In the age of the internet, you can find countless articles and reports online claiming the things you must add to your repertoire in order to become a better writer. Many of the millions of instant results that pop up when you type the words ‘tricks to writing a book’ or ‘how to write a novel’ into Google may make enticing offers and promises of writing your next novel in 30 days. Yet they seem to “rarely [be] worth the server space hosting them”. As Chris Harrigan, in an article for The Story, said, “that’s because there’s only one trick guaranteed to turn your blank Google Doc into the literary opus of your dreams, and that's to stop looking for writing tricks and simply sit down and write”.1

Whilst I agree with Harrigan’s point above completely, I think it is interesting to consider the points he follows on with in his aforementioned article on the writing routines of well known writers. Notably, his presentation of the routines of writers such as Joan Didion, Haruki Murakami, Susan Sontag, and Hunter S. Thompson, displays the fact that there is no one way to write a best-selling or award-winning novel, or to become a world renowned writer.

In summary, this post sets to lay out the disclosed routines and habits of some of the worlds greatest wordsmiths. Note how they vary and differentiate. Take from each of them what you must. But also, take nothing at all. As ever, there is no rule book or structured guide to becoming a ‘successful’ writer.

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Joan Didion

“I need an hour alone before dinner, with a drink, to go over what I’ve done that day. I can’t do it late in the afternoon because I’m too close to it. Also, the drink helps. It removes me from the pages. So I spend this hour taking things out and putting other things in. Then I start the next day by redoing all of what I did the day before, following these evening notes. When I’m really working I don’t like to go out or have anybody to dinner, because then I lose the hour. If I don’t have the hour, and start the next day with just some bad pages and nowhere to go, I’m in low spirits. Another thing I need to do, when I’m near the end of the book, is sleep in the same room with it. That’s one reason I go home to Sacramento to finish things. Somehow the book doesn’t leave you when you’re asleep right next to it. In Sacramento nobody cares if I appear or not. I can just get up and start typing.”2

“In 2005, some 37 years later, Didion told another reporter that she usually spends “most of the day working on a piece not actually putting anything on paper, just sitting there, trying to form a coherent idea and then maybe something will come to me about five in the afternoon and then I’ll work for a couple of hours and get three or four sentences, maybe a paragraph.” Hard same.”3

Susan Sontag

In 1977, Sontag wrote in her (since published) diary:

• “Starting tomorrow — if not today:

• “I will get up every morning no later than eight. (Can break this rule once a week.)

• “I will have lunch only with Roger [Straus]. (‘No, I don’t go out for lunch.’ Can break this rule once every two weeks.)

• “I will write in the Notebook every day. (Model: Lichtenberg’s Waste Books.)

• “I will tell people not to call in the morning, or not answer the phone.

• “I will try to confine my reading to the evening. (I read too much — as an escape from writing.)

• “I will answer letters once a week. (Friday? — I have to go to the hospital anyway.)”

In an interview with The Paris Review eighteen years later, Sontag discloses:

“I write with a felt-tip pen, or sometimes a pencil, on yellow or white legal pads, that fetish of American writers. I like the slowness of writing by hand. Then I type it up and scrawl all over that. And keep on retyping it, each time making corrections both by hand and directly on the typewriter, until I don’t see how to make it any better… I write in spurts. I write when I have to because the pressure builds up and I feel enough confidence that something has matured in my head and I can write it down. But once something is really under way, I don’t want to do anything else. I don’t go out, much of the time I forget to eat, I sleep very little. It’s a very undisciplined way of working and makes me not very prolific. But I’m too interested in many other things.”4

Ernest Hemingway

In 1958, Hemingway told The Paris Review:

“When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible… There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write.”

