Fifty people said yes
A milestone and a moment of reflection
Last weekend I reached a milestone (for little old me, at least). I gained my 50th paid subscriber here on Substack. Woohoo! 🎉
It’s been almost two years since I started writing, so this has been a slow and steady growth which feels real and sustainable. Everywhere we look are ‘hacks’ for rapid growth or a fast way to turn a buck, and that couldn’t be further from what I want. I’m on a continued journey of connection and finding the right people: my people.
Writing on Substack is, for me, about building a trusted community where honest words are written; essentially it’s the highs and lows of living a creative life, shared with a group of people who are interested and engaged. That’s you!
I won’t lie, I sometimes have moments of who do I think I am, asking people to pay to read my words?, but then I remember that if I don’t have belief in myself, how can I expect anyone else to? I do believe in my writing. I believe in sharing aspects of what goes on in my life and the way I feel and deal with them. It helps me to process, and I suspect that from time to time it helps others too when reading words which resonate strongly.
Next month I’m attending a 5-day writing residential course. I’m excited and terrified in equal measure; excited because I know I want to work towards publishing a book, and terrified because I will feel like an imposter and not know anybody. But, I’ve been working on putting myself in situations I feel uncomfortable with where there is a creative gain to be had, and it’s getting a tiny bit easier each time. I wrote more on this here:
Writing and attempting to publish a book is the goal I currently have in my mind and I’m certain that writing weekly (and sometimes more frequently) here is helping that. I work my writing muscle regularly and just keep showing up.
As we get older, we find ourselves realising that someone we went to school/university/worked with has continued to do a thing they love and is now really successful. I can think of several people like this who back when I knew them didn’t follow an ‘orthodox’ path and instead continued to plug away at something, probably earning very little money. At the time, I will have wondered why they didn’t get a ‘proper job’ (I sometimes dislike younger me), but I now see that they were sticking at something they believed in and were passionate about. Hindsight is wonderful.
It's taken me a lot longer to find my passion, but I think I have it and so I’m not going to let go. I plan to continue to show up here, and who knows, in 2 more years maybe I’ll have 100 paid subscribers. Maybe I will have finished my book?Both would be nice, but above all I remain committed to building a community of people who care and ‘get it’.
In case you’re new here, I left a very stressful full-time job as Director of Music in a large school two years ago. After 9 years I was a shell of myself, I’d people-pleased for too long and eventually burned out. I took action and left that job.
Nowadays I teach part-time in term time only, I run an interior design consultancy business which focuses on creativity rather than splurging cash, I write (I can’t not write, in fact), I have a podcast on creative career change and do various other bits of work as and when they come my way.
I consider myself to be a multi-faceted creative.
Today’s paid piece is a reflection on the highs and lows of two years of life as a multi-hyphenate/multifaceted creative/jack of all trades (delete as you see fit).