Plain Oatmeal, Cheap Notebooks & Cattle Drives
answering your writing questions
Last week, I asked my Instagram friends what questions they had for me about writing, they asked some really good ones! And today, I’m doing a deep dive into all the answers.
Writing has become a spiritual practice for me; a way to reach out and touch the hand of God in my life. I am of the (unpopular) opinion that everyone can write, it’s not some gift bestowed upon us at birth. I believe this art form is one anyone can develop over time, if they so choose. There are many benefits to doing so!
In this free post (I send these out every Thursday!), I talk about how to get started with your writing, how to get people to read your work once you publish it and whether Substack is the best place for your writing right now (plus a handful of other writing related things).
“How do I start writing /where/ I'm not good at it but seem to be drawn to it?“
Here are some suggestions, take them or leave them:
Get a cheap notebook, set a timer for 10 minutes and don’t stop moving your pen across the page until it beeps OR open a Google doc and do the same thing. Don’t overthink this. Just dump whatever you’re thinking onto the page. Then, when your 10 minutes are up, get back to your life. Set a time a few hours later to come back to your writing and try your hand at editing it to shape it into what you want.
If you’re struggling with practical ways to make your writing work in your actual life, consider becoming a paid subscriber here so you can get access to my Light & Letter series which was written to help with that.
Set up a Substack account and tell no one. Post there once or twice a week. Let yourself feel what it’s like to be on a gentle writing schedule.
You’re not good, so what? There are plenty of terrible writers out there. They get published every day. What if you didn’t have to be a ‘good’ writer, you were just an honest one?
Again, don’t overthink it. If you’re drawn to writing, don’t ask questions, let yourself be drawn to it.
“Do you freewrite or plan out a structure with a loose outline?”
Both. Sometimes I have a firm idea of what I want to say and enjoy the process of wrangling my words the way I want them to go; I’ve never been on a cattle drive, but I imagine I could draw some parallels there.
Other times, I have no idea what’s going to come out of one of my writing sessions. I just know if I sit down and work long enough, what I want to say will form eventually.
“Write in the morning or write at night?”
My creative brain turns into a bowl of plain oatmeal after 1pm, so it’s morning writing sessions if at all possible for me. I’m in a season of life where I can get up before the kids and write, but that is a recent development as of this month. Before, I still tried to write in the morning hours but it was almost always right in the thick of everything.
So please, please, please, don’t listen to people who say you should ONLY write after the kids go to bed at night or at 4:30am in morning before they wake up. Figure out what works realistically for you in the current season you’re in—you can’t write from a good place if you’re working from sleep deprivation (ask me how I know). Your physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional health comes first. Don’t sacrifice that on the altar of writing. That may mean you get to write way less than you want to for a short while. Trust that your prioritizing the right things will produce good writing when you’re able to return to it.
And at the same time, advocate to make your writing part of your life when and where you’re able. Ask your support system to help you make writing one of your priorities (yes, it’s ok to allot money for childcare so you can write, even if you’re not bringing in income with your writing) and show up consistently with it in the ways you can—whatever time of day you can make work.
I’ve written at night because that’s what worked. I’ve written in the afternoon because that’s what worked. I may have a cute writing space now, but 99.5% of the writing I’ve done while being a mom has been writing on my phone in the bathroom or during baby nap times. It all counts.
“Do you think you would ever self-publish a book(s)?”
Not at the moment. I get asked here and there if I’d ever put out a book. I may one day but at the risk of sounding annoyingly vague, it just hasn’t ever felt like the right move (yet).
Never say never I guess?
“Have you ever done any freelance writing? If so, how did you get started doing that?”
The only freelance work I’ve done is copy work for others’ websites. I don’t have any advice on how to get started doing that because I’ve only taken on jobs through word of mouth.
“How much time a day do you typically spend writing?”
Keep in mind that my kids are 9 and 6 so I have A LOT more freedom to write now than I did even a year ago. But because I was always writing in the tiny cracks of time I had when my kids were babies, I’m seeing so much fruit produced in the ample time I have to write now.
I write anywhere from 1-3 hours a day, depending on the day and whether I’m having a flare up of PMDD or not.
“Substack vs blog on website (in your personal experience)?”
This answer is influenced by my personal goals, but SUBSTACK all the way. I loved the blogging days, but the hard part (for me anyway) was always networking. If you didn’t already know the Big Guns in the blogging game, you didn’t really get anywhere. Additionally, it's nearly impossible to get people to check out my work if it was any other place than on social media. Hardly anyone has ever (and still doesn’t) “click the link in my bio”.
Enter Substack.
It's a social media platform built around long form content (like blogging). While my audience here is still small by most standards, the interactions here are overall more thoughtful and intentional.
Plus, the fact that being paid to write is literally integrated into this platform is everything. I can be directly supported for just my writing. No other platform I’ve been on has offered that.
If you’re brand new to Substack and don’t want to begin in all the right ways, I wholeheartedly suggest you head over to what Keeley and Sara are doing over at
. These women have put their generous hearts to work and are offering buckets of practical goodness on how to navigate Substack in ways that help YOU thrive here (I’m not an affiliate, just a huge fan!).And Substack isn’t just a platform. It’s an email list where people graciously give you a space in their inboxes. That alone is enough to convince me to keep putting my work out here.
Any advice for getting people to actually read your writing once you start sharing it?
BE EXCITED ABOUT YOUR WRITING. You’ve worked hard to write something that will help people—whether that “help” is giving them a laugh, sharing useful information, offering solidarity or making them feel less alone.
If you’re genuinely pumped (not faking it) about your writing, the right people will want to get in on that and celebrate with you. Will it be droves of people flocking to every post you put out? Maybe. Probably not. I said the right people will show up, not a lot of people.
I’ve noticed when I’m unwaveringly excited and believing in my work, I attract the kind of people who want to build it up with me.
Also, don’t shut up about it. Do away with the, ‘I’m annoying people by mentioning my work again’ mindset and switch it out with, “The right people want to see this, I would hate for them to miss out on it!” Don’t just mention your latest post once in your Instagram feed, get bummed that it only got 7 likes and call it quits. Share quotes from your writing in other places, get on stories and tell people with your face what your writing means to you, text a friend and ask them for feedback.
Share your excitement. Share your work. Share often.
This was a free post from The Redemptive, I loved getting to send it your way!
On Mondays, my paid subscribers get an additional post from me as well as exclusive access to any new series I release, “friends only” discounts to new offerings I put out and extra gifts like intentionally curated playlists and printable workbooks on reducing stress in productivity.
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So much great advice. Thank you for sharing!
I read immediately and loved this. All great advice -- and I’ve implemented similar practices. I homeschool, so I tell the kids I need to “finish this sentence” or “I’m writing; give me one second.” I also had my 10yo start an “idea notebook” because he has a new idea every thirty seconds or so, and wants to tell anyone within ear shot that idea (he may’ve gotten this from his mother, but who knows for sure). I suggested he start writing all of his story ideas and business ideas down and letting me look at his idea notebook once a day (if he wants me to look at it -- which he does) to discuss all of his ideas. I, too, am a morning writer but I’ve never thought to schedule a morning writing session. I just end up doing it and it often derails the first part of my day. I love the idea of being intentional about it and making the family aware of it.