In his article for The Story, discussing Hemingway’s literary habits, Harrigan notes: “irrespective of how late (and alcohol-soaked) the night before had been, he would rise at 5:30 a.m. and begin by reading the previous day’s efforts half an hour later. With the revisions done, he would then get to work writing the first draft of the next batch of words—between 500 to 1000 of them a day. “You have started at six in the morning, say, and may go on until noon or be through before that. When you stop you are as empty, and at the same time never empty but filling, as when you have made love to someone you love.” TMI, perhaps, but who are we to question the man for whom the bell tolls and sun rises?”5

E.B. White

Author of Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White made the follow comments in an interview with The Paris Review about his writing habits:

“I never listen to music when I’m working. I haven’t that kind of attentiveness, and I wouldn’t like it at all. On the other hand, I’m able to work fairly well among ordinary distractions. My house has a living room that is at the core of everything that goes on: it is a passageway to the cellar, to the kitchen, to the closet where the phone lives. There’s a lot of traffic. But it’s a bright, cheerful room, and I often use it as a room to write in, despite the carnival that is going on all around me.

“In consequence, the members of my household never pay the slightest attention to my being a writing man — they make all the noise and fuss they want to. If I get sick of it, I have places I can go. A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”6

Jodi Picoult

In an interview with Noah Charney, Picoult notes:

“I don’t believe in writer’s block. Think about it — when you were blocked in college and had to write a paper, didn’t it always manage to fix itself the night before the paper was due? Writer’s block is having too much time on your hands. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”7

Maya Angelou

While talking with The Daily Beast in 2013, Angelou noted the following things regarding her writing habits and routine:

“I keep a hotel room in my hometown and pay for it by the month.

“I go around 6:30 in the morning. I have a bedroom, with a bed, a table, and a bath. I have Roget’s Thesaurus, a dictionary, and the Bible. Usually a deck of cards and some crossword puzzles. Something to occupy my little mind. I think my grandmother taught me that. She didn’t mean to, but she used to talk about her “little mind.” So when I was young, from the time I was about 3 until 13, I decided that there was a Big Mind and a Little Mind. And the Big Mind would allow you to consider deep thoughts, but the Little Mind would occupy you, so you could not be distracted. It would work crossword puzzles or play Solitaire, while the Big Mind would delve deep into the subjects I wanted to write about.

“I have all the paintings and any decoration taken out of the room. I ask the management and housekeeping not to enter the room, just in case I’ve thrown a piece of paper on the floor, I don’t want it discarded. About every two months I get a note slipped under the door: “Dear Ms. Angelou, please let us change the linen. We think it may be moldy!”

“But I’ve never slept there, I’m usually out of there by 2. And then I go home and I read what I’ve written that morning, and I try to edit then. Clean it up.

“Easy reading is damn hard writing. But if it’s right, it’s easy. It’s the other way round, too. If it’s slovenly written, then it’s hard to read. It doesn’t give the reader what the careful writer can give the reader.”8

Hunter S. Thompson

What follows is the widely reported writing routine of Hunter S. Thompson:

“3:00 p.m. rise
"3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills
"3:45 cocaine
"3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill
"4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill
"4:15 cocaine
"4:16 orange juice, Dunhill
"4:30 cocaine
"4:54 cocaine
"5:05 cocaine
"5:11 coffee, Dunhills
"5:30 more ice in the Chivas
"5:45 cocaine, etc., etc.
"6:00 grass to take the edge off the day
"7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jig­gers of Chivas)
"9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously
"10:00 drops acid
"11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass
"11:30 cocaine, etc, etc.
"12:00 midnight Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write
"12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies.
"6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo
"8:00 Halcyon
"8:20 sleep”.

Except, he never actually worked like this.

In his article for The Story, Harrigan outlines the reasons for the misconceptions and sensationalisation of Thompson’s supposed writing routine: “This routine has been re-published online so many times that it’s effectively become gospel. But as the literary journal Beatdom points out, not only is it not true, but it was never even intended to be taken seriously. The whole thing was created as a sort of literary project by the writer E. Jean Carroll (now also famous for her recent successful sexual assault lawsuit against Donald Trump), who published an unconventional biography of Thompson in 1993.

