She knows what I'm on about...

What are you reading, writing and listening to this week?

I know Substack is meant to be all about stories for other people written by proper writers, so I’m increasingly wondering what I’m doing here and what the hell am I writing about; because all I seem to be doing is trotting out stories about myself as someone who isn’t a proper writer.

And here is another one.

Call it imposter syndrome or augmented reality, I’m conscious this week to think about the true purpose of my substack which quite frankly is something I’ve been kicking around in recent weeks having been here for a year and finding that what I started out to do is not what I am doing now.

Maybe that’s not a bad thing, I’m getting better at adapting strategies and accepting changes to plans that I would previously rather have thrown in the bin; I used to very inflexible but am slowly becoming more comfortable with an evolving thread; and that’s just as well.

How it started

I didn’t want to be a writer, I just wanted to help the mentalists amongst us, I’d had a nasty turn myself and wanted to tell my story of re-invention to show that you can do anything and by sharing and caring about my own mental health journey, I could perhaps help others who were struggling.

I had the breakdown, I crashed out of the old life, I wrote some stuff, then wrote a load more stuff, then turned it into a book and tried to find a publisher. My good friend helped me edit it but publishers were not interested and suggested I build a profile on substack and come back in a year.

How it’s going

The year has come and gone, the chapters of the book became the posts on my substack, I was so pleased to welcome you onboard and You Can Do Anything accumulated the happy throng of readers that today I call the unconventional flock.

I hope I’m entertaining you and possibly I’m helping you, but the emphasis has changed from mental health per-se to more general reflections on life because I have run out of chapters from my initial book structure and cast my creative net over many shoals of somewhat fishy content I did not originally envisage within my jurisdiction

Increasingly, I realise I am making no real progress as a writer because substack is so all-consuming; I’m following the excellent advice of many here, who recommend as much reading time as possible to enable effective writing.

Making time to write is one of my biggest issues, and I can’t really blame anyone other than myself for that; or can I? I am being consumed by so many fantastic sub-stackers like Tom Cox who’s books and content I can’t get enough of, that I spend most of my time disappearing down numerous rabbit holes full of books and articles about anything and everything.

And then when I do write, what’s it all about and who’s it for?

I’m still no further on understanding what I’m writing about or why I’m writing it or indeed who I’m writing it for; of course the answer to that is I should be writing it for you dear reader as it’s all about you; not me.

I wanted to share content that would be of interest to like-minded individuals who perhaps were looking for inspiration and how they can develop their very best selves.

Are we achieving that though?

It’s questionable what we are actually achieving

I’m certainly feeling better for writing things down and perhaps this is really all about me; but as someone who I used to work with used to pride himself on saying; that’s enough about me, let’s talk about you; what do you think about me?

And that is certainly not what I set off to do….

Of course it’s about you

You can do anything is for your delectation, entertainment and perhaps occasional contemplation. As a free non-fictional, reader supported publication; it’s a not for profit venture and my writing is in no way intended to generate any income, hence no paywall, no charges and no subscription plans in sight.

I didn’t set out to be a writer, but now, Inspired by Tom Cox and others, I really want to be one - and I’m considering how I can better serve you in future with bouillabaisse or a seafood platter as opposed to just more cod and mushy peas.

That maybe a separate substack, some grouping of themes in addition to what we have done to date, maybe even some fiction?

Having joined some writing groups and listened to others far more qualified; I can see and hear there is a lot to get on with; it seems the book I intended to write will more likely become the thing before the thing that I actually turned up to do here. And that is interesting.

Looking back on the past year of writing can only be positive for reader and writer; knowing where we have come from enables us to see where we are going; (I think that’s a Winston Churchill quote that I’ll have to investigate).

Wherever we go next, I do hope you will come with me; because right now, I think you are the only ones who know what I am on about.

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