I’ve been doing a lot of reading and learning lately. Much of it is from Austin Kleon’s books Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work!. I’ve also been listening to The Shit About Writing Team’s podcast, reading Substack posts about publishing, and reading still others about building a following. The net result is that my plans and ideas for this Substack, and maybe even my writing future, are changing.
The first things that are changing are my goals. Up until recently, I had a goal about becoming a published author and supporting my family via writing. I won’t even tell you what that goal was. It was one of the dumbest, most naive goals I’ve ever set. Getting published is HARD and not something to rely on. I’m still going to chase it just as hard, but I’m going to be happy with my life as is because I am happy (more on that later).
The second thing that is changing is my plan for this Substack. Currently, I write posts about two to three times a month. The fact is that I have a job, kids, a wife, and a good handful of top-tier friends that I try to stay connected with. Oh, and I’m trying to become a published author. At the end of the day, Substack posts are low on the totem pole.1 Posting on Substack has become a bit of an indulgence, a thing I do at Earthen Ales to unwind.
So I started thinking about what I was doing here, again2, and also about my publishing journey. While I'm still going to chase it, my chances of being traditionally published are slim. The chance of making a living off it is even slimmer. Both of those things would be great, but what do I truly want?
I just want my stuff out there. I want to create an engaging experience and hope my work will speak for itself.
This brought me to my first idea: I have a novella, The Wheel, which I’ve written about before. Novellas are famously hard to publish due to their half-novel length. Unless you have a strong platform or a few novellas to string together in a collection, you are low on options. I considered self-publishing it but gave up on the idea; it didn’t seem worth it without a great way to market to more than just my friends and family. I figured it was better to hang onto it in the event that I get a novel published in the future. So now I have a complete story that, despite it being my first, I feel is decent (it’s made at least three people cry already, so it can’t be too bad), yet it languishes in my iCloud storage, gathering different amounts of dust flecks depending on where the file is on what dirty computer screen I’m looking at.
Then it dawned on me, after my recent readings, that there is no reason to hold onto this story. Its chances of being published elsewhere are almost zero, and even if I get to the point where it could be traditionally published, I will have written plenty of other things that deserve the official treatment more.
So, I’m going to publish it here, on Substack.
I plan to break it up into manageable chunks and release it in a serialized format, probably free of charge. I might add a paywall after a set amount of time, and I will encourage paid subscriptions because a hell of a lot of work went into it, but I’m not going to require it. Again, I just want my work out there speaking for me.
That’s not all, though. I’m going to record each section so you can listen instead of read if that’s easier. I’m also going to commission my highly talented wife to create the art for it. She couldn’t be more excited, and I can’t wait to see what she brings to the story. (If you want a sneak peak at her abilities, check out alovelygiraffe.com).
That’s going to be a lot of work and will take some time—I’m not sure when I’ll be able to start releasing it, either—so what about this Substack in the meantime?
Currently, my posts usually fall into one of two buckets: either I’m blathering about life and my writing process as if it was a public journal, or I’m telling (sometimes emotional) stories about significant events in my life. I’m going to keep doing those things, but I wanted something shorter and easier to add to the rotation.
That’s when I had the idea for Things That Make My Life Better (and Could Make Yours Better, Too).
I essentially stole this from Austin Kleon’s book about stealing ideas, in which he tells you to steal from his own book. He wrote Steal Like an Artist as if it was a letter to his ten-years-younger self. It’s a list of things he had learned over the prior decade that he wished he would have known sooner. I love that because it takes all the preachiness out of it. I don’t want to preach; I don’t want to give advice. I don’t know what advice you need, and I don’t care to surmise what that might be. In short, I don’t think I’m a qualified advice-giver. I simply want to start dropping short posts about the things that make my life better or, more simply, make me happy. You can take it or leave it from there. (Spoiler alert: Austin Kleon’s books make the list.)
So all of that is to say this: On Substack, I’m going to:
Keep blathering.
Keep telling impactful stories about my life.
Tell you about some stuff that makes my life better.
Publish a story.
What can you do?
Keep reading!
Share links to my posts if you feel so inclined.
Share a link to my Substack overall if you know people who might care about what I’m doing.
Once I start releasing The Wheel, consider a paid subscription to support my work! (Technically, you can start doing that right now, but honestly, I feel bad even considering asking for that at this point.)
That’s all for tonight. As always, thanks for reading because I truly appreciate it so much. My following may be small, but I still don’t feel like I deserve it. Thank you.
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ACTCHUALLYYY, it’s high on the totem pole, if Josh and Chuck over at Stuff You Should Know are to be believed.