A Little Reintroduction

It seems that life never moves at the pace we’re hoping it does. When there is something on the horizon that we’d like to fast forward to, an exciting trip or perhaps a new job, time crawls. But when we’re trying to savor the most precious moments, they fly by.

Likewise, when we try to manufacture those moments, it seems they always elude us. Not unlike many other Substackers, I have been putting my content out into the Subtacksphere regularly for over a year mostly for the audience of my friends and family. A few other folks have stumbled upon me, but not many. And then one day, I posted a photo of the view from my new home in my new life as a full time writer and BAM, my little corner of the internet was found.

So, for those of you who have just subscribed, I thought I might catch you up on the brief legacy that has been my Substack.

My “viral moment” post

In the Beginning

Full disclosure, and perhaps a little too honestly, I was introduced to Substack by my therapist. I have always been a writer, having worked as a journalist, copywriter, and aspiring novelist. I’ve also dabbled in the blog world- I think my first blog was on Blogger. I’m not sure that still exists!

It took me a while to finally look into this “Substack” thing she told me about, and then one day I sat down and wrote my first post.

Well, I Guess I'll Write a Blog

Back then, my Substack was called “Emily’s Substack.” I did not, in fact, know that there were other options. I kept seeing other people’s posts with fascinating and creative names and thought How did they do that?? What magic is this??

An Independent Girl…

I wrote somewhat infrequently, and I think my subscribers were exclusively my immediate family and closest friends. The only likes and comments I got were from my dad (love you, Pops!). I, somehow, figured out how to change the title of my Substack and rebranded as The Independent Girl’s Survival Guide.

Was it a Survival Guide? Of course not. Who am I to be giving anyone advice? But it sounded a bit more exciting than “Emily’s Substack,” so I went with it. And somewhere around this time, I started to get an inkling that change was coming in my life, whether I chose it or it chose me. I wrote this post, which I often reference as the tipping point in my journey.

The Universe is Talking to Me

… Who is Also a Writer

Somewhere along the way, I realized a lot of my content had shifted. I began to immerse myself more in the writing community and joined a writing group (shout out to the Dabblers!). My posts started to focus more on the evolution of my writing and my book, The Last Empress. I rebranded as “An Independent Writer’s Survival Guide.” I’m not even sure anyone noticed. I started to produce content like “Rethinking My Hook” and “How Do We Define Success?”.

Fun fact, neither of the hooks in the aforementioned post is the hook for my story anymore. In case you are interested, it is:

In a world where the Gods gifted only women with the most powerful magic, The Council will do anything to keep that a secret. But when Lia discovers the truth, she becomes the only person who can change everything.

Depending on my audience, I might instead say something like, “Well, it’s rooted in Roman history and was originally based on the Emperor Nero. He was a particularly crazy emperor, and there was this lore that someday he would return to wreak havoc on Rome. So it was called The Last Emperor. But then one day I thought, what if instead of it being Nero it was a woman, and she wasn’t bad, they just wanted you to believe she was? And thus it became The Last Empress.”

Anyways, I digress. Briefly, I thought maybe I would write helpful content about writing for people. That lasted for one post that I’m not even going to bore you by sharing here.

I also started a podcast! In the Odyssey of a Novel podcast, I sit down with independent authors to learn about the journey that led to their published book. I still do that because it’s quite fun. You can follow new episodes here on Substack, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Welcome to the Odyssey of a Novel!

But then that thing happened that I mentioned in the beginning. That thing where life happens whether you want it to or not.

Morning Reflections

Due to a number of circumstances beyond my control, I found myself needing to make a drastic change in my life. Drastic meaning: I rented out the house I’ve owned and lived in for the last 7 years, packed up all of my possessions, and moved out of the state I’ve called home for all of my 36 years.

The Writer on the Water

To be very clear, this was not easy. I wrote several posts that maybe helped other people, but mostly were me transcribing the things I needed to see to make myself feel better about this massive change in my life.

Fear Profits No One

And then I did it. I moved. And I officially rebranded to the Substack that you all so generously decided to follow last week.

I Turned 36 Today

I thought that would be the end of the challenge and change in my life, but alas, the world still had other plans for me. The (I hope) last big thing came a few weeks ago when I lost my job. You can read that final life update below.

I Lost My Job Today

I thought moving out here would allow me to save a boatload of money, keep working my corporate job, and get to be more in tune with nature. Instead, I was presented with an opportunity to do something I have always wanted to try: being a full-time writer.

I don’t know if I can hack it, if I will make enough money to support myself, or if I might need to go back and find one of those corporate jobs again. But when life throws you enough curveballs, eventually you have to try to hit one out of the park.

So here I am, going for a home run.

And thank you so much for joining me on that journey.

~The Writer on the Water~