Platform FOMO?
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Welcome to The Writing Rundown, a weekly newsletter that offers advice, short essays, and reading suggestions to help driven writers (like you!) improve their writing craft. It's nice to see you here! If someone forwarded you this email because they love your writing, you can subscribe here. Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes “A poem is a naked person....Some people say that I am a poet.” ― Bob Dylan Ask Me Anything …“I’ve finally dropped into the realization that I REALLY don’t enjoy long form writing like blogs & nevending newsletters. I do however, enjoy setting free short musings, wisdom & poetry.
But is it even worth restarting my Substack for that, or is the aim longggg and educational content for these platforms?
I’ve been blocked from sharing my writing with my community thinking that I need to have this profound, long winded newsletter to share or it’s pointless. Tell me I’m wrong.” — Succinctly Stifled
Hi Stifled, You're wrong. 💙 If you don't like writing in a particular style or genre, then don't write it! Readers can always tell if you are pushing yourself to create something you don't like. They’re a lot smarter than online polls and marketing would lead you to believe. Rather than restarting a Substack which is more geared to that essay writing, what about using a platform like ConvertKit (they have a great starter subscription up to 10K readers) or Ghost (if you want to Federate your writing) to reach your readers directly? Or you could check out the growing use of pure-text posts on Instagram to see writers who are doing well sharing their short pieces there. Maybe something like Tumblr or Threads, depending on how short your piece is? There are so many ways to share your writing with the world these days. Just because everyone seems to be using a particular platform, that doesn’t mean you need to be as well. Writing FOMO is real, I get it. We see all these people succeeding with a particular model or style, and we start to wonder: “Do *I* need to be doing that?” Even when we know that not only do we not want to do it, but we feel we won’t be putting our best writerly selves out to the world when we do. Though I will say that sometimes challenging yourself to try writing outside your comfort zone will open your eyes to new creative challenges and experiences that drive you deeper into exploring your craft. That doesn’t need to be published though! And you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing to build a name for yourself or share your voice. What a horribly boring world it would be if every writer did that! Much better to be yourself in the long run (and for your success) — even if it takes some finagling to find your place. _____________________________________________________ Each week I answer a question from a reader about writing, editing, creativity — and everything in between. Do you have a question you’d like me to answer? Hit REPLY and ask away! In Other Reading This Week …Need more insights and inspiration for your writing and mindset?
Weekly Writing Tip …A quick chance to learn from the masters. “Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.” ― Thomas Aquinas Bygone …Exquisite words from years gone by. Angnail [ANG-nail] (n.) – This is one of my favorite English phenomena, an eggcorn. Before we had hangnails, we had angnails, or an “anguished nail.” When people misheard the term as a hangnail, they could make the mental leap to say “Oh, a hanging nail” where the sliver of nail had split. The etymology comes from Old English ang (painful) + nægl (nail) Sorta synonyms: Agnail This Week’s Writing Resource …Why not use the tools at your disposal? Writer Beware — A regularly updated database and website of “literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls.” It’s sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. For the Upcoming Week …Because we all need a good chuckle to start things off right! Ok, but convince me this isn’t the best way to do it. ‘Til next time! ~ Elisa PS - Keep an eye on your inbox Sunday night, if you’ve ever wanted to work with your own editor to explore your craft and improve your writing… 👀 |