“Carrol made the controversial decision to alternate between fiction and non-fiction throughout the book, and took the fictional route when it came to how he structured his time. But that hasn’t stopped plenty of otherwise reputable publications from reporting it as truth—see Mental Floss, the Independent, and Open Culture—a fact that would surely please Thompson if he were around today and capable of being pleased about anything.”9

In summary, I think it is important to remember that there is no set way to ‘make it’ as a writer. Some have eccentric, erratic, non-traditional routines and habits to their writing, others take a more structured, early rising type of approach. Just keep writing, when you can.

And, as Harrigan so perfectly puts it: “So should I rise at four a.m. or three p.m.? Live the life of a Renaissance man or an internet-addled slob? Take five years to work on a manuscript or one? Write drunk or sober? The variables are near-endless, as are the questions that may invariably flood your mind about what it is, exactly, you are doing with your life”.

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Never submitted your poetry to a literary body before? Just starting out in the world of publishing your writing? Well then, this is for you.

As a writer who has been submitting poetry and essays to literary bodies for a good few years now, I feel it is only fair to share some tips on submitting your writing to literary bodies.

I want to preface this post by stating that I do not know the complete ins and outs of every publication’s guidelines and structure to processing submissions. This post is intended to help reassure you through the process of submitting your writing to any literary body.

So, without further ado, here is your guide to poetry submissions.

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Your Guide to Submitting Poetry to Literary Bodies

As a fairly new writer and poet in the grand scheme of things, the start of my writing journey was born from a new found love for poetry, and learning how to write it, pretty much all on my own. Almost three years on from the start my journey, I feel more grounded and confident in my ability to write (and in no way am I anywhere near the level I want to be at, writing proficiency wise).

That being said, I have been reflecting a lot recently on the things I wish I knew when I was first starting out. One of those things being, how do I go about getting a poem published in a magazine, or get a collection of poetry published? Now that I have a few answers, I thought it only be right to share some insight.

Identify the Style

An important part of the submission process to any literary body (e.g., literary journal or magazine) is style.

Pinpoint what style or genre your poetry falls into. An example of a style of poetry may be prose poetry or micro poetry. A lot of poetry may be a mixture of genres, styles, or forms, so if it is not apparent what genre your go-to type is, do not panic! This process is purely intended as a method to helping you categorise where your writing sits in the poetry sphere.

When working through this process, consider pieces that you are most proud of, that you feel are your best work, or are pieces that came naturally to you as you were writing them, for example.

Eventually, this analysis of your work will help you to then identify which literary bodies you could submit them to. Some magazines or journals publish a broad range of poetry genres, whereas others may be more specific as to what they are looking for in each submission.

Choosing the Publication

Following on from the previous point, choosing which literary body you submit your work to is another important step.

Start your search by looking for publications that are currently open for submissions, or ones that you think you would like to submit to in the future. Ask yourself questions like: do I like the look of this publication?; can I see my own poetry featured here?; does my writing fit the genres, themes, or imagery they are looking for?

Arguably, most importantly, read plenty of work already published by this literary body. Doing so allows you an insight into whether your work may align with what styles they tend to publish. Understanding an editor’s taste as best you can can often make a difference. Noticing where poets you admire have had their work published, or those who write in a similar way to you is a sign your writing may be a good fit.

Each publication will have their own quirks, so it is crucial to understand where your writing fits within those nuances.

Review the Guidelines

Another important point to make in conjunction with the previous two is to carefully review the submission guidelines for any publication you may be interested in submitting your poetry to, once you have considered whether your style of writing fits a particular literary body or not.

Each publication will have their own minor differences when it comes to the submission process. The important differences are not so much whether they charge a reading fee, whilst that is also important to note, but more where formatting comes into play. For example, certain fonts, spacing, or line limits may be in place, so take consideration of these details in order to ensure your submission is formatted correctly.

