30-Second Read marks a milestone today. This Read is our 300th.
So, with your indulgence, we take just 30 seconds to reflect on this … these … morsels?
30SecondRead.com is a pandemic baby. It debuted in May 2020 – in the darkest period of lockdown idleness.
Its gestation began earlier. The first Reads appeared in 2018 in the newspaper where I was editor. A space on Page 2 needed filling, so I wrote daily reflections, each under 200 words. We labeled them “30-Second Read.”
Then in 2019, the rag’s corporate owner sacrificed me to shareholder interests – and eliminated my job. 30-Second Read died.
Since the Read’s resurrection, we’ve published every second day with few interruptions, each essay with exactly 180 words.
If you’re counting, that’s 54,000 words total – equivalent to a shortish novel requiring, if you’re bored and half nuts, about two-and-a-half hours to read.
Writers make each Read, and there have been eight: Max Badger, Dave Gauger, Liz Reardon Gauger, Thomas Gunning, Ron Javorsky, Emily Toth, Donna Yelverton. And me.
But you, our readers, make the Read possible. Thank you.
