How To Stop Lurking On Substack & Become Ridiculously Confident As A Writer

Come on in, the water's warm!

My First Brush With Virality

Two weeks ago, I posted a note that went viral (or should I say: it went viral by my standards).

For context, at the time of post, I had around 160~ subscribers. The note got 618 likes, 32 responses, and 49 restacks. (Not too shabby!)

I don’t think there is anything particularly artistic or creative about this Note, but I struck a cord with people who are:

1. Eager to JOIN a community of writers

2. Eager to READ other writer’s work AND

3. Afraid to SHARE their own writing.

Also… who doesn’t love Damian from Mean Girls?

Here’s the Note:

While I love the engagement with my post, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness for all the artists out there who are afraid to share their work.

How many of us ARE THERE?

How I Stepped Out Of My Damian Era and Into My Janice Ian Era:

TBH, I’m no longer in my Damian era. I’m no longer afraid to share my writing. I feel: empowered, confident, and happy sharing my work! And I want to help you feel the same way.

These days, I’m more like Janice Ian telling my haters (read: intrusive thoughts) to step off.

I’ll tell you EXACTLY how I overcame my fears: I shifted my mindset, and started using daily posts on Notes to build repetition & confidence.

Notes has helped me refine my voice, discover my core content, and connect with my niche/like-minded writers.

The ability to post daily has helped me overcome my fear and find confidence. Not to mention, my engagement on Notes has produced real outcomes for my subscription base:

Disclaimer: I’m not a Substack coach. I’m not interested in creating a Substack account about growing your subscription base. I can’t and won’t promise new subscribers.

I AM a mindset and behavior change consultant who has nearly doubled my following in a month by practicing what I preach in the mindset arena.

I CAN promise that if you execute these tips, you will feel more confident in yourself as a writer (and maybe even as a person).

How I Grew With Notes: It All Starts With A Mindset Shift

Notes is NOT the place to be perfect. It’s a place to PRACTICE, EXPERIMENT, and HAVE FUN.

Shift your mindset around creating “perfect” writing to creating ‘practice writing’, ‘experimental writing’, and ‘fun writing’.

1. Practice: write whatever comes to mind, edit it to the best of your ability, make it make sense, and post it. Don’t think too hard about what your sharing or where your engagement metrics will shake out. Instead, focus on the joy of practicing.

2. Experiment: Not sure if your writers voice is funny, serious, or matter-of-fact? Try-on different voices on notes. Write a funny post, write a serious post, then see what lands for YOU and YOUR AUDIENCE:

   • How did it feel writing in that way?

   • How did your audience respond?

   • Its equally important to write what feels good for YOU and YOUR audience.

There’s no such thing as failure here! It’s about taking a few steps closer to your authentic self each day.

If YOU FELT GOOD writing it, the post is a success. If ONE PERSON FELT GOOD reading it, the post is a success.

For example, the Damian post felt good to write, and evidently felt good for people to read. It was clear that there IS an audience out there looking for support in feeling more confident… and what do you know?! I’m a mindset/confidence coach! This data told me to write more on this topic because people want to read more and I want to write more!

3. Have Fun: Human beings have this uncanny ability to feel energetically drawn to people who are genuinely having fun. Naturally, we want to join in the fun.

   Kristen Garaffo
   from
   Older, Wiser, Hotter
   is someone I can ALWAYS tell is having fun on Substack. Because of this (among other reasons, like being a fabulous writer), she is growing rapidly and getting awesome engagement.

Have FUN, whatever fun looks like to you. For some people diving deep into data sets is fun, if that’s you, go with it! For other people, creating memes is fun, if that’s you, go with that!

What would you write if there were no rules?!

Rewrite Your Stories

We all have stories about WHY we can’t write/publish/share our work loud and proud.

Usually these stories are the ego trying to protect us from being our most vulnerable and alive selves.

Fear of judgement has held me back for so long, and this year, I said enough is enough.

We don’t EVER have to listen to the stories in our head.

We can ALWAYS rewrite our stories, just like we can edit, rewrite, and rearrange words in an article.

Here are some stories I re-wrote when I started to build more confidence on Substack:

• I don’t have a niche —> I’m finding my niche by posting more. Every time I post, I’m getting closer to my ideal audience.

• I don’t know what my core content is —> I’m discovering what content I love to write by writing it! The more I write, the more I will find flow with what I write.

• I don’t know what my “voice” is —> I’m refining my voice every time I post. I commit to giving my best effort on each post, and that is enough. Discomfort is NOT a sign that I’m a bad writer & should quit.

• I don’t know what to write —> I will write what I need to hear today. If I want to laugh, cry, or feel warm and fuzzy, I won’t wait for someone ELSE to write that content, I will write it myself!

• I don’t have a posting schedule —> Each time I write, I discover a flow that works for me. It’s OK if I don’t have a perfect schedule/routine around my writing. Right now, I am experimenting with what works best for me.

• No one is reading this —> I write as an act of self love and service to others. If I touch even one person with my work it’s worth it! A successful post doesn’t need to be viral or get lots of engagement, it just needs to feel good to me.

• You try! Actually go through and re-write these stories (or different ones) in your own words. Let me know what story you’re re-writing in the comments.

Still Feeling Scared? You’re Not Alone. Write About Your Experience!

I love notes because there is a low barrier to entry. Like anything, it takes many repetitions writing to build your confidence as a writer. Don’t be afraid to get out there and practice.

Here are some vulnerable “prompts” to get you started on Notes:

1) Restack/Reply - Restack/reply to other writers in your category & add your thoughts. Don’t be afraid to be inspired! Have fun & show your personality. Notes is a space to connect with other writers & build camaraderie.

My first Substack friend was

Madeline Paige

from

c'est la vie

and we met on notes! I’m so glad we did - she’s a beautiful writer! What a huge bonus that you can find great internet friends just by posting! Don’t you want to be her friend too?!

2) Share Your Feelings - Struggling? Talk about it. Thriving? Talk about it. Substackers are authentic & genuine. No need to pretend how awesome you are like on instagram or TikTok.

3) Write what YOU need to hear that day - Wish you had something to make YOU laugh, smile, cry, feel inspired? Don’t sit back & wait - You write it!

Wrap Up

I’m not a writing or Substack coach. I don’t claim to know how to get more followers or subs on Substack. I’m learning as I go here too!

I AM, however, a mindset and behavior change consultant. If you’d like more support in finding your authentic voice and showing up with confidence, subscribe below.

Love you always,

xoxo

Jessie