I have some news for you fine people. MidRange is a dead newsletter walking.
As I announced in the year-end issue of Tedium, I have decided to eventually shutter this newsletter to work on another project that I think will be slightly more of the times. And I’m not trying to have too many regrets about it.
A big reason for this comes down to a realization that the fact that one of the primary goals of this newsletter, the idea that this was supposed to creatively energize me, wasn’t happening. In fact, the opposite was happening—it was making it hard to get white space on other creative projects. Turns out, starting the day with a writing prompt, no matter how short, creates issues with having to decide what to write about on a daily basis.
The other big reason is that, as this newsletter has evolved into something of a “hot takes” newsletter, the takes have simply become too repetitive. There was a point when the news cycle allowed for more take-driven room for things, but creatively, there are only so many ways you can write about a failing billionaire before you feel like you are creatively at their mercy.
This email list will keep going—as mentioned, I do have an alternate creative project in the works that will publish less often but that will mine some of the same territory. In part, I want to give some energy to that project, which will be more specialized and less general, so something had to give. I decided, ultimately, that I’d rather keep doing two issues of Tedium each week, which has determined long-term value, and drop the quick-hit newsletter, which by design doesn’t.
But rather than shut MidRange down immediately, I realized that I had an opportunity of sorts to explore a certain creative mindset that is all too rare in this world—the limited-time creation mode, better known as “senioritis.”
See, MidRange’s second anniversary is the week of January 28th, which means that, to hit the anniversary, I need to write this for four more weeks.
I want some of that Conan-showing-off-a-Bugatti-Veyron-Mouse energy.
You know this is going to end. I know this is going to end. Does that ability to know how this ends create a fresh creative context that can be effectively mined? Are there topics in this newsletter that I might not have explored in the past that I now can? I certainly hope so.
I’m making a rule for myself in these last four weeks, in part because I think his whims have unfortunately shaped and in some ways soured this project, including my decision to move platforms midstream. The next four weeks, no Elon. He is overexposed. Let him fester like an uncooked prime rib in the sun somewhere else.
I have a few ideas as to what I hope to cover, but if there’s something you always thought would make an excellent issue of MidRange, let me know. I’d love to explore it. Just because this is ending doesn’t mean it needs to end on a low note.
Let’s go out with a bang.
Time limit given ⏲: 30 minutes
Time left on clock ⏲: 9 minutes, 44 seconds
