Why I have come to Substack

Unleashing Your Writing Potential Begins Here

Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay

I’ve been writing blogs and books for a long time now.  I love writing but as I writer I also love to have feedback on my writing.  Even more than this, over the years I have wanted to build a community around the topics I write about but with little success.

Like many people I have been burnt out with creating content and spending time posting on various social media platforms and even for a brief time paying for advertising via Facebook and Pinterest which was a waste of time and money. I had to pay more and more so that the algorithm could determine who to advertise too.

I set up automatic posting schedules to all the major social media platforms via a program called Tailwind.  It did what it was supposed to do but there were no subscribers to what I had to offer.

Now when I post content from my blog The Mindful Gardener, on Facebook I often get a message to say that the post has been disapproved.  They don’t say why and when I file for a review nothing happens.  This continuing disapproval of content without giving feedback for doing so is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I’m Giving Up on Social Medi

Image by Firmbee from Pixabay

So I have made the decision that I will noy spend time chasing some algorithm. I am simply going to write the way I love rather than to please an algorithm that is always changing and has no interest in what I write other than what such writing my do for advertisers.

Having made this decision to quit social media which I posted on Facebook a friend of mine suggested writing on a platform that I had never heard of before.  This platform is called Substack.  She had used it to write a blog about her adventure in taking a cookery course at Ballymaloe.

He who cultivates a garden, and brings to perfection flowers and fruits cultivates and advances at the same time his own nature. -  Ezra Weston, 1845

As someone who has just registered as a user of Substack it appears to me that it is different from other social media platforms where content lasts for moments.  What is written there remains there. 

It appears to be a platform especially for writers.  The writer owns the content and there is also the ability to earn money from the content and other add-ons that you might create for subscribers who want more than the FREE content.

Writing to Welcome Community

Image by Henning Westerkamp by Pixabay

As for me, I want to begin the adventure of writing and creating a community of like minded people who I can connect with in a meaningful way.

In my time I have written about various subjects which at the time I was into and really loved (and still really love). My latest love I call Mindful Gardening.  This is a different way of focusing on creating a garden. This newsletter The Mindful Gardener combines my love of spiritual development with my love of organic gardening.

Gardening is an active participation in the deepest mysteries of the universe."
-  Thomas Berry

The focus of this Substack newsletter will be gardening the unique potential within you.  The writing related to general gardening is featured on my WordPress blog under my name Tony Cuckson. 

In this blog I include a category which I call Diary of the Mindful Gardener.  This is a dairy of my journey of creating a garden of beauty and grace on the acre and more of land that I own on the Cavan Leitrim boarder in Ireland.

Blessings Image by Christine Schmidt from Pixabay

I want to share a weekly post and podcast that follows the format of the Diary of the Mindful Gardener.  This is a more personal and intimate style of writing.

When I write in this way, I feel connected. This style of writing is encouraging and it invites you to cultivate the full potential seeded within you.  This I call Companioning Your Greatness from a line from a W. B. Yeats poem entitled These are the Clouds.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help.  Gardening is an instrument of grace."
-  May Sarton

For me there is nothing as fulfilling as being able to inspire others to have self-belief.  I invite the unfolding of the creative potential within and encourage you to allow this energy to pour through you so that you feel blessed and can bless.

The style of writing in this Mindful Gardening Newsletter shares my love of gardening, mystical poetry, mythical storytelling, energy healing and song lyrics. 

So let the adventure begin.  I will make a start and it is my sincere hope that I can join with a group of likeminded people who will find value in exploring the practice of Mindful Gardening and together learn to Companion our Greatness.

Let it be so for you.  Let it be so for all.