Why Is Branding So Difficult?

This Week In Writing began as the weekly newsletter for The Writing Cooperative, the Medium publication I co-founded. It began as a very short (three-paragraph) take on a writing topic and links to related articles in the publication. The newsletter was pretty simple to write, and I could knock out a month in one sitting.

Then, sometime in late 2022 or early 2023, I changed the format for This Week In Writing and started exploring topics in more depth. The newsletter became less about the publication and more about exploring what it means to create. Topics weren't limited to writing and expanded to all types of creativity.

Frankly, writing the newsletter became a lot more fun.

I found a different voice, and, as a result, a lot more of you started reading and responding. As This Week In Writing continued to grow, the depth in which I explored topics did, too. I threw thousands of words over multiple issues, exploring crumbling platforms and building our own place online.

As my weekly writing took on new depth and direction, it pretty much stopped focusing solely on writing, let alone what specifically happened that week. So, I guess you can say I outgrew This Week In Writing.

Around the same time I launched This Week In Writing, I also launched This Just In, my personal newsletter. Thinking about it now, I guess I have something for the word "this." Anyway, This Just In focused on my thoughts on a bunch of different topics.

As I grew into the expansion of This Week In Writing, This Just In kind of dwindled. At some point, I even sunset This Just In so I could devote more attention to This Week In Writing.

As they say, wait long enough, and everything comes back into style.

I've rebranded This Week In Writing to This Just In to merge the two newsletters. Here's the fun part: nothing will change about the topics I cover. I'll continue to focus on creativity, building an audience, and all of the challenges that come along the way. Rebranding to This Just In gives me more room for creativity, plus I love a good pun.

If you subscribe solely for news about The Writing Cooperative, I guess I'm sorry? I mean, if there's something worth mentioning, I'll still share it. This newsletter just isn't only about the publication. Not that it has been for some time now.

Anyway, welcome to the new old This Just In, and I hope I didn't thoroughly confuse you with the overabundance of the word this.

Speaking of Branding...

I went to Disney this weekend to see the Country Bears Jamboree one last time before it closes for refurbishment soon. If you're unfamiliar, Country Bears is an old-fashioned variety show where drunk animatronic bears sing old folk songs. You've never lived until you've seen a bear sing, "All the guys who turn me on turn me down."

I guess drunk bears isn't exactly the image Disney wants to portray these days. So, they're shutting down the show for a while and bringing it back to have the bears sing Disney songs. Which, I guess makes sense but won't be as fun.

It also goes to show that what might have worked at one time changes with time. Country Bears might have been a hit in the '70s when Disney opened. But 50 years later, drunk bears singing about blood on the saddle just hit differently.

Pour one out for the end of an era.