Earnings Call #0 -- Welcome to Memory Leak
Hello! My name's Spencer & there are many newsletters out there but this one is mine. Whether you're just passing through and checking out what I have to offer or are interested in sticking around as a reader in the long term, I'm happy you're here.
This domain has been live but inactive for quite a bit and before I start posting more regularly, I wanted to set some expectations around what Memory Leak is and what it isn't to make this relationship between author and audience as mutually beneficial as possible.
First of all – broadly speaking – Memory Leak is a roughly 2000 word media criticism column that will be delivered straight to your inbox every three months with a focus on craft, meant to develop a toolbox of skills to help established creatives develop a more sustainable practice and new creatives start off with as strong a foundation as possible in a media landscape defined by it's instability.
Every now and then, between the four main issues per year, you can also expect more casual updates like this, about the direction the newsletter is headed in, audience metrics, supporter incentives or what have you. The goal is for these to be more low-key posts that have a much quicker turnaround time that I can publish in-between the main issues should I want or need to.
I also fully acknowledge that I'm not always going to be the most timely of poster. Just in the time it's taken me to get this and the first official column written, America has entered a war with Iran. I'm not going to pretend as though I need to have some hot take on every little thing that happens out in the hellscape of a world that we live in (there are plenty of other people smarter than me that you can read or watch that can get more into the details as to why this is profoundly stupid) – but I'm also not going to pretend like this doesn't effect our ability to do creative work either. This site has a .us domain for fucks sake.
We all inherit a series of contexts. Should something be particularly relevant or of interest to what this newsletter is about, then there will be a space for it here (*cough* AI). Just do not expect this to be a place that only plays the game of algorithmically driven clickbait reactions.
At this point in time, Memory Leak isn't a project that employs a full-time staff. It doesn't have that old-media prestige of former editors at some larger outlet going independent and preserving some kind of coverage that institutions just don't have the space for anymore. Statistically speaking, if you even know who I am in the first place, it's probably because of some bitsy games I made and submitted for some fundraising bundles earlier this decade for the NAACP & Palestinian Aid/Relief.
For the foreseeable future, Memory Leak is the DIY, shoestring budget, small press/zine project of a single MA graduate/game dev/writer deconstructing their prior held beliefs around the creative process in the hopes it can model a better relationship towards art and culture than what was internalized for me and for others growing up. Ideally, though I would love to bring collaborators into the fold and guest post be it as members of the community or as folks more established in the field.
In terms of what you can expect for a content pipeline, I plan on starting with a series of posts covering some more broad, abstract elements of culture that can effect the creative process in a general sense regardless of the medium (such as the creative economy, how perspective effects what we do or don't make, the relative (in)accessibility of networking), then zoom in and get more into the specifics of my relationship with game development and writing.
Theoretically, four main posts a year shouldn't be the biggest hurdle to clear, but again, as this is a hobby horse of mine, I make no qualms about balancing the necessities of the newsletter with other elements of life. Should I be able to post more often than that – fantastic, but knowing how I work, the less amount of pressure put on myself the better.
A big part of why I'm pursuing a quarterly publishing schedule is because I also plan on uploading these posts as podcasts for people who prefer an auditory medium as well as editing snippets for promo on Instagram, for example.
Thank you for taking a chance with me. I have a lot of directions I would love to take this newsletter in the future, but if you find this content to be especially beneficial to you, $2.00 a month ($24.00 a year) gets you early access to articles before they're made available to everyone, and the ability to comment directly on articles on the site. If adding another subscription to your list of subscriptions is something that (understandably) isn't in the cards for you, then I also have a tip jar available for one time donations should you feel so moved.
I definitely appreciate the fact that we live in such economic times so please do not feel the pressure that I desperately need your money. I'm not here to tell you what to do with your life. This newsletter will be something that happens regardless but at the same time, your monetary support helps facilitate my ability to do this full time. While I appreciate that I don't control how others will take what I have to say here, on social media, for example – if you want me to pay attention to what you'd like to see me cover in the future, leaving a comment directly on the site is the best way to do that.
This should about cover it. Thank you again for being here – I'm really excited to get the ball rolling and see where this takes us.
Cheers,
sb