Prepare your Work

A number of things that are vital to consider come when you are preparing and selecting the poems you plan to submit.

The first thing is to get feedback and opinion on the poems you are considering. Getting a free and fresh second set of eyes on your work from peers or mentors can be a great way to help you fine tune anything, but also to provide encouragement. Akin to this is ensuring you have proofread your poems of choice, ensuring your writing and form are clean, typo free, and correctly formatted.

When it comes to the order in which you place your poems (assuming the publication allows a submission of multiple poems), lead with your strongest piece. Capture the eyes and minds of the editors; encourage them to read the following poems.

Finally, make sure to check the publication’s exclusivity guidelines. Most literary bodies do not accept previously published work (meaning they’ll only accept unpublished poems for publication), and often posting them on a blog or on social media counts as a ‘published’ piece. So submit something new!

The Cover Letter

Like when applying for a job, a cover letter for your submission is an opportunity to showcase yourself, aside from the poetry.

Keep your cover letter short and concise, detailing the contents of your submission and literary background to avoid an instance of oversharing and too much waffle. The editors want to know about your poetry, not your personal narrative per se.

A good cover letter would include the titles of the poems within your submission, a note on whether your submission is a simultaneous submission or not*, and a short writer bio that is 2-3 sentences long (you could include previous literary achievements here).

* Whether a publication accepts simultaneous submissions or not would be stated within the submission guidelines, so be sure to check that will reviewing the guidelines also.

An ideal cover letter is not over-explanatory. Avoid too much depth in introducing and detailing your poems in the cover letter. Let the poetry speak for itself.

The Finish Line

You have submitted your poems, and now you wait. Allow the post-submission period be one of patience and etiquette.

Once I have submitted some poems to a literary body, I like to keep track of the application by popping it into a spreadsheet, detailing the poems I chose to submit, the date I submitted them, and the closing date of the submission window.

This method of tracking your submissions can come in handy if you are submitting similar combinations of poems to multiple publications. In the case of one publication accepting a submission, you can then easily check which of the accepted poems you may have submitted to other literary bodies, allowing you to more conveniently withdraw said poems from an alternative submission. (This reason refers to a previous point on many publications only accepting previously unpublished work).

Now my final point: embrace rejection.

With so many brilliantly talented writers around the world, eager to get there newest or strongest poems published, it is not always going to be easy getting your poetry to the published line first. It is never a discredit to you or your writing proficiency; rejection is simply a key facet of the life of a writer.

Try your best to not let it dampen your confidence, and allow it to fuel your writing further, in the hope that one day you will look back on an abundance of published poetry.

Thank you for reading today’s edition of the Write Me Some Poetry newsletter. If you liked today’s piece, be sure to check out more of where this came from by subscribing, and let me know what you thought or what I missed in the comments!

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As for a lot of writers, there seems to be a constant pressure to be constantly submitting your work to as many publications as possible, while also consistently writing and perfecting your craft, in an attempt to open up as many writing opportunities as possible.

I thought I would share some tips for submitting your poetry, as well as some publications who are currently open for submissions this month, to save you the researching time and mean you have more time to focus on what you love: the writing.

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Tips for Submitting Poetry to Publications.

It can be disheartening when you receive yet another ‘unsuccessful’ email after what feels like endlessly submitting new writing to many journals and publications. We all receive plenty of those dreaded messages, so please know that you are not alone.

From a young poet and writer who has been perpetually submitting her work to journals etc for nearly three years, let these tips help you to feel as prepared as possible for submitting your work, and allow any outcome be a lesson and opportunity for creative growth.

Without further ado, here you can find some tips that I have practiced while in the process of submitting poetry to small presses, magazines, and big publications.

1: Utilise Online Resources.

To save you the time Googling the reading periods as many publications as you can think of, make use of websites such as Poets & Writers, who compile the open and reading periods of a whole range of small presses and magazines.

