The Maiden Voyage of Moby Bytes!
A substack for those who cheered for the whale...
You Are My Favorites
Because you were the first to sign up. Thank you for subscribing to this experiment.
Little known fact: My journey as a writer began as the senior editor for an online college community (see photo) created before Facebook, but which crashed and burned in the “dot com bomb” mere months before it was due to go public.
I cashed out my stock options just in time and had the choice to pay off my college loans or travel the world for a few years. Guess what I did?
(Hint: I’m still paying off my college loans.)
So this isn’t my first newsletter-rodeo, but it IS the first time I get to write whatever I want (probably water-related), whenever I want (1x a month as I feel this out), and however I want (some profanity and intentional reversals of lower and uppercase letters to be expected).
Because I’m finally old enough to break the rules.
1. Algorithms suck.
I hate playing the algo-game and created this substack because sometimes I just want have a direct chat with friends. I do hope this will be more of a conversation than an essay. I write enough of those. ;)
But what might you get out of this?
Some hand-holding through eco-grief. (It’s better together.)
Some writing tips from the deep end. I’ve learned a few things in my non-MFA-non-“canon” path. Things I can share.
Some Underwater Creature Features. Because nothing makes me smile wider than a muck dive and glimpse of otherwise unfathomable life.
Other things. Gotta start somewhere and expect it to evolve. So plan on that.
2. Be My Pod
Spoiler alert for my book (MY OCEANS, forthcoming from NUPress/Curbstone Books, Sp’ 25): Community is our only way through climate crisis.
Moby Bytes is one place I’m building my superpod. So, thanks for making me feel less alone. And please share with a friend who needs more pod in their life.
Etymology
super- + pod
Noun
1. Name given to a large group of Killer Whales or Dolphins from different extended families [known as pods]
3. Creature Feature
Just stop, watch this, and tell me the world isn’t fantastic…
fantastic
[ fan-tas-tik ]
adjective
conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination
extravagantly fanciful; marvelous
highly unrealistic (*in the best way)
Some more FANTASTIC links, books, & seaweedy things:
Antarctica the Woman, by Stephanie Krzywonos at Emergence Magazine.
Touched Out, by Amanda Montei of the equally fabulous
4m Video of Ursula K. Le Guin talking about the fantastic (from Arwen Curry)
4. Let’s keep this chatty…
Something else? Leave an idea in the comments or just drop by and say hi!
Omg welcome to Substack!
quiz should include "all of the above" - that's what I voted for in my mind!