A most gracious Michael Maupin wrote this tonight, after chatting with a stranger for a bit:

Live in the world, but your Substack (and online life) is a part of it. They feed each other. You can’t be online all the time.

OPEN UP. Git yer ass outside.

I only really know Michael via Substack, but we’ve talked once on the phone awhile ago. Online met offline, at least by way of actual conversation late one night.

Same as Michael’s conversation with someone at a closing eatery. Stories shared, and he got a new subscriber to his newsletter. It’s not all about “growing our audience,” of course, but it all takes place one person at a time, whether you’re trying to run a store front, sell a record, or live a good life.