Permission to write

whatever on earth I want + 5 things I learned in my first year on Substack + my word for the year

Another World is Possible is turning one this month! And it’s taken this long to start feeling at home here.

I created my Substack account in July 2022 – on a whim, as is often the case with such things. But it wasn’t until January last that I started populating it with relevant archive content from my blog Four Acorns / Quatre graines de chêne, before finally publishing my first original post in early February.

• Woman, walking, alone

Since then, I have learnt a thing or two – ok, five, and counting.

5 things I learned in my first year on Substack

1. Practice makes, if not perfect, at least better. Practice is how you get good at something, anything. I don’t know how it took me until Essay Camp with Summer Brennan, last November, to finally understand that. To have a writing practice is to work on my craft in order to get better at it, just for the sake of it. Like when my eldest L holds a band practice in our living room. Or when I go to swim laps at the pool.

   To begin is always the hardest. …