where does one write and publish these days?
March 19, 2021
UPDATE : In light of new information that I have found out about the inner workings of Substack and how they have set up their payment systems and WHO they pay with the proceeds of these, I have decided to remove my posts from Substack and recommit myself to this here blog.
The TL;DR version is that Substack has been using the money it collects from it’s less popular writers, many of whom are from the Trans part of the LGBTQ2IA+ community, and then paying some more mainstream writers who have a long history of transphobic and problematic views, large sums of money (advances) to come and write on their platform. NOT COOL SUBSTACK!
You can read more about it here from @sadydoyle. I also have to thank my online friend @britnidlc for first alerting me to this TERF-y fuckery!
I doubt they will miss me and my 30 something subscribers, but I will not have my name associated with a platform that harms people with their policies.
SUBSCRIBE HERE INSTEAD, RIGHT ON MY BLOG (JUST THERE DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE) FOR MY POSTS TO COME TO YOU IN YOUR INBOX!
Online Writing and the medium in which we do it is always changing.
Forums, and blogs, and micro-blogs, and long captions, and twitter threads…
And now, The Newsletter™.
In the past, a newsletter was something you got from your community league or the Gap or your financial consultant, but nowadays, The Newsletter™ is the new self-publishing medium for many a writer. Accomplished journalists and writers across the globe have seen a giant change in the writing and publishing world. Steady jobs are not what they used to be, and the endless hustle for virality on social-media is killing writing vibes all over the place. Many have opted to move to a form of paid or subscription-based newsletter format to have direct access to the people who appreciate and actually want to read their work and not have to rely on the whims and deadlines of editors and newsrooms.
Substack is the newest and shiniest of these formats, and you guessed it, I too have succumbed to this new wave of where to write and have created a Substack Newsletter for Natasha Writes Things. I will not be making this a paid subscription at this time, but I do know that many writers are using this as their sole source of income and I highly recommend you support your faves if you can.
I must admit that writing/publishing during the Pandemic hasn’t been an easy thing for me - even though EVERYONE and their dog says it the year to write YOUR GREAT NOVEL!
HA!
Publishing any of my writing has definitely been in the background for me throughout much of the past year (as noted by the last entry on this blog at the BEGINNING of the pandemic), but I did take many a course to improve my writing during the pandemic and am now armed with many new tools and inspiration for the new year.
So please, if you want to join me and continue to read my writing, subscribe to my Substack newsletter. My goal is one newsletter a week. It will likely be a mix of a weekly check in with my readers, commentary on world and/or local news and events, and some personal essays as well.
Here is an excerpt from my last entry :
“The only constant in a woman’s life is how much she changes. With time, with life events, with love - of self and for others. I think about this phenomenon of change often. Of how much women evolve over a lifetime. Physically, mentally, and emotionally; and how this dictates our relationships with both our own bodies and the world we live in.”
I do hope you’ll join me (and subscribe).
Here is to a much happier, healthier, and hope and writing-filled 2021.
Yours in words and images and stories,