Reflections - two years of writing on Substack (not a growth post).
Oh, but to write, could be an awfully great adventure.
“Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning. To live will be an awfully big adventure”.
Peter Pan
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TW - intro mentions grief.
Hi, WELCOME, how are you?
This isn’t a Substack growth or advice article, I write those over on
, it’s a personal opinion piece on what writing for an audience has enabled in me.
Story-time with Claire
We once knew a real life Peter Pan.
My husband’s brother Michael died three months after we started dating. I never met him but I know him. Circumstances of the day I first nervously went to meet Dave’s family meant that Michael stayed upstairs so I missed my chance to connect. When I quiet everything and concentrate, I can hear and feel the essence of the day.
Michael was born with down syndrome and a hole in his heart and died just shy of his 40th birthday. He was in one of his favourite places when he died; the local library.
David was working away at the time and flew home. Lost in both love and grief in our whirlwind romance, I fell pregnant with our first baby.
As David grieved the loss of his ‘little big’ brother, I grew our son LMV in my womb.
It was 2013, it wasn’t planned but it was perfect. I was fearless. It was exactly where I was meant to be. I've always been good at staying steady in projects and circumstances that invite me into magic.
Michael lived life on his terms. He liked what he liked. He was fierce on the things he didn’t like. He simply wouldn’t do anything he didn’t want to do like go out in the wind or try anything new to eat. He had the blue box room in my husband’s childhood house. It’s a four bedroom house on a hill and even though three other brothers had long since moved out leaving other larger rooms to choose from.
On the wall, there were posters of the things he liked and loved, a calendar of WWF wrestlers, cupboards full of VHS tapes including Scott and Charlene’s wedding (from Neighbours circa 1987). A half drunk bottle of pop1 stayed on his bedside table stranded in a time capsule of the day he left home for the last time for over 10 years.
David’s mother who we tragically lost four months later, chatted to me while making Michael his lunch. A cheddar cheese and tommy K2 toastie. Pouring him a Pepsi Max in his favourite glass, she dutifully took them upstairs to the TV room.
I don’t remember a tonne about the conversation that autumn afternoon lost in the heady heights of new love with my forever person, but I do remember feeling welcome, I remember feeling I was in the right place. I remember feeling right at home.
Not another growth article as much (as I like those).
I’ve written on Substack and personal growth before, creative development, project excitement. I spent a tonne of hours on this piece for
to show you the real and raw timeline of what actually happened with my Substack ‘success’I also wrote this one back in December.
Substack and inviting/ holding space for people to create here is my special interest. It’s been just over a year since I first started a new space to explore How to Stay Creative on Substack 3and just over two years since I joined the platform.
In that time, there has been a lot of steady growth, joyful growth and deep connection. There have also been some darker sides.
I’m linking to my pal
’s article on that stuff which explores our mindset here and reminds us to circle back to why we started. It’s like sweet honey on a scratchy sore throat!✨
Now that’s done
Context is everything.
I recently shared and celebrated a new community space here on Substack which is holding space to celebrate the ‘small’ Substack publications under 500 subs. Kudos to
for being explicit about the invite and a successful launch which saw him gather well over 1000 subs in just a few days. This type of invite can’t be copied - it has come from a place of calling in Robin.To be clear about what you want to say here and why is the magic in your Substack sandwich.
As soon as I realised I had a lot to say about Substack, I built another publication to do that work. I didn’t question any of it.
I “only” had 1000 people reading my work.
It flowed out of mew with ferocious speed - I’ve never known anything like it if I’m honest.
is now at over 300 paid subs and over 6000 free readers. I know some of them are there for Substack advice but most are there for the same reason as me - they were/are searching for connection.It’s not about the numbers it’s about the freedom it’s enabled in me and the depth of connect a web of like-minded supporters brings.
Sparkle on Substack is my work in service and keeping this space to be a space of creative freedom where I mix up cadence and topics and invites multiple times a year keeps everything exciting.
If I’m really honest re-modelling my income streams with freedom at the forefront has brought me so many gifts including…
Being my own boss and modelling kindness to include but not exclusive of…
being paid to teach on Substack and my personal experiences here across running 3 publications and hold space for a second membership here at
for those who want the holistic and person centred zoom out and to be in supportive communities. They bring in over USD $40k gross annualised revenue.holding space for my members to increase their confidence in their work, words and learning the platform
put it all down and circle back to my own writing here
launching creative projects and invites and burn things down when I want to.
to write about the topics that mean the most to me and go off piste if I feel like it.
podcast with some beautiful souls who do wonderful things here on Substack in service of writers, art and community building.
to know that as you grow you become (in the eyes of strangers) less relatable because of that growth and your orange check mark and the number of subs next to your name
to understand on a deeper level what friendship actually is when you make friends online in the midst of follower numbers and metrics.
to write for myself and myself alone
to lean into and learn more about the craft of writing and holding space for readers and community on line and to edit with the filter of how my words will connect and land with an audience
to write to over 9000 people across three publications. 🎂 ✨
Celebrating this journey and the freedom we can all invite in.
If you’re feeling boxed in by your own publication or your words, here’s your giant permission slip to CHANGE it up.
Life is short, words heal and give us a deeper insight into why we’re here. Write some?
Sending sparkles,
Claire
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Pop = fizzy drink, (Pepsi Max)
Heinz tomato ketchup
I couldn’t find any relatable Substack education other than their help articles when I originally started writing these posts.
Claire, what a wonderful piece to share with all of us! Your desire to connect and forge creative relationships shines through in everything you do. I feel so fortunate to get to know you in this light. Thanks for being such a real human in so many ways.
We don't always remember everything, but we will never forget how we feel...I am also interested to explore what friendship forged online could mean....