Reforging
An honest retrospective after over a year of posting on Substack
This post comes after having run Senchas Claideb steadily for over a full year (from August 2023 onwards). I got the idea for it shortly after discovering Substack one day and staring down the barrel of graduation from my master’s program. I knew and have known for a while that I want to make at least somewhat of a living from writing rather than relegating it to a simple hobby. (This isn’t a rail against people who have steady jobs and families that write on the side for pleasure, I just cannot imagine myself remaining in a traditional workplace for my entire life). After doing some research about this platform, checking out various videos and posts from gurus raking in six figures from paid subscribers, reaching out to Wappenschmied to commission my logo (he’s a fantastic and highly professional artist and I highly recommend him to anyone looking for logo work done), and setting up a game plan for myself, I resolved that I would begin sometime after graduating.
In the wake of the exhaustion following my graduation, I put off working on Senchas Claideb until I was about halfway through the summer and set to start a job I wasn’t too thrilled about. I reviewed and adjusted my game plan, taking into account all the time I felt I had “wasted” just trying to build back up some stamina after writing and defending one of the most difficult academic assignments I had during one of the most difficult periods of my life. I thought I ought to have had a backlog of content ready to fire off when I launched Senchas Claideb, but realized that I would just be putting off launch until I thought I had enough to show for it. I decided I needed to start even if I didn't have anything solid prepared just to get me to stick with the deadline I had set in my head. When I originally conceptualized Senchas Claideb, I envisioned myself publishing stories or story chapters on a fortnightly basis, but decided on going more the route of general article-writing based on what I noticed the general content was geared towards and respective of my own writing process—I'm a slower writer especially when it comes to fiction, unless I can get myself in the right mental state for writing. The article-writing proved to be an effective way to keep me thinking up ideas for content and prompt me to write constantly with some sense of direction and planning. For the last months of 2023, I mostly wrote everything on a whim with some very light theming around Halloween and Christmas. At the end of the year, I made more of a formalized calendar for 2024, planning out every single article and story I would post for each month. As a map, it was really helpful for me to hold myself accountable and build posts off of each prompt I planned out. I changed some things around when needed, but for the most part stuck to it.
This year, I climbed all the way up to over 200 subscribers, gaining many of them from my sword and sorcery posts in January, connecting with
and among other great storytellers on Substack, and my One Piece posts in July. I am thrilled and grateful to have gotten this many followers on this platform and have been figuring out ways to gain and maintain more readers, which leads me to the main thrust of this article.—I am a bit dissatisfied with the way this Substack project has gone. Although I have held fast to the general posting routine and a decent amount of the sort of content I’d set out to write, I feel as though I’ve departed a bit from what I originally set out to do and not necessarily in a good way. The themes of my content have gone a little all over the place, and after hacking out article after article to meet deadlines and try and appeal to broader audiences I don’t feel as though it’s a trend I want to continue. My stories as well have felt very much like an afterthought, which is the opposite of how I wanted to set up my fiction on this platform. Although fiction in general doesn’t seem to be that popular on Substack, it’s ultimately something I would rather be using this platform for as it feels to be the best bet for people like me who express themselves primarily through writing. Writing is a reflex for me at this point and in fact, I seem to appreciate something I write more after I give it a good amount of time.
This issue that’s stopping me from just going ahead and publishing only fiction week by week is, as I mentioned before, I am a slow writer. On top of that, I also work a day job that requires a good deal of attention and brainpower even outside of working hours. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been able to write as many articles as I have is because it’s similar motions I’ve gone through when I was in college and graduate studies—writing essays regularly to satisfy my instructors. A problem with those essays that I wrote and the articles I’ve churned out for the past year is that I did not notice myself getting better with either of those. In all fairness, my viewers have rightfully given attention to articles and stories that are more faithful to what I originally started this Substack for, which was broadcasting my interest in Celtic-themed subjects.
Another problem I find myself facing is something that not only I but other digital writers can likely attest to have encountered in the past few years—the screen is a distraction. Over the past few months, I came to the realization that I haven’t felt like I’ve given myself something to enjoy outside the digital world in quite a while. I want to experience more art and literature without the distraction and manufactured stimulus of the screens, especially going into winter where it’s all the more tempting to stay inside. Ironically, I also want to read more works of other contemporary writers on Substack and in writing workshops as I’ve neglected to do so after starting this project; simply putting so much of my time into it has burnt me out.
Senchas Claideb will not be going anywhere, it will just be changing. I want to make changes to reflect my own goals for writing and reading, and realize them on this platform. In this new year, I will not be churning out content to satisfy an algorithm built on dopamine and burnout of a million people screaming into the black void of computer screens, even if it does cost me clicks or subscribers. The changes will take some time for me to get used to, but should be unobtrusive to current subscribers and not confusing to newer ones.
One of the major changes taking place is that I will make an effort to write more stories. I’m not simply talking about the one-offs I’ve mostly been doing outside of a few series (like Art Cavanagh as well as a few Eachann and Connor yarns), but more dedicated serials and longer stories. There are three main series I want to work on this coming year, the release schedules of which will be divided based loosely on the seasons. Instead of one-off stories each month, there will be fortnightly releases of serials or multi-part stories, starting the second week of January. I won’t be posting every Wednesday in order to combat burnout and allow me to conduct research for non-fiction articles that will be published every first and third Wednesday of the month (potentially more depending on how long each month is). I got to read quite a bit of Celtic-themed media in 2024, so it is only right that in 2025 I’ll be diving deeper into the pieces I’ve picked up this year. I won’t be limiting myself to posting that kind of stuff around only March since there is plenty I want to talk about the whole year round. In doing my Hound reviews, I found I immensely enjoyed getting to research the original stories again for an informative purpose. There are plenty of other comics, stories, and games I want to cover in the New Year, so most of my posts will be dedicated reviews to those.
Additionally, I will be including options for readers to further support my writing via tips on Ko-Fi. I may implement paid subscriptions later down the line, but everything I publish on Senchas Claideb (for the time being) will remain free to everyone. It is not an easy ask, nor is it a requirement if anyone wishes to keep reading, but I hope to write stuff that people feel is worth their time and that they believe in supporting however they may.
Thanks to everyone who has been with this Substack from the beginning or just subscribed more recently. I have a lot of plans for this new year and hope to bring myself closer to writing as often as I can. I look forward to seeing what happens with this new endeavor to put my stories and thoughts out there.
Having everything on one device has really turned out to be as much of a curse as it is a convenience, I relate to that struggle. Work, personal writing, socialization, and entertainment all in one package with no clear barriers so that you can easily spend the whole day on it due to different obligations. Almost makes me want to look into a typewriter since I'm still not fond of writing by hand.
Looking forward to the increased focus on fiction writing.
This was really insightful and helpful. I'm in the same boat as you, I post on substack as a vehicle for my fiction. I look to your substack like a model because it's so well done and I'm a sucker for ancient Celt/Briton mythos and culture and I love the authority you bring to your articles and stories. Thirty years ago you'd have no less than two book deals, probably with paid advances and all the great stories and articles you've created would have netted you checks from markets all over the world. That's sadly not the world we're living in today. Keep up the good work though, the rewards may not be the same but with writers like you, the talent is every bit as good as the halcyon days of good writing. Thanks for the honesty and thanks for filling the internet with your craft and artistry.