It’s irresistible, the urge to take stock this time of year! My sense of rhythm with the cycles and seasons demands it, particularly as I’ve just finished serial posting my first book, The Hanged Man. I’ve been thinking a lot about Substack, and writing in general. I’ve been thinking about how I choose to spend my time. More accurately, I think about my default patterns of behavior and how I
I don't use notes, either. I did download the app, but then discovered you can't delete from it, which renders it unusable for me. I want to deal with things and then delete them; otherwise I'm disorganized, overwhelmed, and I waste a lot of time searching through things I've already read. Part of why I loathe social media is this aspect of infinitude. I was quite disappointed Substack used the same model. I even wrote them about my frustration, but received no reply. Ongoing tension between making money and usability for humans who are not cash cows. It's the world we live in, but I don't have to participate. In any case, I'd rather dive deeply and thoughtfully into relationships with a few than keep up with many superficial contacts. I wish I could read and subscribe to everyone, and it's not realistic. Hard choices. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is exactly my experience! Wonderful metaphor. I'm sure we're not alone in this push-pull between our own work and the lure of what others are up to.
I liked the honesty of your article. I sympathize with your plight. I’ve been on the platform for just over a year and my Substack feed has started to make me feel like the sorcerer’s apprentice coping with all the multiplying brooms. I’m not a fan of Notes, because it feels too much like social media, which I abandoned, swam in the dark, and then felt so relieved to land on Substack’s balmy shores. And I think it’s unfortunate that the app defaults to the Notes view. It makes the experience distracting, but I guess dialoguing on Notes is the real moneymaker for the platform, so I get it.
I'm right there with you. I took a break from everything this December and it has been so freeing. I'm using this weekend to discover and be intentional at what I'm bring back.
Thanks for the tag. I agree with the "problem" of many, many, many quality 'stacks to read. A good problem to have but I also have shelves full of unread books to enjoy and learn from.
I leave my serial stories up for a couple of weeks between seasons but they do go behind the paywall. In the new year I will learn how to make them all into ebooks and have them downloadable.
Writing is solitary. I wouldn't say it is a lonely business for me but I prefer to be alone than with people most of the time. Oddly for all the words I write and all the things I read very little of it comes up in conversation. That part is lonely, the limited circle of "real life" people to share this with. Sometimes it's like living a dual life.
Thanks for the mention, Jennifer. (Sorry for being slow getting to this, traveling back to the UK for Christmas and behind on my inbox.) I really appreciate all the thoughts here, and I can understand the thoughts about the overwhelm of reading outside of Substack and reading on Substack. It's something I've really had to limit myself with, which is hard because there's so many writers I want to actively read.
I'm sure there's some frustrations that arise from my own fragmented approach to my serials and posts. I'm not a professional writer, and so I've come to Substack this year with a purpose to try and write and hone that process, so it's become a place of me writing weekly and effectively just dumping my ongoing process, which probably is the best for flow when it comes to serials.
Agree with the thoughts on what could improve the reading experience for fiction on Substack. I've seen a fair amount of discussion on that lately.
Great post, thanks! I have a table of contents for mine, but I also like the idea of a directory (especially since all the Tales are inter-connected and it begins to get a bit more complicated with who is who, where is where etcetera, the closer to the bigger work I get).
I also feel similar to you about how it gets a bit complicated, reading several serials. It actually reached the point where I stopped reading some until they're finished! (Probably not the best thing to be confessing to here!)
One thing I'll be doing in the new year is introducing downloadable versions of my serialised fiction. These will be ebooks (certainly epub, but perhaps PDFs etc too), and available to paying subscribers. (The exception being the permafree Only One Death.) I shall also be experimenting with offering the final, complete ebook for the current serial too, again for paying subscribers, so they can devour it whole/skip to the end if they wish! I wonder if that will be an incentive to sign up? Perhaps. Watch this space!
Thanks again for this post, and thank you so very, very much for reading. I appreciate it immensely.
Wow, have you been inside my brain recently? You wrote so many of the things I've been thinking about lately. I'm overwhelmed and inspired by all the wonderful writing that's available here. I want to read all the fiction, engage with the writers, encourage and support them all. But as you and so many others here have said, that's not realistic, by any means. Trying to keep up with Notes feels too much like FB and the other socials--superficial, not genuine connection.
When I reach a tipping point, my introversion kicks in and I cocoon. I must continually remind myself that this is a very early stage of my (public) life as a writer and that my primary reasons for being here are about personal accountability -- to get the work done. Thank you for mentioning my directory. I toyed with different ways to do it, so it's gratifying to know it makes sense and is useful.
