#substack reader

[adharagranley-writer]

i have a substack now! if any of you want to go there and subscribe to read my random writer ramblings and thoughts that would be very appreciated (i'll giggle and kick my feet in the air if i get subscriber & comment notifications).

any other substack writers here?

[bonbonmacaron]

I started reading this serialized fantasy novel in Chinese called Twig 枝丫. It’s about trees growing in people and controlling them 😱 Very spooky and intriguing. It’s written by a student and specifically for intermediate learners. The Substack has vocab lists for each chapter and audio, which is amazing! The best part is that a new chapter comes out every Friday. I’m only on chapter 10 so far, so I’m not caught up yet. If you also want to read it, you can just look up the Twig 枝丫 Substack. I pasted the chapters into Pleco to look up words.

I’ve also been watching this show called Women in Taipei 台北女子圖鑑 and it’s really good. I feel like I can understand about 80% of it. Apparently it’s an adaptation of a Japanese show, so I might also watch it in Japanese. Oh wait I just looked it up, it’s an adaption of Tokyo Girl, which was the first show I watched in Japanese 😅

[see-arcane]

It's come to my attention that the last time I pinned up all these new chapters, it apparently got lost in the slog of other updates when I first opened my Substack. So many folks are shocked that Penclosa has new chapters, hiatus'd though it is at present. So!

All Chapters of Penclosa (So Far)

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6

“The Parasite” by Arthur Conan Doyle for background.

And for new readers who don't know what this is all about:

It’s been almost a year since Jonathan Harker made that fateful first trip to Transylvania. The monster that imprisoned him, that threatened his love, that died in a box of earth by two blades, has been gone for months. Yet Jonathan’s nightmares have never left. In fact, as the bleak anniversary nears, they have worsened. Van Helsing’s mesmerism has made no progress in freeing him from the nightly horror. But he has come from Amsterdam for a potentially fruitful visit to another professor. 

Prof. Wilson is playing host to a mesmerist of singular and uncanny power, Miss Helen Penclosa. On meeting the troubled young man and his wife, she is only too happy to help…

So opens Penclosa, a story sadly locked in stasis for the indefinite time being. The work is a crossover between Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula and Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story, “The Parasite.” The one features the infamous vampire and the heroes who clash with him, the other stars a professor who gets himself entangled in the amorous-to-villainous intentions of a hypnotist who’s implied to have more than the usual power behind her mesmeric ability. While I was reading both of these stories around the same time, an idea occurred:

Wow. This hypno-lady would be such a huge problem for Jonathan Harker specifically.

Which led to the next thought:

I should make her a huge problem for Jonathan Harker specifically.

And then I did!

(Sorry there’s no grander scheme behind it than that, I just like playing dolls with scary classic lit characters. And terrorizing my favorite gothic horror solicitor in particular. Sorry, Mr. Harker.)

That said, I make no promises as to an if or when of continuing Penclosa beyond the point it was paused at. I have an inkling of other ways to play with the story in a further-down-the-line plot where she meets the Harkers under different circumstances, but I’m also really attached to the bones I’ve already laid down here. So it’s a bit up in the air for now. Let me know what you guys think, I’d love to know what the interest level is.

In the meantime, don’t make direct eye contact with any mesmerists and/or undead horrors.

[inkandpaperqwerty]

This is a momentous occasion. Why? Because this is my first Sunday Update that I am posting to my Substack, Qwerty’s Quasar, as well as my tumblr and website! I also enabled the paid subscription option and the chat feature, so I’m trying to expand and become more active over there, which is really exciting!

What’s also exciting is that Rehearsing Tragedies is ready for Update Wednesday (03/12)! I’ll polish it again before actually posting it, as I always do, but it’s ready right now, and the next chapter is basically written, it’s just that a large chunk is in my notebook and needs cleaning up.

DID I MENTION MY INCREDIBLE BROTHER MADE FANART FOR ME?? FOR CHAPTER 6??? WITH SCRATCHED UP CAS ON THE COUCH????????????

Ahem. I’m hoping to update Want is a Wasting Disease on the next Update Wednesday (03/26), and then Rehearsing Tragedies again on the Update Wednesday after that, but that’s not set in stone.

Huge shoutout to @norite for leaving kudos on two of my works associated with my book Cataclysm and my upcoming book, Collision Course! Support for original works and characters is always appreciated, and you put a huge smile on my face!!

Speaking of Collision Course, the final edit is about halfway done according to the page count, but I think the majority of the cleaning up is needed toward the end, so… I’ll say I’m about a third of the way through. My awesome sister is working on the cover art, and it’s not even done yet, but it already looks so amazing!

Thanks so much for reading, and as always, your support is appreciated more than you will ever know!

[benitariums]

writing is so unglamorous it’s such a privilege to do it

[shelbbswrites]

Coming to my newsletter tomorrow

Subscribe now so you don't miss it!

[medusasbush]

ah. figured it out.

[laurahepworth-author]

Opinions please! What are your thoughts on Substack vs. Patreon vs newsletters? I'm asking both for both a reader and writer's perspective. I've hit a bit of a snag with my current newsletter and am exploring different solutions and Substack's come up as a possibility. I'm looking into using it both as a replacement to my current newsletter, but also as sort of a blog and for serializing my chapter drafts. This would also be in addition to my Patreon as an alternative for any that don't care for that site. So, any thoughts on how you like (or don't like) Substack or reader/writer preference between the three?

[b0rtney]

Someone is doing my favorite thing ever: commenting on every chapter of a fic I wrote!!! YES BESTIE TELL ME HOW EXCITED U ARE AND HOW U DIDNT SEE THE STABBING COMING BUT U DID SEE THE SISTER LEARNING ENGLISH COMING!!!!!

