Love this post, and I’ve been thinking lately about what I want from my Substack. Over the last couple of months I think it’s the connection, like “meeting” writers such as yourself. And long live the Oregon Country Fair!
The connection feels so important to me, too. A few years ago I started a grassroots movement to build momentum for literary efforts at the local level and that newsletter (on a different platform) felt wrong and scary. It made me panic and quit. I think it was because I was trying to reach out, person to person, but it felt more like me speaking into the void--the opposite of what I wanted to achieve. Substack having this blog-like ability to comment and keep the conversation going has made a huge difference.
Laura, so appreciate your posts…you bring us back to what is really important..this journey we are all on! Not others’ opinions, approval or disapproval, accolades or not,but satisfying whatever goal we were put here to do, living to our very own fullest! Thank you! Sonya zalubowski
Thank you for reading and for these words, Sonya! I felt so mellow and connected at the Oregon Country Fair, living in a tent and knowing people would come and go from my talks. If people walked out of a bookstore while I was speaking, I would have been crushed for months. Experiencing that ebb and flow, and then ruminating about the slow, genuine career-building that led me there, was really fun.
Thank you Laura …you always bring us around to what is important…the journey we all try to accomplish by living to our wholehearted fullness-that is what counts, not the accolades or otherwise of others. And enjoying every moment along that way.
Thank you for this newsletter, Laura. Beautifully expressed. I'm with you...long haul. I've been long-hauling for a few years now and what I know about writers and their readers is that its all about connection. I want to be a generous writer as I believe you are.
Love this post, and I’ve been thinking lately about what I want from my Substack. Over the last couple of months I think it’s the connection, like “meeting” writers such as yourself. And long live the Oregon Country Fair!
The connection feels so important to me, too. A few years ago I started a grassroots movement to build momentum for literary efforts at the local level and that newsletter (on a different platform) felt wrong and scary. It made me panic and quit. I think it was because I was trying to reach out, person to person, but it felt more like me speaking into the void--the opposite of what I wanted to achieve. Substack having this blog-like ability to comment and keep the conversation going has made a huge difference.
Totally agree!
Beautifully expressed. Love what you do. 💕
Thank you so much, Andrea!
Laura, so appreciate your posts…you bring us back to what is really important..this journey we are all on! Not others’ opinions, approval or disapproval, accolades or not,but satisfying whatever goal we were put here to do, living to our very own fullest! Thank you! Sonya zalubowski
Thank you for reading and for these words, Sonya! I felt so mellow and connected at the Oregon Country Fair, living in a tent and knowing people would come and go from my talks. If people walked out of a bookstore while I was speaking, I would have been crushed for months. Experiencing that ebb and flow, and then ruminating about the slow, genuine career-building that led me there, was really fun.
Thank you Laura …you always bring us around to what is important…the journey we all try to accomplish by living to our wholehearted fullness-that is what counts, not the accolades or otherwise of others. And enjoying every moment along that way.
Yes: exactly what counts. So well said, Sonya! Thanks again for reading.
This is such a wonderful article, Laura. It explains so well why I keep at it, it brings me Joy! Thank you for your words.
Thank you for this newsletter, Laura. Beautifully expressed. I'm with you...long haul. I've been long-hauling for a few years now and what I know about writers and their readers is that its all about connection. I want to be a generous writer as I believe you are.