2: Review Submission Themes and Guidelines.

It may sound obvious, but having a good read of what each journal / publication is looking for in submissions before submitting your writing is key. Establish what the entity is looking for and whether your work could fit these themes and guidelines. Does what you enjoy writing fall under these themes? Do you feel a call to write from the themes set out by this publication? Establish what you can write from what the publication is already giving you in terms of themes and messages.

3: Write what feels good to you.

There’s nothing quite as painful for a writer as feeling you’re forcing what you’re trying to write. Find qualities in publications that fit with what you enjoy writing, the type of writing that feels easy for you: themes, messages, callings that you resonate with. If you’re struggling to write a new piece based on what a publication has set out in it’s submission guidelines, let it go. Or, come back to it at a later point and edit it so the words in front of you feel like yours, something you can be proud of. Write what feels good to you.

4: Read.

Arguably the most important step. Reading will help broaden your vocabulary and improve the quality of your writing. Reading well and a variety of genres will show in your writing, trust me. Be intentional about what you choose to read. And it will show.

5: Confidence and Persistence is Key.

Have confidence in your writing ability and in selling yourself and your writing. Be consistent with submitting your work to different small presses, journals, and publications. Those ‘unsuccessful’ emails come far more often than the ‘successful’ ones as the market is competitive. So, logically, the more you work on your craft (following some of the tips above), the more you submit your work, the more confident you are in yourself and ability, the more likely you are to eventually receive that much anticipated positive email.

Fill up your creative well with plenty of creative juice. Leap and the net will appear.

So, for my fellow poets, here are a few publications you may choose to submit your poetry to this March.

Blank Canvas Post:

• Poetry, Essays, Fiction, Songs, Creative Non-Fiction.

• Reading Period: no deadline.

• No reading fee.

• Submission guidelines.

After Happy Hour:

• Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction.

• Reading Period: March 1st to April 30th.

• No reading fee.

• Submission guidelines.

Host Publications:

• Poetry, Fiction.

• Reading Period: March 2nd to June 2nd.

• Charges a reading fee.

• Submission guidelines.

Jaded Ibis Press:

• Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction.

• Reading Period: February 1st to March 31st.

• Charges a reading fee.

• Submission guidelines.

Milk & Cake Press:

• Poetry.

• Reading Period: February 1st to March 31st.

• Charges a reading fee.

• Submission guidelines.

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Throughout our lives, we are encouraged to write for many reasons: for assignments at school or university, for a cover letter on a job application, for an email to send to a potential client, or for a statement of will. For many of us, writing things because we have to, isn’t enough. Some of us want to write because we want to, or because there is something we want to say for ourselves.

I found my love for writing through journaling initially. I have explored how journaling has influenced my fondness of writing poetry, and have found an inherent significance in the act of expressing myself through words. Yet, I feel very new to the art and practice of writing in it’s whole sense, despite having been writing things for most of my life.

I started taking my personal writing projects seriously almost three years ago and feel a sense of achievement in having kept this passion afloat amidst the perpetual traffic of life. I often reflect on pieces I have written over the years and catch myself wishing I knew what I know now about how or what I should be writing. The beautiful thing about the art and act of writing is that you will always be learning about your ability to write while simultaneously gaining introspective insight into your being, but it seems there will always be a feeling of ‘if only I knew that then’.

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So, here I lay out to you eight things I wish I knew when I started out on my journey of compiling personal written projects.

1. It’s never always easy.

That writing flow is dreamlike, right? Frustratingly, it doesn’t always show up when you know you want to write. Don’t let its absence put you off. Practice patience and accept writing in small bursts, before the magic flow bursts through your fingertips again soon enough.

2. Test the waters.

Don’t be put off trying different styles of writing and methods to curating your flow-state words of wisdom. Some of us work best writing fiction, others non-fiction. Some writers prefer hand writing in a quiet space, whereas other’s thrive in busy cafes with an endless supply of caffeine and a quality playlist. If one style or setting doesn’t feel like you, try another!

