76 Comments

Hey, Sarah...this is going to sound uber ridiculous, yet I have a paid subscriber and don't know how to receive it!....Will you help me? Thanks!

Expand full comment

"Substack is about you finding your people" Thank you. I keep forgetting it's not a competition or a race. I'm trying to create my cosy corner of the internet!

Expand full comment

Agreed. Substack is a network effect engine. There’s no need to compete. The more you concentrate on cultivating connections, collaborations, and communicate, the faster and easier you will discover and develop facilitates the change you’re trying to make the world.

Expand full comment

Wise words1

Expand full comment

Hi there! I’m new to Substack, and I love writing stories about the universe and life. I know it’s a bit of a niche topic; most people go through their lives giving little thought to why they exist. But if you’re curious and wonder about the big questions, then please visit my profile and have a look.

Expand full comment

Love this Sarah! So true!! We deserve to get paid and it’s about finding your people. Hope your mother settles in ok. Wishing you the best 🤗

Expand full comment

Thank you, Imola!

Expand full comment

The mindset shift of viewing my work as a paid newsletter that also includes content that I share for free instead of what I've been doing (thinking that I had a free newsletter and was also begging people to subscribe for more) has been a real aha! moment for me. I'm kind of amazed by how motivating this mindset is!

Expand full comment

Excellent! And I forget all the time. It may need post-it reminders.

Expand full comment

So excited to really kick off my membership here and continue learning not just from you, Sarah, but from all of YOU (points to you, the person reading this).

Expand full comment

Fantastic!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Sarah! This was a wonderful boost. 🥰

Expand full comment

Wow. My Substack is paid quality! 🤯

Expand full comment

Exactly.

Expand full comment

Thanks for the quick fix, Sarah. Just perfect for my life at the moment too. I fully understand the pressure of the juggle. It's ok to drop one of the balls! Just not the Mom ball! :-) see you soon!

Expand full comment

Yes! And I’m just seeing this now. And you are (I think) in Italy.

Expand full comment

Hey my lovely - you take of yourself too....

Expand full comment

Sarah you are and continue to be so inspiring and so reassuring for writers-authors at all stages in their careers. I really identified with your current post. It's so human. I also love "The Money Mindset Shift." Today I was rowing away on the rowing machine at the apartment my husband and I are in and will continue to be in for the next three months before we move into our new home in the burbs of Chicago. I was listening to a YouTube video on shifting one's "Money Mindset." Really. I had not read your notes here. There was such good info in it around how to shift your unconscious negative beliefs. Thank you!

Expand full comment

Amazing! I’m imperfectly responding to this now!

Expand full comment

Also Sarah I'd love your thoughts on a serialization I'd like to do here on Substack. I have two books I've just finished editing after a couple of years of rewrites. One of the books is a middle-grade history-mystery book, the first in a series called Miss Stories.

The second book is a novel that is travel fiction about a young woman named Claire who lives in a condo in the trendy West Loop of Chicago. She is an agoraphobic and is a popular travel blogger who has never traveled. She gets her story ideas and pictiures to go along with her stories from her sister, Cari, who is a movie location scout. When her sister loses her job both women need to quickly figure out how to get needed money, especially Claire who now might lose her condo. Then a serendipitous thing occurs. Claire gets a text from her old writing teacher, Johnathan, who always told her she had talent. He states that he is working on finding a partner to help him break into travel fiction as he is tired of writing thrillers. He is a best-selling thriller author wanting a change and he believe co-authoring a book with Claire is just the answer. The focus of the book turns out to be all about traveling down the iconic Route 66. It's a fun book, rather like Nora Ephron would have written. Claire eventually takes the offer to drive 10 days from Lou Mitchell's in Chicago to Santa Monica with Johnathan even though she is scared out of her mind to leave the comfort of her home. But Claire musters up the courage and ends up experience a trip from one amazing bed and breakfasts (I had a bed and breakfast marketing expert share the top 3 bed and breakfasts in each stop) along with other amazing spots along the way. Meanwhile, ther is a growing interest about each other where there is more going on than just great writing my two passionate people looking to find their next, next in life and love. --- I'm leaning toward serializing this book first. I'd love your thoughts and anyone elses too.

Expand full comment

Sorry for the imperfections above too! I really did pour my heart out though and am inspired so much by you.

Expand full comment

Thanks for keeping it real Sarah 🌸

Very helpful to see you doing it imperfectly! So easy to stress about being perfect.

Expand full comment

Hi! Wanted to subscribe but the button doesn’t seem to be working 😊

Expand full comment

Let me know if you still have trouble. mssarahfay1516@me.com

Expand full comment

Doesn’t work

Expand full comment

Hi Sarah, getting it done and showing us how to write newsletters while also loving your best life.

Nothing is perfect and I think there is beauty in something with a little chink on the corner

Expand full comment

Finding your people - this really resonates with me.

I hope others can stick with it long enough to find their people.

Expand full comment

Exactly. It’s a long game.

Expand full comment