How do we revitalise our writing when our energy is lagging?
I recently found a way that wasn’t signing up to a writing challenge or engaging a writing coach…
Or you could say it was both these and more!
What did I do?
I joined an online writing community called Substack. I’d been hearing about it for a while (read more here but it wasn’t until I read Elle Griffin’s article about how she was publishing her next utopian novel Oblivion, in serial form on Substack that I really became interested. I went in for a look around, subscribed to follow a few different authors including Elle, Patti Smith and Tim Lott, and pretty soon I was hooked. What I found there is a huge community of writers and readers and a fresh way of enrgising your writing.
As well as posting occasional articles on writing I’m serialising my as yet unpublished travel memoir, Looking for Duras, Finding my Mother: a Mekong Journey. Each week I email a chapter of around 1000 words to my subscribers. This not only gives me a weekly deadline, an editing routine and a new sense of motivation, but I’m getting feedback and input from readers who have time to read and comment. It’s brilliant, and beats sitting alone in my room avoiding editing and rewrites.
I’d love you to get involved and see how this Substack thing works, and maybe try it for yourself! You can find me at:
onthewritersjourney.substack.com/
Writers Journey retreats coming up!
Sensing Italy June 3 -10, 2023.
Lake George Spring Retreat, Sep 17 – 22, 2023.
Story Hunters, India, Nov 4-19, 2023.
Moroccan Caravan, Feb 23 – March 8, 2024.
