Hello.

Some of you haven't received anything from me in two years, so here's the deal: if you're getting this email and don't want it, I'll save you the scroll. You can unsubscribe here:

Or you can keep reading and and decide if you want to keep getting emails from me.

In The Rearview

​​22 (More) Guru-Free Tips for Freelance Writers​ - This is the second installment after two more years of full-time freelance writing. The original ​33 tips​, thanks to good SEO, is one of the most popular things I've ever written. There's also a major life update in there that I'll talk about in a minute.

​​Sport Clips: Where MEN Go to Get A Haircut​ - My third humor piece published in Slackjaw (and first in about three years), this is an adaptation to a bit I was doing in my standup comedy routine. It gets pretty absurd and inappropriate towards the end.

​​Pickleball: A Guide for Those Who Are Confused​ - Another humor article in Points In Case about the fad sport that I really, truly just don't get the hype about. (This coming from a former physical education teacher).

​​It Might Not Seem Like It Based On Our Lack of Interest or Initiative, But We're Hiring!​ - A horribly long title really screwed the reach up on this one, which I was afraid of. (The weird graphic didn't help either.) But pound for pound, this is one of the funniest things I've ever written. If you've applied for a new job in the last few years, you might like it.

Down the Road

First, I've got a lot more writing in the pipeline than usual right now. I'm actively shopping two essays and one feature-length story (7,000+ words) that I've been working on since January. The feature took me longer to research than my last book and is unlike anything I've ever written. Wherever it ends up, I'm excited to share it.

Second, and maybe this is obvious by now, I'm recommitting to my newsletter. Two, newsletters, in fact. This one—which I'm calling The Long Road—and another called Market Yourself Without Hating Yourself (or MYWHY).

Here's the difference:

• The Long Road (this email): A monthly roundup of things I (Ben Kissam) wrote and am working on.
• MYWHY: A free weekly post on Substack where I (still Ben Kissam) write about how you can stand out without feeling like you have to sell out or become a slave to the social media algorithms. If you're not creative or interested in building or selling things online, mywhy probably isn't for you. You can read the first few emails and/or subscribe to that ​here​.

Finally, some life updates. I moved to New York City last November. Pretty quickly, I put standup comedy on the back burner, at least for now. I also took my first full-time job since 2018 working for a startup. MYWHY is basically a place to share marketing strategies I've been using with my clients the last five years.

That's it! Going forward, I'll send The Long Road (my writing roundup newsletter) out the first Friday of every month. You'll hear from me again on October 6.

Until then,

Ben Kissam