My 100th Substack Article!

It's been a fun and interesting time...

Hello, lovely reader, and welcome to my one-hundredth article on Substack!

It feels somehow equally a lifetime and a heartbeat since I published my first post, about the world of the Kindred Spirits series, and since then, I’ve written about days out to historical sites, reviewed historical fiction and non-fiction, and shared some of my own creative writing.

I’ve been writing a blog, on-and-off, for over a decade now, but I’ll admit I’d fallen out of love with Wordpress, and have found Substack so much better from a user-friendliness perspective. Also, sometimes, starting afresh can be a good thing, and I definitely feel more in control this time around, having started a new (to me) platform, and been (I hope and feel) more focused in what I’m writing about.

I think what I’ve enjoyed most though, is having discovered such great community, and fabulous writers. I’ve subscribed to amazing people who give great writing resources and inspiration, and learned so much from historians, art experts, and fellow fiction / non-fiction writers. The long-form post, linked to the feed, is a great format for me.

So, in my hundredth post, I thought I’d share some of my favourite Substack accounts, that I’ve really enjoyed reading over the last year or so:

• For writing inspiration, and general ‘writing life’ guidance: I love the posts and workshops from Beth Kempton and Wendy Pratt - both have really got the words flowing for me following subscription.

• For history: Well, the list is insanely long, but Helene Harrison’s posts have been fascinating, and helped me discover other historians, as well as online courses, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I will keep following for more recommendations!

• For ‘life’ help and focus: I first attended a workshop with the lovely Sarah Raad as part of a conference a couple of years ago, and have found her courses and resources incredibly helpful to focus my mind and get clarity on what I want to work on.

And speaking of focus, as I mentioned in a note the other day, I’m currently working on my second collection of historical fiction short stories and poetry, which I’m hoping to release in the next couple of months. At the moment, I’m gathering existing material so I can see what gaps there are, and start working on those. I have made a good start, and got the work-in-progress cover sorted too:

I appreciate it might not be the most imaginative title I’ve ever come up with…

So, this is a short-and-sweet post, but I really didn’t want my one-hundredth post to pass without saying something about the milestone.

I really hope you’ll keep reading as I push to another hundred, and don’t forget, if you enjoy my writing, you can find out more on my Amazon page, with the UK version here.

All the best!