I'm (Not Actually) Quitting Substack

But I am Taking a Step Back

Photo by Mantas Hesthaven on Unsplash

This may admittedly have been somewhat of a clickbait title, but it obviously worked since you're here, so. . . I digress.

Anyhow, the reason I'm making this post is because I have been thinking a lot about. . . well everything lately. Part of what I'm reflecting on is how time online is affecting me and my life. And the answer is just a tad bit more than I would like. I've been spending a lot of time on Substack lately, time that I could be spending writing or creating instead of just consuming. When writing gets hard I go check my notifications or notes instead of pushing through, and it's very much derailing my creative output. My parents let me be on here only because they trust me to be responsible with it, and I don't want to feel like I'm betraying that trust.

Something else I've been thinking about a lot is the fact that I truly only have a few more years to be a kid, and I don't want to squander that. Me and my friend were talking about the pressures we put on ourselves about writing yesterday, which is another thing I've been reflecting on. When I was younger, writing was pure joy, unaffected by pressure or perfectionism or marketing or any of the strain I've been fabricating for myself. And I want to get back to that as much as I can, to remind myself that I write not because I want to make money or change the world or even to please other people. I write, very selfishly, solely because I think it's fun and I want to. But I want to do other things too. I want to play with my younger brother, I want to read for hours again. I want to make things just to make things, get messy and run through fields and laugh for no reason at all just because. I want to write long letters and emails to friends and make up songs on my violin and sit outside doing nothing without feeling the urge to go get things done. Life is so, so beautiful and I feel sometimes that I am missing it, just a little bit.

And thus I've stepped back and reassessed the situation and I have come to the decision that I need to cut back on my online time in general and especially on time when I'm not actually being productive. I do not need to check Substack every day, or multiple times per day, just in case someone's said something else. I do not need to read every single note my friends post. I want to support others, of course, but I also don't want to be tied to something that's more harm than help.

On the other hand, I truly enjoy all the wonderful people on here, and I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who's supported me and been so very kind, to those of you who have read my stories and encouraged me and subscribed and made me feel as though it wasn't so foolish after all to think I could make it as an author. I have gained so many valuable opportunities from being on here, met some amazing people, some of which have become dear friends to me, and learned things and gleaned insight.

Of course I'm not quitting altogether, because it has been a good thing for me. I'm just taking a little step back. So from now on I'm going to sign out of my account and only sign back in on Saturdays, during which I can schedule posts and notes and respond to everything and read some of y'all's works. I'll still allow myself to write down notes or type up possible articles, but I won't actually be on Substack itself except on Saturdays. And I do truly believe that this is the right decision for me, at this time, knowing that things might change in the future.

Hopefully, by doing this, I will give myself more time during the week to revise Covalie and work on my new sci-fi project and the business I'm working on expanding, and do all the other things that need done or that I want to do. I was already considering a full online hiatus later on in the year, so we'll see about that.

In other exciting news, I'm participating in The Company's free writing challenge, which looks like it's going to be a lot of fun! In essence, you get a prompt to write a short story every week, and if you complete them all they send you a fun sticker in the mail! I'm excited to participate in this, if you are too (or you have before) let me know!

I believe I will still get emails if you mention me in notes, but if you ever want to get ahold of me or chat or talk about writing or whatever else, you can reach me through the contact form on my website, which you can find here:

https://journeybloomfield.wordpress.com/contact/
I would love to get to know some of you a bit better in a more personal and less masses-of-the-internet way, so feel free to use the form!

Thank you again everyone for your support and encouragement, and I will check back in tomorrow, when the third part of me and S. O. Sebastian's story City of Scavengers posts. Until then, au revior, (but not goodbye), and Stay Gold. 💛