Getting to This Place: Substack

Prelude to Lessons Learned from the 200 Words-a-Day Challenge

Decades ago, I buried my dreams of being a full-time writer. I knew neither traditional publishing nor self-publishing were paths I could sustain. For me, they felt grueling. Pitching articles to publications and websites was also too draining to keep up.

I finally understood the reasons for this when I came to identify as an HSP (highly sensitive person). Even with that understanding—which has helped tremendously in all areas of my life—I was still left with a deep, unfulfilled longing to write, a longing that journaling alone couldn’t satisfy. So I spent 20 years (no lie) working (and reworking) a novel with zero ideas about how I could connect with readers.

I watched as new options for authors arose—Patreon, Kickstarter, et al. But nothing resonated. Then in January 2023, my friend

☕ KimBoo York

told me about a new subscriptions-for-authors platform that would launch in May. Suddenly, immediately, my dream was revived.

For the next six months, I strategized and studied how to use subscriptions to resuscitate my too-long-dead writing dreams (and I’m still doing that work). With no published books (yet), no backlist, it will be a long haul. I know that. But this time, it doesn’t feel daunting.

My first task was to commit to my long-term fiction writing plans. My second task, a critical one if the first was to have any meaning at all: start building cred with readers.

Toward that, I began to research options for releasing my writing on different platforms. I considered Substack but Medium seemed like a better match for me … for a half-second, that is. That’s another discussion entirely, but basically, fiction doesn’t appear to be thriving there, and all those “how-to” articles!

So… I came back to considering Substack. Other than a wholesale lack of awareness about what’s been happening here, I have no idea why it wasn’t my #1 choice. No matter, I’m here now! But even after setting up my profile and seeing how fiction is flourishing here, I didn’t dive in right away.

In June, KimBoo, who is a master at cutting through BS, called me out. She wanted to know why I was filling my time month-after-month with aforementioned strategizing and studying, which—if I hadn’t noticed—was not writing. Busted. Urgh.

My RESISTANCE was real and evoked Stephen Pressfield’s words:

The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it (The War of Art).

To push against that resistance, KimBoo presented a brilliant idea (baited me with a provocation is more like it).

She suggested I dip my toe into the scary world of sharing my writing … by writing AND POSTING (that’s the key, she demanded! Actually sharing!) at least 200 words a day every day for a month. Gulp.

The concept seemed reasonable enough. But as someone who honors commitments to others more than I honor ones to myself, I needed a process of accountability. That’s where Substack and my Facebook group Women Writing for Change come into the story. If I was going to accept KimBoo’s challenge, I would have to drag (erm, entice) others along.

Thus was born a month-long, online challenge inviting others to write and post with me. The resulting micro-essays (at least 200 words each) and the related prompts that unfolded during the challenge can be found in my Directory of Prompts.

I learned a lot about my writing and myself during the challenge that I’ll be able to carry into the future. Over the next 20 days, every-other-day, I’ll share my top 10 lessons from writing—and sharing—at least 200 words every single day. Hopefully, they’ll support your writing practice too. Or a friend’s.

Join me over the next 20 days for my top 10 lessons learned from writing and sharing at least 200 words every day for a month.

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I’m Gina Hogan Edwards, and I’ve been living as a “shadow artist” (as defined in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way). I’ve earned a living as an editor and a creativity coach, and now it’s time to focus on my writing. That’s what I’m up to sharing my fiction on Gina’s Quill I want to connect with readers and widen my connections with other writers, so I hope you’ll join me.