Open Now: Ask a Guest Editor, Mike Sowden
Mike Sowden is taking over the comment section today! Come in and ask him your wildest writing questions
Allow me to introduce
: Yorkshireman, travel writer, former archaeologist, now chronic misadventurer and writer of .1Lucky for all of us, Mike is taking over the comment section today in our first-ever edition of Ask a Guest Editor. He’ll be doling out wisdom, answering questions, and giving us writers some welcomed (and potentially whacky) food for thought.
Let’s go! Head to the comments and share either a snippet of in-progress work, like a headline or first paragraph, OR ask a question about writing/storytelling. In his own words, Mike loves “nerding out” on story structure and helping readers get “hooked all the way to the final sentence,” and he’s here to help.
Drop your query for Mike below!
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*Mike is also a former storytelling consultant and will soon be re-launching a non-fiction storytelling course, so stay tuned for that 💛
I might be late to the party, but if not - How do you follow your weird & wonderful curiosities but also maintain a cohesive thread with your Substack? I often feel that my title BiblioArcana (books + tarot) doesn’t quite cover all the things I like to think/write/talk about.
Also, an etiquette question - when is it appropriate to @ someone on Substack? I restack and mention folks who I meet and really resonate with their work, but I’m always hesitant to do the same for writers with an orange check. 🤷🏻♀️ Am I overthinking?
Hello Mike. I’m a fellow Brit but find myself here at 4 am with a blooming cough. So, I should be getting back to sleep, but…
My Substack is called ‘Tether & Tend’ (https://tetherandtend.substack.com/). I write about about what it’s like to be a deeply feeling person and parent in an often unfeeling world. It’s a mix of personal stories and insights from my work as a therapist.
I’m very new here and so far loving it. I’ve written more in the past 2 months than in the preceding 2 years. But I know that I run the risk of running out of steam. My question is about having regular types of post to anchor both my readers and my rather random nature. Within the arc of a month or two’s writing - posting once a week - do you think there’s a good balance of regular fixtures vs. ‘as the fancy takes me’ pieces? I value structure but don’t want to feel hemmed in.
So far I’ve not given an editorial calendar much thought because I write on the hoof and like to catch the wave of my own enthusiasm (just subscribed to your publication by the way because I love enthusiastic people!) I suppose I’m wondering whether pure enthusiasm outweighs any kind of forethought.
Thanks very much, Ali