Happy birthday re:writes
And why this doesn’t have a clickbait title about Substack growth
It’s my first Substackversary! I’ve been writing here for a year. This is the point when I’m supposed to share what I’ve learned from writing on Substack for 12 months, or even, tips on how to build your Substack.
I can’t do that because while I first published on August 31st, 2023, I then abruptly stopped writing in November. I didn’t mean to. I just crashed.
I was talking to a friend earlier about how we don’t talk about the downsides. The times when it doesn’t work.
Plenty of people start a blog, or a Youtube channel (I have one of those gathering dust) or a podcast and for whatever reason don’t carry on with it. Having a creative project is a huge commitment. You need to come up with ideas to feed it, and then turn those ideas into material you can share. If it’s a passion project rather than something to pay the bills, it can easily get bumped down, or off, your task list.
One of the things I am proud of in a year in which I haven’t got much to say for myself, is that I picked this back up and have published consistently for 9 weeks now. I didn’t realise it was that long!
I’ve even gained some new subscribers! Hello! Thanks for signing up.
This week I joined ’s 1,000 words a day challenge.
I did this at 10pm at night on Day 1 so obviously I fell at the first hurdle.
But I like the idea. It’s a big enough goal to be a challenge without being insane.
As David says, think of all the blog posts I could write.
I could also make a good start on the mythical book.
On Day 1 (technically Day 2), I wrote a note to myself about what I could achieve with the challenge, what the book could be about, and my writing goals. I also kept a word count as I went to see how long it took me to get to 1,000 words.
Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I wrote a blog post for my business.
Today I wrote this article, a sales page, and some emails. I like that I get to do two jobs in one: tick off a writing goal and get something done that I possibly wouldn’t otherwise. That sales page was not on my radar this morning, I only realised I needed it when I started thinking about how to promote a new project. Now it’s written, live, and counted towards my writing goal.
I might not have made much progress on Substack in year 1, but I’m going to make the most of it in year 2. David shared these 5 tips today about how he has grown his publication and it’s the direction I need to take the next step.
Now, can I keep up 1,000 words a day, or has telling you that’s what I’m doing jinxed it? Tune in next week to find out…