I don't use notes, either. I did download the app, but then discovered you can't delete from it, which renders it unusable for me. I want to deal with things and then delete them; otherwise I'm disorganized, overwhelmed, and I waste a lot of time searching through things I've already read. Part of why I loathe social media is this aspect of infinitude. I was quite disappointed Substack used the same model. I even wrote them about my frustration, but received no reply. Ongoing tension between making money and usability for humans who are not cash cows. It's the world we live in, but I don't have to participate. In any case, I'd rather dive deeply and thoughtfully into relationships with a few than keep up with many superficial contacts. I wish I could read and subscribe to everyone, and it's not realistic. Hard choices. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is exactly my experience! Wonderful metaphor. I'm sure we're not alone in this push-pull between our own work and the lure of what others are up to.
I liked the honesty of your article. I sympathize with your plight. I’ve been on the platform for just over a year and my Substack feed has started to make me feel like the sorcerer’s apprentice coping with all the multiplying brooms. I’m not a fan of Notes, because it feels too much like social media, which I abandoned, swam in the dark, and then felt so relieved to land on Substack’s balmy shores. And I think it’s unfortunate that the app defaults to the Notes view. It makes the experience distracting, but I guess dialoguing on Notes is the real moneymaker for the platform, so I get it.
I'm right there with you. I took a break from everything this December and it has been so freeing. I'm using this weekend to discover and be intentional at what I'm bring back.
Thanks for the tag. I agree with the "problem" of many, many, many quality 'stacks to read. A good problem to have but I also have shelves full of unread books to enjoy and learn from.
I leave my serial stories up for a couple of weeks between seasons but they do go behind the paywall. In the new year I will learn how to make them all into ebooks and have them downloadable.
Writing is solitary. I wouldn't say it is a lonely business for me but I prefer to be alone than with people most of the time. Oddly for all the words I write and all the things I read very little of it comes up in conversation. That part is lonely, the limited circle of "real life" people to share this with. Sometimes it's like living a dual life.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for the mention, Jennifer. (Sorry for being slow getting to this, traveling back to the UK for Christmas and behind on my inbox.) I really appreciate all the thoughts here, and I can understand the thoughts about the overwhelm of reading outside of Substack and reading on Substack. It's something I've really had to limit myself with, which is hard because there's so many writers I want to actively read.
I'm sure there's some frustrations that arise from my own fragmented approach to my serials and posts. I'm not a professional writer, and so I've come to Substack this year with a purpose to try and write and hone that process, so it's become a place of me writing weekly and effectively just dumping my ongoing process, which probably is the best for flow when it comes to serials.
Agree with the thoughts on what could improve the reading experience for fiction on Substack. I've seen a fair amount of discussion on that lately.
The peace of stillness and rest to you!
Great post, thanks! I have a table of contents for mine, but I also like the idea of a directory (especially since all the Tales are inter-connected and it begins to get a bit more complicated with who is who, where is where etcetera, the closer to the bigger work I get).
I also feel similar to you about how it gets a bit complicated, reading several serials. It actually reached the point where I stopped reading some until they're finished! (Probably not the best thing to be confessing to here!)
One thing I'll be doing in the new year is introducing downloadable versions of my serialised fiction. These will be ebooks (certainly epub, but perhaps PDFs etc too), and available to paying subscribers. (The exception being the permafree Only One Death.) I shall also be experimenting with offering the final, complete ebook for the current serial too, again for paying subscribers, so they can devour it whole/skip to the end if they wish! I wonder if that will be an incentive to sign up? Perhaps. Watch this space!
Thanks again for this post, and thank you so very, very much for reading. I appreciate it immensely.
Wow, have you been inside my brain recently? You wrote so many of the things I've been thinking about lately. I'm overwhelmed and inspired by all the wonderful writing that's available here. I want to read all the fiction, engage with the writers, encourage and support them all. But as you and so many others here have said, that's not realistic, by any means. Trying to keep up with Notes feels too much like FB and the other socials--superficial, not genuine connection.
When I reach a tipping point, my introversion kicks in and I cocoon. I must continually remind myself that this is a very early stage of my (public) life as a writer and that my primary reasons for being here are about personal accountability -- to get the work done. Thank you for mentioning my directory. I toyed with different ways to do it, so it's gratifying to know it makes sense and is useful.