Over the past few years, Learned has evolved and grown and changed. What started as a small blog documenting my own learning experiences as an adult became a chronicle of my professional development as I went back to school and got my master's degree. From there, it's led me deeper and deeper into linguistics and etymology and I have really enjoyed the ride. But I've also reached a crossroads of sorts.
I've always wanted to write a book. I just didn't know what to write about. Only, as it turns out, I did know what to write about if I just took it a week at a time following my own interests. Now it's time to find out if I can turn that weekly writing into something greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, I want to take a step back from Learned and see if I can figure out how to turn this passion project into something more, something bigger.
I have no idea if I'll be able to do it. Frankly, that is both terrifying and thrilling. I mean, I don’t know how to write a book. I’ve never done it before. What’s more, I’m not sure that six months is long enough to really write a book; more realistically, I’m hoping that at the end of six months, I’ll have a solid book proposal I can begin shopping around with full confidence that I can actually write the thing if someone buys it. But, most importantly however, is that I do know I can't write Learned on its current schedule while also trying to re-examine the past six and half years worth of writing to see if there is something book-like that can be extracted.
What that means for you, my deeply appreciated readers, is that Learned is going to get a lot more sporadic over the next few months. In fact, this will probably be the last Monday evening post for a while.
However...
When I started writing Also this past summer, I didn't expect it to connect with people quite like it has. Each post has created some interesting conversation and discussion with people online and in real life. I want to do more of that. And I will.
Meanwhile, in service of trying-to-make-a-book, I'll be adding a new section called Revision that will revisit some of my topics and articles from earlier on in the newsletter's history; these won't be reposts, these essays will use my old essays as launching points to see what's new with a given topic and to see how I feel about that topic as part of a larger whole.
So, why am I telling you this? Because I want your input. Below, you'll see a poll where I ask what topics you'd like to see more of - etymology, linguistics news, linguistic theory and how to, life as an expat, and so on. If you have a moment, please consider voting; I don't promise to write any more or any less about any of the topics than I do already, but I would like to know what you're all interested in. I'm hoping it'll help steer me towards finding the right idea for a book.
Here's the poll.:
So, with that out of the way, it remains only for me to thank you again and as always for reading and for putting up with the ever-changing newsletter that is Learned. I'll be back in a few days with another edition of Also and with the first of the Revision newsletters. Thank you so much,
Joel
October 2023
P.S. You know there are over 300 back-issues of Learned, right? And at an average of 1,000 words a post, that’s, like, a lot of words about a lot of things. So take this as both a request and as advice - go through the archives. There is a lot in there. And if you find something you want me to write more about, make sure to let me know.