Dave Barry, if you are not familiar, is a fantastically funny and successful author and columnist. He wrote a weekly, syndicated column for the Miami Herald for 20+ years, won a Pulitzer Prize, etc.

He took a 20-year break from weekly columns and is now back on Substack.

Unfortunately, his column this past Friday just wasn’t that good. Fortunately, it came packaged with two important newsletter lessons…

#1. Even a giant like Dave Barry can have an off week.

So stop criticizing your own writing if whatever you are working on today doesn’t feel as good as what you did last month. That’s what they invented “next time” for.

#2. He published anyway.

Dave publishes every Friday. No. Matter. What.

Maybe he also thought what he wrote wasn’t that good. But he sent it anyway.

Likewise, our publishing schedule is for us, not our readers (they are unaware of it). As artist Chuck Close famously said, “Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.”

Do your best. Stay on schedule. Push send. Write the next one.