Well, the thing that I was afraid would happen happened

On turning failure into fuel

Quick note before we get into today’s post! Applications for my Nov 7-10 writing retreat in the Hudson Valley close on Monday, August 5. It’ll be a dreamy weekend of yummy food, inspiring settings, one-on-ones and optional craft talks avec moi, with lots and lots of quiet time to write—last time, one participant banged out 10,000+ new words! Find all the details here, and click here to apply. (Paid subscribers will see their own link at the end of this post.)

For weeks, Substack has been gently prodding me to use its two discussion-centered features: Threads and Chat. I love other Substackers’ weekly Threads (the site makes them paid-subscriber-only), but was v. nervous to try it myself because, well…what if nobody commented and I was left with that naked-on-stage stress-dream sensation? But community is important, and there’s so much wisdom pinging around among all of you. So, on Monday, I put on my big-girl pants and hit send on my very first Thread! I crossed my fingers for mushrooming conversations and the making of many beautiful alliances. I admitted I was nervous no one would jump into the fray. Hit that Comment button, I shouted into the gorge!!!

And……………………..crickets.¹

I felt…sheepish, vaguely embarrassed, but in a giggly, self-deprecating way. Who knows why that experiment fell flat? Maybe I need to wait until I have a larger community of paid subscribers. Maybe I need a more-precise prompt. Maybe Monday mornings are too busy and caffeine-deprived for user-generated discussion. I’ll try again eventually, and I welcome your suggestions for making Threads a can’t-miss resource for Get It Write readers. But my goal is always to bring you loads of value, and if Threads ain’t it right now, it’s cool!

Just another day as an author, humiliated but keepin’ on

Here’s the thing: that fizzy sense of fear, followed by embarrassment? I feel it all the damn time as a novelist. In fact, the longer I do this, the more often I get those chest-constricting butterflies, the corner of my brain screaming don’t do it you idiot what if you fail?! That’s when I realized something important about succeeding as an author: