I find it kind of funny (not funny haha, more like weird, but in the good way I guess?) that I created this Substack account to feel less pressure as far as my writing goes. The way of it though, is I have the same amount of trouble figuring out what I'm going to write about as I did when I was running my blog. The positive part about this is that I do indeed feel less pressure and that was the goal of creating this and thus retiring my blog. Hence weird, but in the good way…I think.
I am hopeful that I will develop a readership out of this that is truly interested in what I write about and the things that I do. I'm excited to simply write about the things I love, those things being books and reading, life in general, and writing. The blog left me feeling entirely too much pressure to post a certain amount of times each month, to post about specific topics, and to cater to my readers versus doing what I love most. Another big part of that is that I had no idea who my readership was. I had no understanding of the kind of people they were and what they enjoyed reading about. So far this is the opposite of my Substack experience. I know who my readership is and I am getting likes and comments that are productive and constructive and really help me decide what I'm going to write next. This specific little piece, kind of being the outlier.
I needed to get this out of my head because I've been thinking about it since I published my last post. Basically I just wanted to communicate that I feel really good about this and I am excited for what is to come here. I know I said that in my introduction, but I am 100% confident that we will have fun here.
I guess this kind of works in tandem with my short introduction post from a few weeks ago. I am sure many of my current readers to date are aware that I have in fact published a book already. This book was called The Decisions He Made for Me and it is a memoir chronicling the 6 years I was trapped in an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship and the subsequent years spent healing. That was self-published via Amazon KDP on April 1st, 2022. It is currently available on Amazon if you search by title.
I have also started writing my second book. This book is a work of fiction of the paranormal thriller ilk. It's going to probably fit more in the category of YA than anywhere else but I am really excited about it because this is a story idea that has been stuck in my head since I was about 10 years old. I am so excited to be in the spot I am now where I feel ready to turn this into the fully fleshed out story that I know it can become. I am more excited than ever to be in a place where I feel creatively motivated, and I am working hard to put things together for the story. To that end I guess another thing that you can expect here will be the thoughts and experiences that I have working through the process of writing my first fiction novel. Hopefully you will be just as excited as I am, experiencing and talking about the new things that I will be dealing with as a result of this process.
And now, for some tidbits of life.
Something I learned today: Walking is hard! I walked as my exercise today instead of yoga, and damn, that mobility is suffering! Granted, I challenged myself by walking further than I normally would…but STILL! Ow!
Current Read: The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
Until next time…