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About What Means To Be Free in Writing
May the real writers resist these sore times
If there’s one thing that excites me about the Portuguese community growing now on Substack, it’s the fact that we don’t fall into the obsession with “success” formulas — “how to monetize my writing” or, to me, the most ridiculous of all: “learn from me how to gain subscribers and grow your Substack.”
But we all know that this kind of “writing” proliferates in the Anglo-Saxon world.
Personally, I find it sad. But not just that — it also irritates me.
I feel like saying: “Oh, come on, stop it already and take your weird marketing elsewhere. Leave only the real stories for me.”
But the damn algorithm is persistent, and they always show up, even when I make a point of not following them.
I know, I know.
Many will say: “Araci, they’re the ones who are right; we all need money” or “It’s the Portuguese who don’t know how to invest or think about financial returns.”
My friends, I have nothing against being paid fairly for work. I’m the first to defend that. But when I see those titles, what I read in them is something else: despair.
