You're invited - a launch party for my colleague Wendy Weitzel

Come celebrate Wendy's incredible success with Comings & Goings on Substack

Jun 14, 2024

I was touched beyond words a few weeks ago when Wendy headlined her final newspaper column, "Why I said goodbye to the newspaper I loved," and wrote, "This is my last Comings and Goings column for The Davis Enterprise. In support of my colleague Bob Dunning, I'm leaving the newspaper I've loved for 25 years."

As many of you know, my dear friend and longtime colleague Wendy Weitzel has recently joined me on this tremendous platform called Substack, where journalists are compensated strictly by how many paid subscribers they have attracted.

And let's just say that Wendy's early numbers are off the charts, not surprising given that she wrote the enormously popular Comings & Goings column for the local newspaper for nearly 25 years.

First, I should explain that word "joined." By that I mean the two of us are on Substack, but our columns are completely separate and we are each responsible for attracting our own audience.

As such, Wendy is inviting everyone, subscribers or not, to her launch party on Saturday, June 22, from 4 to 6 p.m., upstairs at the Odd Fellows Hall at 415 Second Street in Downtown Davis.

Cookies, lemonade, iced tea, no-host bar, a couple of short speeches, numerous bright smiles and a considerable amount of fun. A perfect thing to do on a summer afternoon.

She's asked me to MC and I'm thrilled to oblige.

After all, I was touched beyond words a few weeks ago when Wendy headlined her final newspaper column, "Why I said goodbye to the newspaper I loved," and wrote, "This is my last Comings and Goings column for The Davis Enterprise. In support of my colleague Bob Dunning, I'm leaving the newspaper I've loved for 25 years."

Those words went straight to my heart. Her show of solidarity with a fellow journalist helped me through what was an incredibly difficult time in my professional life.

Joined at the hip? Despite appearances, Bob Dunning and Wendy Weitzel are not joined at the hip, but they are indeed both now writing their respective columns on Substack, a subscription-based international platform.

At that point, she couldn't have known the success that awaited her on Substack.

Purely and simply, she did what she did because she felt it was the right thing to do.

However, although Wendy's the wordsmith here, I'll dispute that word "launch."

Given that Wendy now has over 1,000 paid subscribers, is already a Substack "Bestseller" and is listed as No. 40 worldwide for business publications on this esteemed platform, I think she's already launched and is probably now in orbit around the earth.