Welcome to Steve's Substack
Adventures on the edge of whatever comes to mind.
I've been a political blogger for sixteen years, fourteen of them on GraniteGrok.com, where I have nearly 17,500 published posts. I have numerous other credits (Franklin Center for Public Policy, for example), positions on boards, and numerous submissions to other venues and portals that no longer exist.
At present, I am an author, editor, publisher, freelancer, and part-time support specialist for a tech company. Given that my dance card looks full, why would I create a Substack when I’m busy and have an established place to vent my spleen?
Sleep is overrated?
Well, That’s The Question, Isn’t It?
I’ve been writing to get things out of my head for a long time, so while politics was new (circa 2005-2008), putting thoughts on “paper” was not. Yes, paper. Actual paper. And not always the spat-out-of-a-printer variety, though I have fond memories of listening to the grinding cadence of a dot matrix converting my monochrome-monitor musings into something I could hold in my hand. I still have stacks of the stuff, printed and folded with the tear-away bits still clinging to the edges.
In other words, I’ve also had practice writing fiction and nonfiction, which is the point, and while not always well, it made a shift to political blogging easy.
So why this? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I subscribed to someone else’s, and Substack said, “Hey, baby. How would you like one of your own?” A devil and the angel appeared on each shoulder and said yes, and here we are.
But What Are You Going to Do With It?
What to do, what to do? I’m not sure. I feel as if I lack the escape velocity to get away from opinion pieces on news, politics, and culture. It swallows most mornings and more than a few evenings 24/7/366 (It is a leap year). There is, however, much more to life and writing than making fun of Proglodytes and the RINOs they lead around by the nose.
I picture the space filling up with other things: observations about the world, musings about day-to-day living, and sneak peeks at writing projects that might surprise my regular readers: stories of intrigue and adventure, some High Fantasy. And some politics.
Some of it will be subscriber-only (Steve’s still gotta eat).
Why Would I Bother?
I’m a huge fan of personal liberty and free markets, so it will be up to me to create value, and that might be the challenge that drew me to start a Substack. I want to produce something else worth subscribing to that isn’t just about politics. I’ve done okay in the political blogging space, but I can’t live on that—not yet. And there are limitations to a good brand that are inescapable. Grok’s brand is good, but it’s Grok!
So, this is my escape vehicle for the other stuff. A place to explore other genres, including projects I began almost thirty-five years ago (as well as - Yes! - some thoughts on current events). My job is to make it worth your time and perhaps a few bucks a month to see what’s next.
I hope you’ll join me and together we’ll discover what that looks like.