3. Practice makes ‘perfect’.

A habit may take sixty-six days to become an automatic, unconscious behaviour, but starting is the hardest part. Find the time each day to write. Give yourself the pleasure and the chance to release what is within you. Even if you don’t feel the writing flow coming on, write something small. Practicing writing each day builds your resilience and endurance.

4. Don’t stop reading.

It sounds silly, but never stop reading. Whether that be a fiction book, a Substack article on world politics, or a journal entry from 5 years ago, continuing to read while in the process of habitual writing is essential. By reading alongside writing, you are expanding your ability and understanding of concepts, imagery, and literary impact. Keep replenishing your bookish well so drawing water from it will come flooding.

5. Your writing won’t always be good.

Even the best and most acclaimed writers write badly. Acknowledging that sometimes you’re going to write pieces that are ‘bad’, even after you are sitting down to write off the back of having written a masterpiece, is the first step to building a portfolio of simple excellence. Accepting that some things you write won’t necessarily be good, whether that is by your own standard or of other’s, is an important realisation you must have in the process of becoming a well rounded writer.

6. Write for one person.

The opposite of finding your people. Rather than writing with the intention of everyone reading your work, write as if you are writing for the one person who embodies the audience of readers you are hoping will find you and like your writing. If this one person likes your work, then you have done your job. Now seek out other opinions and perspectives on your work, and you can filter out any contradiction.

7. What if no one reads my work?

Whether you are sharing your writing online, submitting poems to magazines, or novel drafts to publishers, someone is always reading. They have to read your work to form an opinion on whether they can find what they are looking for in your writing. Whether a publisher decides to select your novel for publication or a submissions board approves your poem for their feature or not, ask for feedback when possible to help grow your craft, as well as to reassure you (or not) that someone is in fact always reading your work.

8. Find your people.

Community is everything. Sifting through forums and collectives to find like minded writers and artists and people you can connect with artistically is an important foundation of becoming a writer. Don’t be afraid to befriend people who write in different spaces or genres to you as they may also prove to provide useful insight also.

Recommendations.

There is a volume of great works to read to provide reassurance and clarity that you should read as a writer, whatever your form. Here are some texts and people whose work I would recommend you read if you are ever anything like me as a writer: never sure if or what they are writing about is actually any good.

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry.

Planet Word by J. P. Davidson, on Stephen Fry’s ‘Fry’s Planet Word’.

On Writing by Stephen King.

Still Writing by Dani Shapiro.

The list of recommendations is endless. You can find more great recommendations for books to read here.

This Substack piece below by also has a great number of tips on bettering your writing process and habits. 100% worth the read.

The Write Brain

25 Habits That Will Make You a Writer

Read more

a year ago · 1400 likes · 62 comments · Shaunta Grimes

Please also share your recommendations of great pieces to read if I haven’t mentioned it here! I too am ever trying to learn and improve my craft and ability to write.

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THANK YOU for reading today’s issue of Write Me Some Poetry. I’ll be back next Monday with another deep dive into poetry, life, and living. See you next week!

Primarily, journaling is not the same as keeping a diary or an account of what you fill your day with each day. The goal with journaling is to be authentic in exploring whatever you are feeling in that moment by meeting yourself where you are on the page.

I have been journaling fairly consistently for substantial periods of my life, and I often wonder how much my practice of journaling has helped with my found love for writing poetry. So, I did some journaling, thinking, reading, and some more journaling, and found some answers, the main one: Journaling has helped me to write poetry.

What follows is how journaling has helped me, and thus may help you, to write poetry (or whatever type of writing, or other hobby even).

What Journaling Brings

As a habit, journaling brings many things to your day and life. Whether you decide to journal in the morning with a coffee, or in bed in the evening with a candle lightly flickering, it brings structure and presence, and provides you with an opportunity to let go of anything you’re holding onto emotionally.

