I'm glad I read this one today! I write two Substacks, and have been burning myself out to be consistent on both of them (weekly). Might be time to slow down and rethink. It's tough to rush creative, thoughtful work, and I recognize that I am trying to cram it in. What's your cadence like, and do you have paid subscribers? This is part of my wrestle—wanting to be consistent for my paid supporters.
Welcome to the 2-Substack club... lol. Er, technically, I have 3, but I don't update my travel one anymore. Weekly is a crazy schedule! I was also feeling the same way as you. These days, my cadence is whenever I can get to it, but probably like once every month or so for both of my Substacks. I actually DO have paid subscribers (a whopping 5 of them!) but I don't put out any special content for them. In terms of paid vs. free, I've seen a lot of Substackers create a post that is partially viewable to free folks (i.e., The Washington Post style) and then to see the rest, they have to upgrade. That might be a good way to kill 2 birds with one stone?
It’s a very illustrious club isn’t it, that 2 (or 2.5 in your case) Substack club? :) I really appreciate you sharing what you’re doing, as it gives me perspective to mull on. I can’t wait to see where I land after reflection but think sometimes our best strategies come when we are willing to let go of the things we think we HAVE to do (like write weekly — who ever said we had to!)
I too get caught up in the OMG WHY ISN'T WRITING GOING ANY FASTER anxiety spiral, and the latest conclusion I've come to is that no one ever says long-distance runners are slow—they're just practicing a different set of skills than someone who's training to sprint. Hope you are healing well :)
I like that analogy of long-distance running. I think part of slow writing is that we WANT to keep writing but do it in a way that is sustainable AND brings us joy.
As someone who churns out writing as part of her day job (lol) the whole concept of slow writing feels really foreign to me. I find that I mull a lot on ideas for my Substack and find that I'll write an essay relatively quickly, only because I've had time to think. Not sure if that counts as slow writing, but I'm finding this approach is working for me.
Yes, I totally get it! I think slow writing means there's a fuzzy deadline (or none at all), so for someone who has always had to write quickly to beat the clock, I also found the notion of slow writing to be really weird. I also think about what I'll write for my Substacks, but when I sit down, it never really comes as fast as I would like it to, so you're lucky! Thanks for your comment Sarah! :)
Thank you for sharing this Claire! It's a side of writing that isn't talked about enough, but I'd hazard a guess is more common than we think. It's so understandable that the writing is slow for you lately given everything you've got going on! I'm so glad to hear you're showing yourself compassion and grace for this phase of your life. I think for me, thinking of it as a phase helps. Right now I'm in a phase of my life where most of my time and energy is devoted to little kids. I'm not getting anywhere near as much writing done as I would like. It's frustrating because I'd love nothing more than to have hours of free time to write and write to my heart's content!! But that's not my reality right now. In this phase of life, my family and kids come first. So I fit in writing when I can, and I'm trying to be okay with that. It's a work in progress! Thank you for the reminder to focus on balance and harmony, as you so beautifully put it 💛
Thank you for your kind comment, Ruhie! I agree that this is a phase, a snapshot, and a moment in our writing. Everything is constantly changing... next thing you know, your kids will be older, and you'll have more freedom to do the things you want. I always have to remind myself of this too, that nothing is forever and things are always shifting, even when we don't realize it is. <3
If it helps all us writers out there (it certainly did me), when I was fortunate enough to attend a Hay House writers workshop in Edinburgh the other year, they said
“In a world that wants you to be the hare, we want you to be the tortoise” !!🐢
This gave me a big sigh of relief 😅 for I haven’t found any other way to support and improve my health than to slow the fluff down.
My first ebook “Unleashing My Inner Power” is out next week.
I could tell you about how it only took me a few days to write this short story and compile this 3 part journal - which is true…
But it took me a few years of practice to get this far. Years of research before I reached any point of writing for an audience. Months of editing. One year of being so deeply triggered by an insight I’d missed in my own journey that I couldn’t write any part of any book and many subconscious blocks I’ve had to blast through along the way.
There is so much more going on behind the scenes and if we can truly align that with all that we want, need and desire, we’ll each have books out in the world far sooner that if we were pushing, forcing, striving. Piling on the pressure and taken away the sheer enjoyment of doing something that we love, whilst healing ourselves simultaneously 🙏💜
Wow, congrats on publishing your first e-book, that is super exciting! Thank you for sharing -- I love what you said about the behind the scenes stuff... it's so true. Honestly, I am sometimes baffled by how writers can manage to publish multiple memoirs, let alone just one! Slowing down is recognizing that I actually DO enjoy writing and don't want to burn out and walk away. Writing is showing me so many valuable lessons about how I live my life... it's something I never expected when I first started writing my memoir, but really grateful for everything I'm learning.
I'm glad I read this one today! I write two Substacks, and have been burning myself out to be consistent on both of them (weekly). Might be time to slow down and rethink. It's tough to rush creative, thoughtful work, and I recognize that I am trying to cram it in. What's your cadence like, and do you have paid subscribers? This is part of my wrestle—wanting to be consistent for my paid supporters.
