That Substack Life
Substacking Discoveries + when Instagram had borders
Good Morning! Today I am going to share a little about my experience here so far. And some musings on the current state of Instagram for me, as one does. With a dose of nostalgia, which seems to be a me thing.
I’ve discovered there are many professional, highly regarded, published authors with a presence in this space — some whose books I read years ago.
is here. She is writing Abortion Everyday and it is a must read. The most important one by a landslide. (I read her book Sex Object: A Memoir in 2011 and included it in a round up of good reads here.) Abortion Everyday is a subscription I am 100% behind. If you take one thing and leave the rest of this fluff behind, take this and while you are at it read this too. is here with Write What. I read her stunning books Sweetbitter and later Stray in the years where I was not writing book reviews. So I probably read them when I was pregnant or breastfeeding my children sometime from 2019 - 2021. Her book and her memoir are so worth reading and I was pretty thrilled to ingest all her Substack articles. writes with clarity and conviction in Changing The Channel. This article was one of the first I sent to my husband, which he read and immediately replied: “so when are we buying land in Italy?” writes Listening in The Dark. To talk about childhood nostalgia: the OG Emily Quartermaine is here! (General Hospital, naturally) but my like of her stems from there and goes on.Distinct from those listed above who I happened to discover first off, it seems trendy to write/read a piece about: 1) how to succeed on Substack (whatever that may mean to whoever is reflecting) or 2) why folks are leaving other social media accounts, namely Instagram. (But Twitter and Facebook, too). Individuals are burnt out, sick of the noise, the consumption, the turmoil, the endlessness. The benefits to leave outweigh the costs to stay.
My Instagram is pretty tight knit, mostly personal, and in no means career or finance related. Maybe I am one of the lucky ones who has not had to grapple with this hardship! No really. I get why people might feel the burnout and I get why this would be polarizing. If Instagram becomes your job and your job becomes Instagram — and if you are working a job you don’t love anymore, you might make a hard (or an easy) decision and move on. That is one example. It has been interesting to read different perspectives.
I don’t always feel like I live a carefree Instagram existence though. To follow my friends, family, and peoples lives who I care about, plus those I admire and whose content I trust, and of course to post all kinds of fun life happenings of my own is the point. The point was never the constant barrage of advertisements, noise, and time sucks. It can certainly feel overwhelming when an online presence in life as you want to casually experience it translates to — but was it necessary?
I miss this:
My feed circa 2011 + 2012 | it was quiet here then.
old school borders = the carefree Instagram existence of our youth!
Goldschlager shots + an aspiring hand model. 😂
Your weekly dose of my nostalgia, achieved! Bottom line: I’m cool with you Instagram but I might try and scroll a little less in 2024. (Since drafting this post a few weeks ago, I’ve already noticed a shift — less mindless scrolling after writing it down.)
Circling back to point (1). On Substack there are a lot of essays and posts devoted to fully inform or attempt to decipher: writing better, how to gain subscribers, thoughts, dreams, hopes, fears, hyping yourself, growing your business, going paid, but also how to give .01 fucks and just be YOU. The full gamut of ones heady relationship with Substack is omnipresent.
It seems I took a pencil dive right on in to this content. ✏️🏊🏼♀️
When I enter a new space I look to take it all in. I am fairly accepting and not too judgmental so however you’ve designed what I am experiencing, I’m here for it. From writing about restaurants the décor and design elements were a big part of that. How the delicate light fixtures and the handsome banquette seating set the mood. How the Wellfleet and Kumamoto oysters tumbled over the crushed ice at the raw bar. How as the snow fell outside the damask wallpapered interior, the bartender set down a parsley encrusted bone marrow with a shot of dry, spicy whiskey. Each interior is going to exude a different vibe (is 2024 the year we are supposed to stop using vibe? I read that somewhere on Substack).
The comparison is correlated to the content here and my appreciation for it. Everyone is figuring out (or has figured out) how they want to show up in this space through their writing, their knowledge and their expertise. From all of the intelligent advice and personal shares there are creative, unique, artistic voices. There are bloggers and influencers who have shifted their content to this platform exclusively and some are using it for newsletters.
Folks are warm. Folks are not trolls. Folks that like to write are folks that like to read. Plus, a notes feed with an add free existence — that feels happy and refreshing.
If you are feeling creative, if you want to write, if you have more to share or something to say, this is a nice space for which to do just that.
📚☑️ READ
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. This book was a resounding favorite of many readers in 2023. I read it over the holidays. I adore books that are sprawling and take you on a life journey. I loved this book. The year is young so jump right in! Sadie and Sam are waiting for you.
“There is a time for any fledgling artist where one’s taste exceeds one’s abilities. The only way to get through that period is to make things anyways” ~ Zevin
“Create a niche and trade for what you need. No one here cares what you have done before. You can be anything you want to be.” ~ Zevin
i love that your husband said that!
Oh man, I also miss the Instagram of the olden days! It was so much fun then! As was Facebook, if one can even imagine that now.