Gatherings

A on-going series of conversations, interviews and more for writers

When I launched an online event about creating your own Substack a few days ago, I knew it would be popular - emails, texts and comments here told me there was a demand beforehand - but I didn’t realise it would be that popular. The first full in no time, a second hastily organised went the same way.

When I launched the conversation with Rowan Yapp, I guessed it would be well-received - I wasn’t wrong.

This is encouraging. You and I are in the right company.

It has compelled me to be more organised about the parts of this place that are dedicated to The Writing Process.

This short video - for instagram - should explain what I’m thinking.

The Gatherings will fall into three camps -

• Substack related

• the writing process

• getting a book published

Of course, they overlap as much as John Venn would hope.

One of the things a writer most needs is to value their words, their time and their creativity - and that of others; if it doesn’t work financially, it isn’t sustainable.

So as much as I’d like to make these freely available to everyone, the demand and time they will take to organise, admin and run means that some gatherings will be for paid subscribers only. Others will be open first to paid subscribers for a short period, and - if there are still spaces available - free subscribers will then be able to join.

Think of this as what it is - professional and creative development, and you should value your professional and creative development.

I imagine there will be something like two gatherings a month, including one Substack gathering.

Here’s how it looks so far. There will be more, largely in response to what attendees say they need more of.

Substack Gatherings

These will all be run a zoom meetings for a limited number of people. I will add new dates for each from time to time: book quickly if you’d like to be on one. I will not be recording these for uploading later - I want attendees to feel relaxed about being open, and for confidentiality to be maintained. There will be plenty of opportunity to submit questions before and ask questions on the day. I hope these will be conversations as much as talks.

1 - Creating Your Own Substack

This is a general overview, an introduction - looking at the practicalities, what’s involved, how to post, is Substack for you, etc. An opinionated perspective and an introduction to how I approach Substack and go about creating your own.

The gatherings below dive deeper into some of the elements in the introductory one above.

2 - The Practicalities of Substack

Getting to know how to use it, work flow, writing, editing, posting, organising, creating sections, integrating other media (images, sound, video, podcasts), posting, dealing with comments, paywall and how/if to approach using one.

3 - Your Creative Home

Refining your idea, being distinctive, identifying aims, why are you doing it, are you committed, how to make it successful - planning, reliability, commitment, agility, creativity.

4 - Building a Community

Building an audience, responding and engaging, using social media, Chat, Notes and more.

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I will post when I have a new date for any of these gatherings, and delete that post once the gathering is full.

Getting A Book Published Gatherings

I will be talking with industry professionals - such as publishing directors, editors, agents, and - of course - writers of many kinds - with the aim of demystifying the whole process of getting your words in front of decision makers in a form that they want, and - hopefully - what’s involved in the broader process of writing an actual book.

All will be run as zoom meetings. I will add new dates from time to time: book quickly if you’d like to be on one. There will be plenty of opportunity to submit questions before - we will cover the most popular and interesting issues and questions raised.

These Getting A Book Published Gatherings will be for paid subscribers only, and they will be one offs. I may make an edited version available to listen to after the event as a podcast for paid subscribers.

Writing Process Gatherings

I’ll be inviting guests to explore creative aspects of the writing process - different ways of going about it, managing self doubt and imposter syndrome, moving an idea from the germ of a lightbulb moment to something substantial, editing, encouraging good creative habits, and much more.

Some of these gatherings may be open to all subscribers, others for paid subscribers only, and they will be one offs. I may make an edited version available to listen to after the event as a podcast for paid subscribers.

Any questions, let me know in the comments in case others are interested too.

I hope to see you in a gathering soon.