How to Write Evergreen Content

(A Guide for Gen Gamma)

Feb 17, 2026

This being the 12th article I’ve written on Substack (plus a couple short posts with my parody song videos), I’m finally starting to shed some of that imposter syndrome that some people talk about when they’re just starting on a giant venture like starting a Substack or training for the Olympics. I say “some people”, because I of course don’t have any imposter syndrome. Never had it. I’m just not the kinda guy who needs imposter syndrome. Sure, I pretend to have imposter syndrome. And I do a pretty good job of pretending. Along with all the other things I pretend about myself.

But I did think that once I got past 10 articles, the ideas would start to flow. I thought by now, writing these things would no longer make me feel like I’m snowed in at some remote mountain lodge, typing “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” over and over and over again, waiting for some new idea to emerge but instead I feel like I have to take an axe to the door inside my mind that’s separating me from my next Substack idea…or my very sanity. Hey…that’s a pretty great metaphor. I should write that. Who says all the good ideas are taken?

So, no, it’s not effortless yet. And that’s okay. But because it takes some work to write these things, I do want to make sure that when I finally have more readers than I have fingers and toes, the topics haven’t stopped being relevant. My 2nd article was about Thanksgiving, and already, less than two months later, nobody is talking about Thanksgiving anymore. What was I thinking? And I have no guarantee that Thanksgiving is even going to keep being a holiday. By this time next year people might’ve decided there’s not enough stuff to be thankful for, and just ditch the whole holiday. And there goes my entire Thanksgiving-themed Substack article - right into the shitter, along with Columbus Day, Lincoln’s AND Washington’s Birthdays, Yugoslavia Day, and even the once beloved holiday of Lupercalia, a Roman fertility festival in mid-February featuring naked priests running around whipping people with goat skins. Any holiday can be axed at any time. (That, by the way, is my 2nd mention of axes in this article, but not my final one.)

So I’m not going to make that mistake again. From this point forward, I will strive to make sure that all my Substack articles are “Evergreen”. That’s a news term I learned during my days (okay, years) working at LA CityView 35, the city news channel Los Angeles, that you might’ve seen if you were channel surfing up the dial of your cable box back when that was a thing people would do. Evergreen stories are pieces that never go bad. You can air them at any time. And even re-air them when you suddenly have to axe your story on the new traffic light being installed at Ventura and Lankershim when the new traffic light budget dries up.

So my Substack stories will all be Evergreen from now on. That way I’ll never have to worry about something I’ve written no longer being relevant. Here’s an example. If you look at the last thing I posted, you’ll see it’s a parody song I wrote to the tune of “Little Red Corvette” by Prince. It’s a song about Covid that I wrote during the Covid Shutdown of 2020. Not Evergreen. Big mistake.

If you write about the present, that’ll soon be the past. My advice to me: Don’t do that. (Or to you if you’re a Substack writer, which - if you’re here on Substack, you very well might be.)

So with all that in mind, let me finally get to the topic of today’s article:

What the hell is the deal with the “Gen Delta” kids. I mean, so annoying, am I right? They’re all like, “Look at us - we’re so 80’s!” Uh…no. You’re not. I remember the 1980’s. Those were the real 80’s. We had to use chemicals to dye our hair those crazy colors. We didn’t even have AI back then. And also, how about taking a human form for like one fleeting moment once in your life. Not saying you have to look attractive, but how about not projecting as a nightmarish horrifying creature when you’re talking to someone? Like just put on a face, with eyes, a nose, a mouth…ears - that kinda thing. It’s just polite, y’know. I don’t need to be put into fight or flight when you hand me my coffee. Oh…sorry…my “Em-Coffee”. Excuuuse me. The Gen Gammas are right. Stuff that’s not made with molecules isn’t really stuff. That’s why they hate you so much. You’re all, “Coffee or em-coffee? Water or em-water? Jacket or em-jacket?” Should I punch you in your stupid head or em-punch you in your stupid em-head?

Gen Gammas are all right with me. I’m not a huge fan of most Gen Betas, except for my grandkids. I like them. And millennials have totally grown on me over the years. Remember when we all used to bag on millennials? By “we” I mean us people born pre-rejuvenation. Like I was born back in the 1900’s. How crazy is that? I think millennials rock now. But I remember back in the 2020’s, when not even a million people were reading my Substack, we all still thought millennials were kinda lame. “Entitled” was the word we used. I wrote a song about them once. Well it was really about being my age and having to deal with the rise of the millennials. Let me see if I can dig it up. Okay, here it is…

0:00

-4:00

It’s called “Rock & Roll Disco Punks” and

I wrote that song before I recognized the importance of keeping things Evergreen. A song about being born in the 20th Century? That is most definitely NOT Evergreen. I have a bunch of other songs I wrote back then, where the topic is totally expired. But don’t axe me to play them all.

LYRICS:

Rock & Roll Disco Punks from the 20th Century...

You crossed a line back in Y2K.

You ignored the signs, and you’ve been feeling somehow out of place.

You’ve been walking around, like you’re totally numb.

And you can’t find your sound, you’ve been sucking your thumb.

You’ve been blinded at night, by the ambient light

of millennials marching towards invisible sights.

And you try to fit in, but you can’t get it right.

And the person you’ve been, your friends cannot recognize.

And in the back of your mind, you remember a time

when the future was color, and the past black and white,

and they’re calling you back, calling you back, calling you back...

Rock & Roll Disco Punks from the 20th Century

Rotten old distant junk from your memory’s history

Resurfaced in your mind. Half-blind, you stumble through these times.

While an army of your former kind, are trying to find you

through long-defunct landlines.

You crossed a line back in Y2K.

You ignored the signs, and you been feeling lost in inner space.

And you can’t define the current time or place,

Back in ‘89, you could identify the human race

And now you’re walking around, like you’re totally numb.

And you can’t find your sound, you’ve been sucking your thumb.

You’ve been blinded night, by the ambient light