This short post is for aspiring essay writers

Not for general readers so you can feel free to skip it without any guilt at all

Who else has been stumbling around in the dark for months in the house of mirrors that is Substack, trying to figure out how to make a go of it? Who else is trying to learn how to write, but the hucksters tell you how to SELL?

I don’t know why it took me six months to think of this, but I just asked ChatGPT to tell me the names of 5 top writing experts on Substack, based on their academic qualifications, teaching experience, and publications.

Here are the names that came up, their qualifications, and their Substack links.

University affiliations plus their names and blog titles

1 - Harvard University - Jane Rosenszweig, Director of the Writing Center. Her blog is titled Writing Hacks. substack.com/@janerosen…

2 - Dartmouth College - Alexander Chee, and his blog title is, The Querent substack.com/@querent He has 18,000 subscribers

3 – Northwestern University and University of Iowa, Sarah Fay, 43,000 subscribers, substack.com/@sarahfay title Substack Writers at Work. A “Substack strategist.”

4 – Fairfield College, Kim Dana Kupperman, substack.com/@essayism Blog is titled Essayism

5 – Andrea Firth, Editor of Brevity. (brevity.wordpress.com/a…) The less said, the better. (kidding)

And a person whose essays I know, enjoy, and admire is

Diane Spechler, who writes a great blog titled Dispatches from the Road, dianaspechler.substack.com, and she teaches @ Cedar Crest College MFA