Celebrating Year Number Two
Anniversaries always present opportunities to express gratitude and list the lessons learned.
An auspicious day! I'm celebrating my second anniversary in Substack. Thank you, Tonya Morton, writer and editor of Juke, for setting up my page. It was the best "payment" for an article I've ever received from an editor. And her continued support and camaraderie has been a gift I cherish. I'm proud to be included in her ensemble of writers.
With my first post, Jellyfish, I was able to navigate this fairly intuitive platform. Over the past two years, I've learned so much more from Substackers, I feel like I've evolved into a different person. The growth happens every afternoon when I sit in my favorite chair and enjoy the offerings that land in my inbox. What a treasure trove of masterpieces from so many talented people.
One of the first new words you all taught me was "creative," a noun rather than an adjective. Artists, photographers, writers, and comic designers are all creatives, a collective word, a coalition of ideas and beauty circling the planet. My subscribers come from all over the world. Substack is a united nations of peace seekers, bringing their edifying magic to everyone. It's oxygen to whoever wants to breathe deeply a revitalizing breeze of culture and innovative thought. I thank all of you for enriching my life and my writings with your comments and your friendship.
Here's a brief list of everything I've learned so far:
Improved writing: Practice not only hones the technical skills and temperament, but reading so many other works really raised the technique and inspiration level. One of the biggest benefits of this weekly discipline was to find my voice. It's a lifetime of discovery, but Substackers have modeled examples for me to explore.
Responding to constant inspiration: Every day, something sparked a story, poem, or essay. The ideas eventually flowed like a fire hose. Thus, Saturday Specials accommodated pieces to be shared immediately if not sooner.
Expanding to topics beyond original boundaries: I toyed with many subjects. Some landed in the Trash icon, but most made it to the page. Book reviews, political rants, even family stories and religion. You've all been so tolerant.
Played with haiku, flash fiction, and 50- and 100-word stories: It's a fun way to polish that "rite tite" ethic my old city editor, Lou Bate of the Deseret News, demanded. It's about getting to the friggin' point with enough details to give it flesh.
Formatting on the Platform: I finally figured out how to size photos, insert captions, and use the poetry feature to maintain the format. I still can't quite get the quotes feature to work for me.
Discovering Notes: This is a yeasty alternative to Facebook, but I don't know how to retrieve any comments responding to notes I've written.
Honing the Process: I organized my writing schedule and balanced weekly themes using long pieces followed by poems or flash stories. The discipline level rose, clearing the way to write drafts quickly, let them simmer awhile, then edit them without thinking that Every. Single. Word. Is sacred.
Reworking Old Content: I learned the sometimes heartbreaking task of taking ancient pieces from my defunct website, Ring Around the Basin, and updating or dragging them over to the Trash icon. whew! That's hard.
Focus on Why I Do This: Worrying about subscriber stats or writing to attract paid subscribers is toxic and distracting. Instead, I decided to be true to myself and be brave. It surprised me how a story that was fun to write but would probably turn people off actually became the most popular story on my feed. Rural Rest Stops. As with all my posts, my finger hovered over that Publish button with a flash of excitement and dread. A piece of work was finished (for now) and released to free-range around the Interest world. It’s a rush that I relish.
Changing Behaviors and Attitudes: I developed positive discourse etiquette from reading and interacting with Substackers. It's a much friendlier and more civil platform than I'm used to, which required me to tone down the snark. That's the biggest lesson of all. Learning how to be kind, supportive, and constructive in the comments. I have received such phenomenal love and grace from these interactions, I can't express my gratitude enough for all you've given me.
And I still have so much to learn from all of you. Here's to another year of learning and improving … as a writer and as a person.
My first post, Jellyfish, is a story about my father and I on a Santa Cruz beach.
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to explore other writings in the Ring Around the Basin Archive. I also love to read your comments, so please share your thoughts. Let’s start a conversation. And if you wish to support my writings, please consider subscribing or upgrading to a paid subscription. It’s now only $50/year. Even better, I would appreciate it if you could share Ring Around the Basin with your friends. Thank you!
All my books, Paradise Ridge, When the Horses Come and Go, and Ghost in the Forest are currently available on Kindle. Ghost in the Forest, is also available in paperback. Paradise Ridge is out-of-print, but the Kindle version is re-edited and better quality.
Congrats on 2 years, Sue! I smile when I see Ring Around the Basin in my Inbox.🙂 Thanks for your always interesting essays🙏
Good for you, Sue. Two years! Reading your recap made me think of my own learnings as a Substack writer. Like you, I still have so much to learn about the platform. Especially about formatting, but I think we get to a certain manageable proficiency and then "fossilize". It all then becomes discovery-learning. Every once in a while I say, "Oh! So that's how you do it!" I wish you many years of successful, satisfying writing.