next year; of course, as television networks occasionally cancel ‘underperforming’ shows, these are subject to change. With that noted, I look forward to expanding the offerings here at The Stone Age, and hope you all enjoy the journey ahead.
- Stone
Thank you so much for reading, and for the subscriptions, ‘likes,’ comments, and restacks. It all plays a vital role in sustaining and growing The Stone Age, thus I value each of you.
Notes…
-- Unless otherwise credited, all images were generated by the author, using Grok 2 (on X) or Substack’s AI Image Tool.
Congratulations on your ever growing success here on Substack @Stone Bryson! 👏👏👏 Bravo! Well deserved!✨💖🤗
Congratulations and best wishes for your future endeavors! 💐🎉👏 Thank you so much for keeping a portion of your writings free. Financially speaking, it’s been an incredibly devastating year+ for me and I appreciate every article that I can read. I always “Like” and “Restack” and hopefully next year the tide will turn and I can afford a few subscriptions.