What Should I Write This Year?
That's Not a Rhetorical Question!
Note: If you want to skip all the reading, you can just take the survey.
I always want to know more about my audience — especially since about 12% of you weren’t here last week. The best way for me to decide what to write is to first figure out what it is you want to read.
As some of you know, I maintain a running note of essay ideas. This week, I’ve combed through that note and chosen the strongest 100 ideas. To be clear, these are essays to appear in the Topics section of the newsletter — not Kinetics or Notes.
My initial plan was to post this list and let you comment on your favorites, but this approach has at least two problems. First, the entries on the list are working titles or fragments of thesis statements. That’s enough for me to get the gist, but it would be absolute gibberish to you. Second, if you could somehow understand the gibberish, then you’d have a good sense of what’s coming down the pike — and where’s the fun in that? Instead, I’ve grouped each of these 100 ideas into one of ten categories.
I’ll admit that I have my own preferences, as might be suggested by the uneven distribution of the essay ideas. But the whole point of this exercise is to get some distance from my own biases. I want to understand your priorities. To do just that, I’ve put together a brief survey. It has three parts.
Ten rating scale questions for you to indicate your interest in each topic area on a scale of 1 to 5.
One long response box for you to offer any additional topic areas.
One multiple choice question for you to indicate your preferred essay length.
One short response for you to identify yourself, if you’d like to do so.
The survey closes on Thursday, January 22 at 11:59 p.m. EST. If I get enough responses to draw any conclusions, I’ll share those with you in a post on Friday, January 23.
While I’m excited by the prospect of having some quantitative data, I’m always grateful to receive qualitative feedback. If there’s anything on your mind, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Enjoy your long weekend,
JH