On the 12th of this month, I hit my anniversary of writing on Substack. Not coincidentally, that aligns with my anniversary of publicly posting my fiction and essays online for the world to see. Ballparking when I started writing screenplays, this makes for thirteen years writing "seriously." Not quite half my life, but it will pass that point in fewer years than I'd like. Time marches on and all we can do is enjoy it.
And dammit, I enjoying writing here.
Not necessarily Substack itself, though the small community of writers I've overlapped with here has been wonderful and an experience I never thought I'd have in this very lonesome work that is writing. There is a tendency to highlight the medium here, rather than the work.
I enjoy the work. I'm glad I found a medium that makes it easy to support my writing. But Substack isn't why I'm here. Writing is.
A quick breakdown of my writing career thus far:
Screenplays. I began to write and work to get good at writing in order to create scripts to film. This led to me eventually converting my third feature length film into a novel.
The first short stories. A break from the novel after its first draft (it’s so bad, everyone), and I focused on short stories. These early ones were quite bad, but I love them all the same. Little genre here, mostly contemporary stories, sometimes with a surrealist lilt to them. As the years went by, these got less frequent. I'd write one every few months or so.
No one saw them initially.
Then in 2021 I began a short story that turned into a novel. It was my first since that screenplay conversion in 2018. After I finished it, in 2022 I wrote another. Then in 2023 I wrote a third.
Here's where I paused. This book was good. Not great, far from great, but it was the best I’d written so far.
What now?
I worked on redrafts and commissioned a cover artist, cover designer, and professional editor (shout out to Woody, whose writing is here: https://substack.com/@coppercoinediting). I worked harder on this book, focusing on editing while continuing draft mode as I worked on another novel.
It’s early 2024 now, and I realize I need an audience. I love writing and I love my book, but, outside of friends, I know that no one will buy the thing if I publish it.
Substack days: In March I realize I want to start a newsletter and website, something to bring what little audience I can into life and eventually point them to my book.
I've got essays and I've got stories. I'll clean them up and write some more and build that audience.
Those first stories that you read were either written in that month or were the absolute best of the earlier short stories I wrote over the years. But I needed more. Per my own standards and goals: I needed something once a week.
So, I got writing.
Without a schedule other than "Thursday mornings" I wrote stories and essays. I found the book thoughts essay I wrote, semi-review, semi essay were my favorite of the non-fiction. I found that fantasy short stories are much harder for me to write, despite it being my preferred long format genre. So, I turned to science fiction and later dabbled in horror - plus I wrote a damn western last week, what?!
To be entirely honest, the focus here slowed my novels. I had a good streak of a first draft every year since 2021. I finished the draft in 2024, but I haven't started my next first draft. I know the rough story, but nothing else.
A part of this is due to not wanting to start it without finishing edits and publishing my first novel, AND beginning edits on the novel from 2024 (it’s even better than the other one).
I hate working on old stuff. I get bored easily and impatient. When I finish a story, I wish it were done and out and I never had to think about it again, save for references in future tales.
But that's not possible with a novel, at least not my novels. They need a lot of work. That work is hard for me to do.
Substack has been a bastion then. it’s a safe haven where I can write a story in a day or two, give it to my wife to read after I've proofed it, make changes per her thoughts and mine, proofread once more, and post it. I can burn through stories here almost as fast as they burn through my mind.
It’s more fun than the real work, the novel. That has slowed me down.
But what I've found is I worry about that less now.
My life has changed a lot in this last year. I got married. I co-founded my own engineering firm. I now own two whole cats.
The excuses to not write have been there the whole time, and while I've changed my writing, I never stopped. I don't think I will ever stop.
I am a writer.
I didn't need Substack and a newsletter to be able to say that, but damn it feels good to have my words read and enjoyed - or loathed and ignored - in the world. My words are no longer mine anymore. I love it.
I built a schedule this year. I released it in February and thus far have followed it well. It is (per weeks of the month):
An Essay - Week 1
Fantasy Story - Week 2
Another Essay- Week 3
Science fiction/genre/unrelated story - Week 4.
Bonus time - Week 5, when there is one.
On average, that is around 10,000 words published a month. I'm not here tooting my own horn, those words certainly are not perfect. But they are out in the world.
That feels so good.
This year in Substack, I want to continue at that pace. I also want to focus back on my final edits for the novel. I owe you all a cover reveal too, that work was done months ago - I jumped the gun a bit there.
I've also begun compiling my stories from here, as well as a few I’ve written in secret, into the beginnings of a few collections. Those books will likely go in for editing at the end of this year, making 2026 a helluva year.
That's all we can do with the time we have: enjoy it. I write when I want to, when I enjoy it. Though I have a schedule, this isn't compulsory. I'll miss a day when I damn well please, but I don't please currently. When I don't enjoy writing, I force nothing. I think the words come out better this way.
The last addition to my newsletter here popped up in my most recent story (link). I’ve always been a little averse to Substack’s subscription model. It’s a lot of money to ask from a person, I hate adding a subscription to anyone’s life when we already subscribe to too much crap, and I always felt a little iffy charging for my writing outside of a book release context. But, I love when I can pay an artist I like for their work. So I decided to open a digital tip jar. I thought of a lot of clever ways to try and market this, like a guitar case on a street corner where you drop a dollar for a musician busking, I thought about naming it my typewriter case… stuff like that. All too much thought for what is just a tip jar. So here it is: if you like my art and want to drop a buck in my hat, I’d appreciate it more than you know. If you like my art, but want to just keep reading for free, please do. I will never charge money for my newsletter, no matter the format. Anyway, here’s the Tip Jar:
I talked about me a lot in this essay, but what I didn't mention was all of you. I know pretty much all of your names/emails by this point, either personally or though some communication here on Substack. I end most of my posts with a "Love ya!" and I cannot emphasis how much I mean that. I friggen love you all. I'd write without an audience, it’s what I do, but you all sure make it more fun.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for this past year.
Thank you for the next ones too.
Love ya,
Max