Hello lovely readers,
I thought I’d take some time this week to connect with you more directly and cast a little vision for what I’m trying to do here on this Substack newsletter. I started it at the end of November, during a wave of instability and disturbing changes at Twitter HQ. I’ve been on Twitter for over a decade now, building a large network of kidlit authors, illustrators, and publishing industry connections there. It’s been a very positive place for me and has helped me find amazing creators to work with over the years. I’m not leaving Twitter, but I am posting less and less. (I even joined Post as an alternative, and am liking that platform quite a bit more lately. I’m still figuring it out.) This is partly due to the changes at Twitter, but I’ve also grown less content with my own presence there and on other social media accounts. By choice my online presence is quite siloed, keeping personal and professional separate. But lately I’ve been wanting to integrate my personal and professional voice a little more, while also carving out a space for myself that isn’t connected to my publishing career at all. I’ve been missing writing and most social media platforms aren’t conducive to longer-form work. I’m tired of hot takes and witty remarks. Earnest and slow is more my style!
Life is more than work, so even though I could leverage my nearly 5,000 followers on Twitter and build a Kidlit Substack, I’d rather write about something else. It may mean I just have a small following here, but if people are resonating with what I write, then that’s enough for me.
So far I have just under 50 subscribers to Ordinary Time, and I’m really grateful for each of you! I know many of you in real life, but others are folks who found me in other ways. I’m honored you’ve chosen to read my work.
Since I’ve had a few people ask me about what I’m doing here, I thought I’d put together a little Q&A with myself:
Why write publicly instead of privately?
Having an audience helps motivate my writing. It gives me purpose and accountability to write regularly. I’m writing because I like to share ideas and make connections with other people. I’m also stretching my creative muscles and playing with words and format, in addition to sharing information or ideas. This isn’t a personal journal or a blog about every detail of my life. I’m thinking of it more like a little online magazine, with pieces focused around themes of mindfulness, identity, and finding meaning in the ordinary. I could write and try to get published in a “real” publication, but that requires more hustle than I have time for or interest in pursuing. I like Substack better than a blog because of how writers can be discovered and I don’t need to spend as much time focused on website design or SEO. I also really like the subscription model, because it’s easier for me to see who my audience is and to interact more personally with my readers.
How can readers be supportive?
First, if you haven’t yet, please subscribe! It helps me know who I’m writing to and helps fuel my momentum to keep writing. You’ll also benefit by receiving my pieces directly in your inbox before I post them anywhere else.
Second, I’d love to hear from you! If something I write resonates, I’d be so grateful for a little feedback on my post. You can do that by clicking the little heart to like the post, writing a comment, or sharing the post with others. This helps me know what topics, themes, or article styles are most interesting to my readers. It also helps remind me that I’m not writing to an empty room. (See above about why I’m writing publicly!) Writing is a collaboration between the writer and the reader. We both have a role to play. I’d also love it if you shared your own thoughts on the topic I’m writing about. It doesn’t have to be direct feedback, it can be a continuation of the conversation in the comments. You’re welcome to interact with each other too, if you are so inclined. Some of the best ideas are expressed in the comments of other Substacks I follow—I’d love to cultivate that ethos here too.
That said, if you don’t have time to comment or you’re more of an introspective type who’d rather just read and move on with your day, that’s totally fine too. All communication/interaction styles welcome!
Do you have anything new in the works?
I’m still experimenting with my writing voice and the types of content I’ll share here. I’d like to home in on a few specific content types to help organize my work, but that is going to work itself out over time. It will be helpful to hear from you (see above) about what’s resonating so I can do more of that. Of course, I’ll write what’s interesting to me and what inspires me, but it is helpful to know if that’s matching up with what you’re enjoying most. Here are some of my new ideas, below. I’d appreciate your feedback if any of these are of interest to you:
Ordinary life interviews: Q&A style pieces with ordinary people I know about their own lives, what makes life meaningful to them, and their thoughts on what it means to be “ordinary.” Often we think our own lives are boring, but to others they can be fascinating. That’s why it’s so fun to get to know someone new at a social gathering! I’d love to capture some of that energy here. (I am working on collecting these now. Once I have enough, I’ll be able to make a schedule for publishing them.)
Poetry: I’d love to share more original poetry here, both my own poetry and poetry written by friends and other folks. This is a stretch-goal for me. I’m very new to writing poetry, so sharing it feels scary and vulnerable. A poem hardly ever feels good enough or final enough to share in such a permanent way. But I love reading poetry and writing poetry is a fun creative challenge for me. If I can share an already published poem without running into copyright issues, I’ll do that too. Still figuring out the permissions/fair use aspect of republishing poems by published poets. (If you know the rules about this, please share!)
Book Club: I’m in a real-life book club, and I’m considering writing reflections about those books. We read mostly nonfiction on themes that are often relevant to what I’m writing about here. Maybe I’d even extend an invitation for readers to join me in reading those books and we can have an online version of that book club. If I can manage to read more than one book at a time, I might stretch beyond my IRL book club and write about other titles too. These wouldn’t be book reviews—more of a response or reflection on what I’m reading.
How often will you be publishing?
My goal is once a week, but I don’t have a specific day of the week in mind yet. Some weeks it may be more. It could be less, if my life is particularly full or I don’t have anything of note to share. This Substack is a hobby at this point, so my career, my family, and my personal life comes first. I want this to feel fun, not like work. So if I’m feeling anxious about getting something published, I’m not doing it right. Thanks for understanding!
What else would you like to know? I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks so much for reading! Truly, it means a lot to know you’re here.
—NK
I love that you’re doing this when it is so much easier NOT to. You’re giving this space and flexibility and letting it organically become something, and that is authentic and real and cool. Kudos to you, Naomi!!