The Dawn of a New Me
And an opportunity for you to have input to my writing
Somehow, I grew up a very cautious, methodical learner. Perhaps my approach to adopting new skills was something I picked up working as an applied mathematician at Westinghouse R&D for nearly 20 years.
Namely, you go out and read everything you can find on the new topic. You carefully build a strategy based on best practices. Only then do you actually implement. And hope that those best practices serve you well.
It’s a common approach. Maybe you can relate.
That's the approach I took in 2008, when I decided to get into Internet marketing via eBay. I studied and planned for a solid three months before I listed one single thing for sale. Truly. After another five months, I realized eBay wasn't for me. I won't go into the other schemes I've tried and discarded similarly.
That was then. Somehow, in the last month, I've managed to finally kick that method to the curb.
aren't you proud of me? I've actually been posting (yes, hitting PUBLISH!) for an entire month without knowing exactly where I'm headed. I’m making changes and pivoting on the fly as I follow the content where it's leading me.The New Me
What changed? Well, maybe it's my biological clock ticking. Not that one. No, I'm talking about the clock that kicks in much later. The one that kicks in when you see friends not much older pass away unexpectedly. When you're pushing 70.
Whatever the reason, I'm a new me. Willing to take bigger risks. Willing to mess up in public. Willing to publish something online that I will probably need to edit later. Not because of grammar, but because I decided to pivot.
I'm in a hurry now. I'm motivated to publish and get feedback. Quickly. Running agile and lean. That's the new me.
The New Challenges
But this new approach doesn't come without new challenges and questions. For example, if I completely re-write an article, do I just replace the content on the old URL (and include a small note to mention it’s been rewritten)? Or do I delete the entire content on the old URL and replace it with nothing more than a link to the rewritten version? Am I overthinking this? I do that. (I'm missing WordPress 301 redirects right about now.)
This raises some bigger questions. Are Substack readers okay with moving-target content? With work-in-progress? Am I shooting myself in the foot? As I write this, I don't think I care. (Sorry, not sorry.)
Of course, it's easier to say that when I have less than 20 subscribers. (I've been out of town and haven't had a chance to put much effort into writing notes and sending personal invitations to my entire contact list.)
The Initial Plan
I started my Substack with the intent to update and re-publish old content until I was ready to begin serialized publication of my recently completed first memoir. (And that memoir was only waiting for said out-of-town trip to be completed and that stack of invitations to be sent.)
But you know what they say… When women make plans, God laughs.
The first week, I thought it was prudent to introduce myself with an entire, freshly written article about Listening for Guidance, just to let readers know it might come up in my writing. It was an overview of the practice. The second week, I did manage to upcycle an old article about why we don’t want to admit to hearing God’s voice.
But then, something surprising happened. Instead of recycling another previously written article as planned, I found myself wanting to write new material… on Listening for Guidance. Two new articles ensued.
The New Plan
Okay, I’ve seen the handwriting on the wall. Since Listening for Guidance isn’t something a lot of people know about, and since I have some things to say I haven’t seen other people saying, and since I’ve already started it anyhow, I’m just going to go ahead and write a book about it here on Substack.
This is an experimental leap of faith on my part.
Most people who serialize their non-fiction books on Substack have written the entire book before they begin posting. Or at least they have developed an outline. I have done neither. So, just to warn you, chapters might get rearranged or renamed or heavily edited.
I have already moved the initial chapters into a section called Listening for Guidance. The pinned article in that section (Start Here: A Guide to “Listening for Guidance”) has links to existing chapters, in appropriate reading order. (Shoutout and thanks to Annette Marquis for providing a couple of great examples on how to do this.)
Maybe It’s the Same Old Me
So to summarize, I had a plan: Recycle old articles to start. Work on sending invitations to everyone I could think of. Then publish the memoir.
But before I knew it, my brain just sort of went another way. And I decided it made sense to follow. Admittedly, I could see the opportunity and the need for another book—a how-to book. (A book, incidentally, I had successfully resisted writing up until now.) And off I went.
Well, this is something old me would have done.
Just ask
whatever happened to that journal I worked so hard to create (and he coached me through, in 2018) and never published. Instead of publishing, I pivoted to a completely different project: a website for my stepbrother Barry’s art.At the time, Ed rightly diagnosed my problem as fear. He recommended I read The War of Art. I did. In fact, I read it twice. And I’ve put that fear behind me…finally.
I would argue that it’s different this time. What I am now pivoting to is not a completely different project. It’s just an expansion of the current project. And, I’m publishing. And, it will lead me back onto the original path soon enough.
And this time, I publicly promise, Ed, that I will begin publishing that memoir soon. July at the latest.
And in the meantime, I'm going to be running an experiment. It's what scientists (should) do. And I am nothing if not a scientist.
Here’s Your Opportunity
Going forward, I will continue to edit my Listening for Guidance chapters as I receive feedback from readers like you. But I'll include change notices at the end of those pieces.
This presents you, dear reader, with an opportunity to influence the content of a potential future bestseller. (I like to aim high…sometimes.)
I'd love it if you’d take a look and give me your feedback. I'll try to post Notes so you know when each piece has been updated and is ready for review. Thanks for hanging in there with me.
As Ed Says, Speak soon.