I'm still not sure of my writing style
Reflecting on six months of Substack
Thank you for being here! Just Write, Robyn is a collection of meandering thoughts from a 40-something writer living outside naarm/Melbourne, Australia. I explore my experience with chronic illness, perimenopause, becoming a writer in my 40’s, and learning how to embrace a slow and intentional lifestyle. If you find these letters valuable, please consider subscribing and sharing.
I’ve been writing pretty consistently for six months now. This is quite an achievement for me, having stuck with something, self-directed, almost weekly for that length of time. In that time my little random letter has grown to almost 20 subscribers, and I am grateful to each and every one of you for being part of my little writing corner of Substack. If I had 20 people in a room together talking about my writing, I would be overwhelmed! There are also people who wander through now and then if one of my Notes ends up on their feed and they might have a browse. I am grateful for you too. My hope with my weekly letters is that it connects with those who need to hear what I have to say for that week. For me, I write weekly so I keep writing. If I didn’t have Substack I wouldn’t be writing. At all. I don’t have the drive currently to write for myself. So writing for an audience has helped me stick to this for six months! Thank you all!
Over this time I thought I would have found my flow and style for my writing. I have my voice; its my voice, literally. This is how I would speak with you if we were face-to-face having a cuppa and talking about life. But the style of the weekly letters has been a little tricky for me to pin down. I've mentioned before that I write on Saturday morning and send out the letter once I’ve finished writing it. Sometimes I have an idea floating around in my mind for the week, and sometimes I come to the computer completely blank. Sometimes I handwrite what I want to write, and sometimes I write directly onto the computer because I don’t have the time to write it out twice. This morning is the latter, as there is a lot to do today with voting, driving lessons, and dropping things off to family members.
Sometimes I have lots of thoughts about what I want to write about. This morning I could have written about spiders, the Australian election, or perimenopause. And at some point I’ll probably write about 2/31. This is what I mean by not knowing what my style is. I don’t approach each letter the same way as the last.
I really like Katie’s commentary of the bookshop. The snippets of activity. The various trains of thought. Random quotes overheard through the day. And I enjoy the way Celia mixes her past with her present, connecting her garden (currently in Melbourne) to the gardens she helps oversee around the world. I don’t know what I like about my writing, because I’m not sure I’ve found my style yet.
And I think a lot of this has to do with my current health situation. I’m going through a period of upheaval, unrest and change. I am not the same person I was five years ago – nor should I be because we should always be growing and changing – but I didn’t get a lot of choice in this person I have become. And I think this is common for women going through perimenopause, because so much internally is changing and we don’t get a guidebook on how to navigate that2. Our health has a major impact on the way we show up in the world, and fatigue not only makes you not want to show up (or not able to) but it also overshadows how you do it. Writing this this morning, I’ve had 4 good health days in a row. Today ends that run of good days (sorry Mum!). It’s not a bad health day, though. I’m feeling the effects of fatigue because I’ve done a lot in the days I’ve felt good, and I just need to get through today before I can do absolutely nothing tomorrow. And feeling like this makes it difficult to not only get out of bed (especially when it was 10C/50F this morning!) but to also put one word after another in a comprehensible sentence to make a comprehensible paragraph, leading to your Saturday morning (Friday evening for some) letter.
And because I’ve not had the energy to do much of anything lately, I haven’t gotten around to playing with the layout of my letters, or making changes to the welcome email Substack sends out, or deciding what I want my letters to look like going forward. These are all things I’ve been wanting to play around with for a couple of months, but when you get five good days out of twenty to do things, well there are lots of other things that had priority this time around that mostly included housework and job enquiries. And reading Jessica’s Townsend’s brand new release Silverborn! I read it in 12 hours3 and I am eager to read it again because I am sure I have missed some stuff in my excitement to read it all. But first it is going to Mum so that she can read it before we go to the Melbourne Writers Festival next weekend to hear Jess talk all about it!
Next week’s letter will be sent out on Sunday so I can tell you all about the festival.
The orange and white cat that lives somewhere in the neighbourhood has just wandered past my window and is probably going to be a bit grumpy when I go out to my garden to water it. He’s a bit skittish around people.
And now I’m distracted and don’t know where this thought-train was going. Basically, I’m still working out my writing style, and I thought that after six months I would have worked it out by now. But maybe it will take another six months. Or maybe it will take getting my health back under control before I have the ability to do that. Either way, I’m going to keep writing, because I enjoy writing, and as my health improves I may find some more structure to the way I write these letters.
I hope you and your loves are well. If you are in Australia please remember to vote today, if you haven’t already done so. I may not have much of an interest in politics, but I do understand the importance of voting. Plus there’s the Democracy Sausages, if you can partake (unfortunately I can’t, but I’m still voting). Have a lovely week, friends.
Love, Robyn
I have little interest in, or understanding of, politics and there are people who are much better suited to talk on those topics such as Lil Bean
I might actually have a guidebook, and I think I’ll do a review of it sometime soon.
Some of that was on busses between appointments, and some was curled up on the couch with Easter chocolate
That was a very lovely post to read, as with people who listen to singers and genuinely "feel" the emotion behind the performance, I felt the same reading your words. Between you and L'il Bean, it's a pleasure to absorb the positive things in your lives.
It is lovely to have Substack as a reason to write-me too!