Amongst other things, journaling brings:

• Clarity;

• Order and structure (if you’re journaling on a regular basis);

• Increased self-awareness;

• Insight into your feeling and emotional patterns;

• An ability to identify complicated or surfacing sensations.

Journaling Benefits

In addition to the things that journaling can bring you, it welcomes a multitude of benefits. These benefits encompass a host of arenas, from emotional, mental, cognitive, and physical realms.

wrote a brilliant piece on journaling and highlighted the following benefits of implementing journaling as a daily habit:

1. Emotional processing and mood improvement.

2. Physical health and immune function.

3. Cognitive clarity, memory, and focus.

4. Self-reflection, emotional regulation, and self-understanding.

5. Sleep and psychological well-being.

How does this influence writing poetry?

What I want to get at is how does the act and benefits of journaling influence what you write, whether that be poetry, prose, fiction, or non-fiction.

1. Self Awareness.

The more you process and understand you own being and existence, and the more you come to terms with what feels true, authentic, and honest to yourself, you naturally become more connected with yourself. This makes great way for authenticity, honesty, presence, and depth in writing. You know where you stand, who you are, and what you believe in. The greatest pieces of writing regardless of the genre come from places of authenticity and present thinkers.

2. Clarity.

The more you write about how and why you think that you are feeling a certain way, the more you can understand and come to terms with the sensory experiences you face. Using this emotional clarity, depth, and understanding, you have the power to shape words in poetic form to convey feeling, authenticity, and meaning.

3. Order and Structure.

Building a structure around journaling in which you sit down at the page at a similar time each day teaches you the significance of building sustainable and positive routine in your day to day life (e.g., the daily release of emotions via journaling as opposed to permitting them to continue residing rent free within your being). This structure is similar to poetry writing, for example, in that poetry takes many forms and structure, each with a different meaning and intention. Thus, recognising the important of structure in what message or signal it sends is rather prominent.

4. Habit Building.

The more poems you write, the more competent the poet and the poems become over time. The practice of habit building, whether it be journaling, fasting, running, or knitting, is a perfect example of a skill that is helpful when developing your writing. The more you write, the better your writing becomes. It’s always helpful to remember here too that there will be many a day when you write something awful. Even the most acclaimed writers write bad things. But the more you go at it, the greater the reward or result will be. So keep writing (journaling or otherwise).

Overall, I feel very aware of the fact that having the ability and desire to write is a luxury, and it is one that I will cherish forever. Reward your inner child and inner artist by being creative in whatever fashion that looks like for you.

In case you missed it…

Here you can find some of my recent newsletters in case they got lost in your inbox!

Thank you for reading this week’s newsletter. See you next Monday for more notes on poetry, life, and living!

I don’t know who I think I am.

I started my Substack, Write Me Some Poetry, in March 2025, and since then, I have written a bunch of posts - some of which have done well, and others that haven’t. Whilst I am not posting on Substack with the intention of achieving virality or acclaim, occasionally it can feel frustrating when you’ve poured your heart into a piece for it to feel as though no one is reading it. So, with it being a new year, and almost a year since I started my Substack journey, here are 5 things that I wish I knew before starting a Substack.

For context, I have built my Substack to encompass poetry, life, and the act of living. Since the start of the year, I have taken some time to have a little rebrand as I had let my cohesiveness and brand slip a little towards the back end of last year, so a little early spring cleaning was well needed. Write Me Some Poetry encompasses how to write poetry, how to read poetry, how to live and experience life, and reflections on being a writer as a girl in her mid-twenties - I try to do all of this while remaining as honest and authentic as I can. So, for my first post of 2026, under this renewed philosophy, here are some things that I wish I knew before starting my Substack in March 2025.

Five things I wish I knew before starting a Substack.

