Here's one I made earlier
There’s a discipline to article writing which can cause quite some personal angst if things go a bit wrong. I noticed this in a writer that I follow (A London Inheritance).
He'd gone on holiday for a week, with very limited internet access. Publishing every Sunday on the dot, he had to miss his weekly post for the first time in eleven years. His website was playing up while he was away and his scheduled post that Sunday fell victim to the issues.
To tell the truth I hadn't noticed.
Had he posted as normal the following Sunday, I wouldn't have realised that his article the previous week hadn’t happened.
But it caused great anxiety to the author with the missed deadline.
Having persuaded myself never to miss a week, I know exactly the issue. Readers subscribe to many Substacks - I assume, like me, articles about all sorts of subjects come in on all sorts of days. If one particular author misses a weekly issue, it’s no big deal. I generally won’t even notice as a reader.
As a writer however, I’m torn right now if this “must publish on a Friday or Saturday without fail” mission is good or bad for my mojo. I’m tending towards ‘bad’ right now. I’m not writing for a newspaper or magazine which hits the stands at a certain time.
Being a carer to a partner who is terminally ill, makes my self-imposed publishing deadline rather secondary in the scheme of things.
Having sorted out my mojo, I’ve decided on a future régime, for the while, of “publish when I’ve had the time/inclination to write”. It will be every week where possible but may come on random days due to circumstances.
This week then, you get a see my latest ‘walking the streets of London’ video which was largely derived from an article last year. Original writing will resume in due course.
NOTES
I had great fun with the graphics and maps on the video
I am toying with a more personal second Substack to this, which won’t be about London history. I am prone to parachute my own stories into the London articles which I want to do less of
I subscribe to a number of Substacks, Scott. But while I’m pleased to see anything from my favourite authors, I don’t expect clockwork regularity of posts. Substack matters, but not as much as other things that may be going on in your life.
You are completely right that, whilst missing a self-imposed deadline feels significant to us, our readers are unlikely to notice! I think it's useful to aim for a routine, whilst cutting yourself some slack.