So I guess this is happening
Please allow me to be the first* person to enter the exciting world of newslettering
So I’m going to do the very original, not-at-all trendy thing of making a newsletter.
Who am I?
Quick bio: I’m Scott Bell, a 34-year-old sports editor in Dallas. If you’re here, you probably know me from my “other” Twitter account, which is reserved for Michigan sports musings, jokes about rival programs and other general tomfoolery. My account with the nice, shiny blue verified checkmark can be found here, and covers more Dallas-centric stuff that helps pay the bills.
I’ve been in Dallas for a decade now. Prior to that, I was the sports editor and columnist for the Michigan Daily, U-M’s campus newspaper. Upon graduation, I worked a couple years at the Detroit Free Press before heading down to Texas.
I take journalism very seriously, but I also cherish the opportunity to still be a fan of my alma mater — something that’s obviously a no-no when you’re physically covering the team. So now that I’m covering teams in the Lone Star State and there’s no conflict of interest when it comes to Michigan sports, I use my “other” Twitter account as my outlet for Michigan sports.
Why a newsletter?
My Michigan sports musings are typically confined to Twitter and to anyone who’s stupid enough to respond to my text messages during tense moments of games. I’d like to expand that a bit and create a space where I can share some thoughts on a platform that allows me to ramble a lot, which I tend to do. It also gives me an opportunity to spend less time on Twitter, which should be any sane person’s end goal.
What’s the plan?
The tentative plan is to just start out with a weekly mailbag. Over the last couple of months, I’ve tried taking questions from followers on Twitter for 30-45 minute windows every week or so. I’ve really enjoyed that engagement and the wide variety of questions I’ve gotten — whether it’s sports-related or not, serious or ridiculous, something that requires one word or multiple tweets. So once I get ~500 people to subscribe, I hope to have a weekly mailbag go out on this platform. Sometimes I’ll tackle 10 or more questions. Other times I might just really sink my teeth into one or two questions that are particularly thought-provoking and require 500 or more words.
Where this goes from there? Who knows. But if you’re intrigued, sign up and give it a shot and we’ll see where this goes together.
— Scott