1. Growth will take time.

2. Posting consistently pays off.

3. Don’t rush! Take your time.

4. Interact with your audience.

5. Test the waters.

1. Growth will take time.

Naturally, like with anything you are just starting, proficiency and growth will take time. Spend the time figuring out what your goal is for your Substack, and who your target audience is, and start writing. Whether growth is what you want on Substack or not, enjoy spending the time to make your Substack yours, make it something that you would choose to read if you saw a particular post come up on your timeline.

Tailor each part of your posts and site to who you want to read your work (if anyone at all!), and remain true to yourself and what you want to be writing. Think about what makes you interested in reading a certain post, considering titles and images, and make your posts clickable in this way. Doing so will attract an audience of like minded people who are as interested in reading your work as you are writing it. Remaining authentic and honest will attract the audience you desire.

2. Posting consistently pays off.

Being honest and authentic with your audience can look like posting your work consistently. Whether that be posting on the same day each week, or each month, posting on a regularly day means your audience will know when to expect your work and will be ready to receive it in their inbox. Find a writing and posting schedule that fits in around your commitments outside of Substack, and stick to it. As you start writing and sharing your work, if you find that the schedule needs altering, then alter it! Tell your subscribers that your posting schedule is changing. Be honest and your community will stick around as they feel up to date and included.

3. Don’t rush! Take your time.

Spend the time developing the visuals and content of your Substack. Establish what themes and topics your Substack will address to comprise an overall image and perception of your Substack. In order for your Substack to feel cohesive and intentional outside of just what you plan to talk (or write) about, take the time to work on icons, logos, fonts, and colour schemes, for example, that make and add to the feel of your posts. Use images and cover photos for your posts intentionally, so they are eye catching, relevant to the topic of the post, and align with your message and colours that you have already developed.

4. Interact with your audience.

I’ve personally found that interacting with the people reading your posts is a big one. Responding to comments left on your posts and utilising functions like your subscriber chat and posting notes, will keep your readers feeling connected to the content that you share. Check in with your readers, ask for their advice on posts you have shared, allow their input to fuel your drive and commitment to sharing more insight with them. Overall, interacting with your audience builds community and a sense of purpose.

5. Test the waters.

The more you post, the more you will see an audience growing, and what posts your audience tends to prefer. Whether success on Substack looks like high traffic on your posts, a certain amount of free or paid subscribers, or just the mere act of writing something each week, seek out what type of posts they enjoy seeing. You can tell what posts do well by the reaction individual posts receive based on likes, comments, and re-stacks, or by asking your subscribers in your personal subscriber chat what they think of a particular post, or what they would like to see more of from you.

Take what you will…

I am in no way a Substack guru. I had an influx of subscribers follow along my journey around April 2025, and I personally feel as though I have not committed to sharing my insight on poetry, life, and living at the same rate that whole time. But, with each post comes another opportunity to share you insight with more people. Consider each post that you make on Substack each week like buying a lottery ticket every Friday - the more tickets you buy (the more you post), the higher the chances are of winning the jackpot (the more growth you will see, or whatever your chosen goal is).

If you’re to take anything away from this post…

Overall, I think that the most important thing about writing on Substack is writing what you want to write, and making that writing good. You will see a whole bunch of posts that have an incredible amount of likes, or writers who seem to have a whole load of subscribers. One thing I will say is, yes, you may admire and aspire to have that, but don’t let the numbers fool you or even cloud your judgement. Not all writing is good writing, even the writing with lots of numbers attached to the like button - so make your writing good, and it’ll stand out. Be true to yourself, be honest and authentic, and believe in yourself. Pressing that publish button becomes less scary the more you press it.

In case you missed it…

Here are some of my recent posts that you may have missed. I am really proud of these, so I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Thank you for reading this week’s post. I am excited to hear your thoughts on it!

Any tips or advice that I missed? Tell me! Leave me a comment, I would love to know what you think.

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