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Section 8: Why Readers Pay for Newsletters on Substack

Summary of my Udemy Course “From Zero to Substack Hero.” This is a new series upon request from my readers. I recently developed a course titled “From Zero to Substack Hero” and published it on Udemy and shared it on Content Marketing Strategy Insights owned by Dr Mehmet Yildiz who kindly allowed me to use his Substack Mastery book to design the curriculum. Some writers and editor colleagues…

[categorysixkaiju]

[...] I would say that [the opening of Raymond Carver’s “Chef’s House”] qualifies as “in media res” and it is one of the things that differentiates “in media res” from the standard, flat “cold opening.” In media res means in “the middle of things.” Sometimes, people take this to mean “in the middle of the action” with “action” interpreted literally. That is wrongheaded, in my opinion. Good advice deployed badly turns into a crime. It might be more productive to think of “in media res” as meaning, beginning in the thick of the situation. “Chef’s House” begins after Wes and Edna have split up. She’s got a new life. She thinks the Wes stuff is behind her. Then, bang, he calls. The story picks up, then, in the middle of things. Not during their marriage. Not during the decline of their marriage, which is where some people would have begun. No. The story opens in the fullness of the relationships, when the characters have a great deal of history behind them already. The cold open is just a flat, dull misinterpretation of this idea. It’s all action, no relationships. [...]

[that-one-girls-blog-posts]

I have substack now!!! (and no idea how to use it pls help)

[jolenes-book-journey]

Are Newsletters Really Important for Authors

In the fast-paced world of publishing, authors are always on the lookout for effective ways to connect with their readers. Amidst social media trends and ever-changing algorithms, one tool remains a steadfast ally: newsletters. This often-overlooked gem offers authors a direct line to their audience, free from the noise of crowded platforms. Whether you’re an emerging writer or a seasoned author,…

[author-mandi-bean]

Facing February

Any other writers trying to get their shit together in 2025?

[wickedjr89]

Facebook is trying to censor a book by an author, an insider, that is not complimentary towards them. I heard about it yesterday. It's out for delivery as I write this.

[indigo-sodapop]

Substack Spotlight!

This will be a continuously growing post (or series of posts because I wager this will get verrryyyy long soon) featuring pieces of writing from Substack that I've really enjoyed, and want to share with you! To read them, you don't need a Substack account, and you can subscribe to the writers with only your email address, if you'd like! Happy Reading!

The Enchanting History of Creepy Little Girl-Creatures by Ball-Jointed Diary

"This innocent thing has teeth; large, haunting eyes, a disturbing aspect that can’t quite be pinned down. Many BJD artists follow in the footsteps of Hans Bellmer, creating dolls with ghoulish and fragmented features in the surrealist vein. Often, the suffering of girlhood is made apparent and oddly pretty in the subtle details of these dolls."

Lessons on Loneliness by Petrichoral

"he only wears black, so i’ll come dressed as the night. i’ll cloak myself in snobbism, lingerie, and obscure opinions. he’ll wear a cloak of his own, of course, but i’ll see right through it. but still i’ll play along. i feel like etching myself into someone’s story today. carve myself out of somebody else."

mellon collie and the infiinte sadness by Sudana Krasniqi

"I have never felt more alive than when I am in the throes of the kind of day that makes me wish I was dead."

12 Years Hostage: The Hidden Truth of Solitary Confinement in Texas by Xandan Gulley via Black Lipstick

"Perhaps death is a token of life to those who are hostages. I sometimes feel as though solitary confinement was made for that very purpose-- to make us look forward to dying. But against all odds, I am sane."

Becoming Bewildering by Faye Boam

"I'm a firm believer that we are all doing the best we can with what we have. Which has far more to do with the actual forces our body can handle than the ideas of 'willpower' and 'manifestation' that are thrown around like they mean something concrete."

Domesticated by Jimmy Gardener

"There he is, sprawled like an idiot on the floor. The selfish prick hadn't even bothered to finish removing the lid from my nightly can of shit paste. He had it in his hands when I saw him seize, jerking upright as if suddenly harpooned in the asshole."

Life be like by James Worth

"But I really do have to double down and insist this isn't about New York, New York anyway. She's a backdrop for a feeling I've been festering over for a year now that really just ahppened to come to fruition on her grossly hallowed streets. And even then, the fruiting body of this epiphany paid little if any attention to the setting."

i'm afraid i've been lying to you by c.s. mee

"i've been quietly collecting pieces of fabric, leather and corduroy it seems, to place atop my skin and say they are my face."

i miss running fast by tanit

"there's some research around loneliness, and how people who takr hotter showers are intrinsically lonely because the feeling of hot water on your skin is like an intimate touch. my showers are always either scalding or freezing. i don't think i need a scientific paper to tell me i'm lonely. i'm a capricorn moon for fuck's sake, i was born lonely, i live to shit myself on how lonely i am, fearing that i will die alone."

i take offense to not being loved as hard as a song by heaven

"I TAKE OFFENSE TO NOT BEING LOVED AS HARD A SONG

ONE THAT YOU'D PLAY MORE THAN THREE TIMES A DAY"

freezing fingertips/ warm places by birdbrain

"you thread your fingertips into the space between my ribs

your inhale hinging on my exhale"

how to stop sighing in public by Griffin Blue Emerson

"Even if our lives are uneventful, without action, at least there's the small actions we make to make ourselves ramen, to make ourselves breakfast, to make ourselves sleep, to make ourselves shower, to make ourselves get groceries, to make ourselves take stock of our own self and wants, and to try to make ourselves know what it is that we really want."