Why do I make things more complicated than they need to be?

I came up with this new weekly format where I write an essay, Kelly writes an essay, we jointly post about our most recent hike, then I even try to forecast what we’ll do the following weekend.

Now I can’t escape the feeling that it’s too long, and too much.

The thing is, looking through the posts list on my dashboard, I can already see what works. Out of more than 100 posts, there is one that very clearly stands out. It has significantly more views and even a higher email open rate than any other post.

San Diego Dog Beaches:

If I was smart (and that’s arguable sometimes), I wouldn’t need to invent a whole complicated format. We’d simply write a post every week about one of the many, many cool places we’ve been … whether it happened last weekend or three years ago.

(The San Diego Dog Beaches post was written about 8 months after our trip).

I already have the template. I already have the real-world feedback.

I know what our readership actually likes.

No “how to grow your substack” guru input even needed. 🙄

lol, and no stressful Wednesday evenings trying to make our prior weekend sound more awesome than it maybe was.

Some of our adventures ARE pretty interesting and amazing. But not every single weekend.