Welcome to the 2-Substack club... lol. Er, technically, I have 3, but I don't update my travel one anymore. Weekly is a crazy schedule! I was also feeling the same way as you. These days, my cadence is whenever I can get to it, but probably like once every month or so for both of my Substacks. I actually DO have paid subscribers (a whopping 5 of them!) but I don't put out any special content for them. In terms of paid vs. free, I've seen a lot of Substackers create a post that is partially viewable to free folks (i.e., The Washington Post style) and then to see the rest, they have to upgrade. That might be a good way to kill 2 birds with one stone?
It’s a very illustrious club isn’t it, that 2 (or 2.5 in your case) Substack club? :) I really appreciate you sharing what you’re doing, as it gives me perspective to mull on. I can’t wait to see where I land after reflection but think sometimes our best strategies come when we are willing to let go of the things we think we HAVE to do (like write weekly — who ever said we had to!)
Thank you for introducing me to the notion of “slow writing.” Now I know what to call my approach to composition!
Isn't it nice when the thing you're doing has a name? Lol. Thank you for your comment and for reading, Kathryn! :D
I absolutely love your honest writing in any form. Thank you for sharing your journey…and for not giving up on writing.
Thank you! I hope to one day get back to a regular writing schedule and routine, but for now, it's going to be slow. :) I hope you're well!
I’m definitely trying to implement this into my life. Not just with writing - but just living altogether.
Thanks for a validation I suppose.
I can see why! You're a do-er! I'm glad you're carving out intentional time to slow it down. :)
I too get caught up in the OMG WHY ISN'T WRITING GOING ANY FASTER anxiety spiral, and the latest conclusion I've come to is that no one ever says long-distance runners are slow—they're just practicing a different set of skills than someone who's training to sprint. Hope you are healing well :)
I like that analogy of long-distance running. I think part of slow writing is that we WANT to keep writing but do it in a way that is sustainable AND brings us joy.
As someone who churns out writing as part of her day job (lol) the whole concept of slow writing feels really foreign to me. I find that I mull a lot on ideas for my Substack and find that I'll write an essay relatively quickly, only because I've had time to think. Not sure if that counts as slow writing, but I'm finding this approach is working for me.
Yes, I totally get it! I think slow writing means there's a fuzzy deadline (or none at all), so for someone who has always had to write quickly to beat the clock, I also found the notion of slow writing to be really weird. I also think about what I'll write for my Substacks, but when I sit down, it never really comes as fast as I would like it to, so you're lucky! Thanks for your comment Sarah! :)
Thank you for sharing this Claire! It's a side of writing that isn't talked about enough, but I'd hazard a guess is more common than we think. It's so understandable that the writing is slow for you lately given everything you've got going on! I'm so glad to hear you're showing yourself compassion and grace for this phase of your life. I think for me, thinking of it as a phase helps. Right now I'm in a phase of my life where most of my time and energy is devoted to little kids. I'm not getting anywhere near as much writing done as I would like. It's frustrating because I'd love nothing more than to have hours of free time to write and write to my heart's content!! But that's not my reality right now. In this phase of life, my family and kids come first. So I fit in writing when I can, and I'm trying to be okay with that. It's a work in progress! Thank you for the reminder to focus on balance and harmony, as you so beautifully put it 💛
Thank you for your kind comment, Ruhie! I agree that this is a phase, a snapshot, and a moment in our writing. Everything is constantly changing... next thing you know, your kids will be older, and you'll have more freedom to do the things you want. I always have to remind myself of this too, that nothing is forever and things are always shifting, even when we don't realize it is. <3
If it helps all us writers out there (it certainly did me), when I was fortunate enough to attend a Hay House writers workshop in Edinburgh the other year, they said
“In a world that wants you to be the hare, we want you to be the tortoise” !!🐢
This gave me a big sigh of relief 😅 for I haven’t found any other way to support and improve my health than to slow the fluff down.
My first ebook “Unleashing My Inner Power” is out next week.
I could tell you about how it only took me a few days to write this short story and compile this 3 part journal - which is true…
But it took me a few years of practice to get this far. Years of research before I reached any point of writing for an audience. Months of editing. One year of being so deeply triggered by an insight I’d missed in my own journey that I couldn’t write any part of any book and many subconscious blocks I’ve had to blast through along the way.
There is so much more going on behind the scenes and if we can truly align that with all that we want, need and desire, we’ll each have books out in the world far sooner that if we were pushing, forcing, striving. Piling on the pressure and taken away the sheer enjoyment of doing something that we love, whilst healing ourselves simultaneously 🙏💜
Wow, congrats on publishing your first e-book, that is super exciting! Thank you for sharing -- I love what you said about the behind the scenes stuff... it's so true. Honestly, I am sometimes baffled by how writers can manage to publish multiple memoirs, let alone just one! Slowing down is recognizing that I actually DO enjoy writing and don't want to burn out and walk away. Writing is showing me so many valuable lessons about how I live my life... it's something I never expected when I first started writing my memoir, but really grateful for everything I'm learning.