Substack Stuck
I guess I have more monkey mind than I previously realized
I’m working intensively on four personal projects, as well as my professional editing work.
The four personal projects I’m working on:
Letting my November novel’s completed first draft simmer for a while in a drawer while I work on other things.
Wrapping up edits on my YA scifi to send a manuscript to sensitivity readers and subject experts.
Write book one of an open mystery series.
Plan a cozy witchy tetralogy with my friend Gevera Bert Piedmont, fellow author and editor.
I have not been finishing any posts on the Enneagram. I have several articles started, and none finished. I’m not sure if it’s that I’m too distracted by all the other things (life, the world, work, other projects) or maybe it’s that I feel too boxed in by a single topic.
I kept a blog on Blogger for over a decade. I wrote posts about architecture, books, writing, music, movies, painting, pets, ceramics, and cancer… You name it, I wrote about it.
I only stopped posting on Blogger when I got emotionally overwhelmed by the one-two-three punch of AI scraping, the lack of an email list, and decreasing visibility.
So I decided to try Substack. This time, I told myself, I would do what all the experts were certain was the best approach: STICK TO ONE TOPIC.
The problem is, I get sooooo bored if I can’t bounce around various ideas. My academic career alone should show that: undergrad minor in math, major in Women Studies (because it was the only bag that held psychology, history, and comparative literature); post-baccalaureate in painting; master of fine arts in film; master of arts in art education; certification in enneagram coaching; certification in developmental editing. Oh, and I have a partial master’s degree in linguistics. And I deferred a master’s in social work.
If you are familiar with the Clifton Strengths, I just described the result of my top three strengths: Intellection, Learner, and Input. It’s also very Enneagram Nine of me. All-embracing and all-collecting is my motto.
So, I’m going to try an experiment. I’m going to see what happens if I write about what I want to write about, when I want to write it.
What do you think? Are you someone who focuses, or do you hop around learning and thinking about everything, too?
I feel this in my bones, Julia. What makes me creative also makes me restless creatively. It's impossible for me to pigeonhole myself into one topic. Sure I love ancient history (in particular the late Bronze Age and that period in Ancient Egypt) but I also love the mysteries of quantum physics, time travel, and hard sci fi subjects. I realized pretty quick that I had to figure out how to package up the complexity of my interests into a theme. And that theme is more or less that I am obsessed with the fleetingness of mortality, and I like to explore themes of love, sacrifice and meaning within that crucible. That's why I decided to call my substack what I did because it allowed me to cover a variety of subjects within that theme. It doesn't mean that readers are going to easily resonate but that's okay. Those who can, will.
The same thing happened to me: I got bored when I tried to write about the same thing. I am unbrandable.