Continuing to Hone my Creative Identity
Or, some upcoming shifts and why
Dear friend,
For a long time, my creative identity centered on writing adventurous historical fiction, sometimes with fantastical elements or alternate timelines, that highlighted several themes, chief amongst them: belonging.
Whether novel or short story, published or not, I strove to achieve the best balance of historical world building and immersion, so that my reader could step into the shoes of my characters and experience the story from what felt like first-hand.
I would draft a story, spend loads of time becoming a temporary expert in that time and place, and refine, revise, edit, refine, revise, edit, until I reached a point not only of being unable to improve a text further but also a point where… I became so tired of the text I didn’t want to ever look at it again.
Recently, I joked that this is when a writer knows their draft is ready. (It’s actually more nuanced than that, and I’ve come to believe it doesn’t have to reach a point of loathing the thing.)
If you’ve been with me for a little while, you know I’ve been on a personal journey, continuing to explore and hone my creative identity. What I want to create, how I want to create it, and how I want to share it have been prominent questions, especially over the last year.
As I’m getting closer to feeling something… settle and still within my creative spirit, I thought I’d share with you a sort of state of creativity and where things are headed around here.
Where things are right now
Let’s start with this, my Substack. At present, I send one letter out at the end of the week (Friday or Saturday depending) about my thoughts on this creative journey. My Substack space has been everything from an artist studio to a writing room to a space of quiet revolution to an art history classroom.
I have a free Wordpress. I didn’t really want a separate website right now but with my Substack covering so much ground in only one weekly post, I felt like I needed somewhere to house my regency novellas and Parish Papers. I don’t touch it much, and I’m not enamored with the limited design options available for free, but I’ve not been willing to invest more in it. Not because my books don’t matter but because I was never 100 percent convinced that’s how I wanted to present them.
Despite my overall aversion to Meta, I realized that if I wanted readers to discover a space where the Regency comes alive, I needed something more visible than Substack or Wordpress. I tried Tumblr, but after using it for a bit, I noticed that only bots, trolls, and people who wanted to sell me their services were finding me. So, I went back to Instagram, made a new account, and started posting there.
Confession time: I actually like it. Not the Meta part. But the posting regularly with fun regency-themed opportunities to engage with readers. They seem to be enjoying it, too. I ran one ad (mostly to get Instagram to stop trying to “teach” me how to run ads because it doesn’t know I’ve had other accounts), but ads aren’t really part of my plan there because if I were going to spend ad dollars, I’d do it somewhere else besides Instagram.
Gumroad… a place where I’m currently hosting Artifex Lunaris, a course that isn’t a course but rather a process for working creatively in concert with the lunar cycle, has not been as promising as I’d hoped. I thought of also listing my novellas there when I publish them, but I think I’m going to lean away from Gumroad (though I have no plans to take down Artifex Lunaris, but I might change its format and re-list it elsewhere.
In other words, I’ve felt splintered in how I share my creative journey. Too many platforms, too many directions.
And then, over the last week, something clicked into place.
Where I’m headed now (and I hope you’ll accompany me)
In writing regency romance novellas, in thinking about the regency era day in, day out on my Instagram, I’m leaning into how much I love it and I want to focus my efforts on that era.
I realize this may not be your thing, and that’s okay. If you want to stick around, I’d love that, and I’ll still be sending out the weekly letter here about my creative journey. But there will be some other shifts, and if you don’t like them, well, I wish you nothing but the most pleasant travels in your next direction.
Let’s, again, start with Substack. The weekly letters will continue. I’ll also post Parish Papers here (don’t worry if you don’t know what those are yet because you’ll find out if you stick around!). I’ll share my novellas here as well. I will probably start posting up to three times per week, always with the same candor and the same goal of welcoming you into my creative space, virtually. Let’s call this the drawing room. Here, you will get to go behind the scenes with me on writing, art, and anything else I create. That part will be the same, but by focusing it on the regency, it will feel less splintered. I have no plans to change the URL at this time, but you may notice branding changes.
Wordpress is going to go away once I’ve moved everything over to my Substack. That won’t take long once I do it, but I’m not sure exactly when that will happen yet.
Tumblr… still exists. I may post there occasionally but I probably won’t.
My Instagram is thriving. There, I post generally M-F though mostly I am following a rhythm that honors my creative flow and my life. For example, I was under the weather earlier this week and didn’t post for a day or two. This is where you can find fun engagement, historical tidbits, and more. Let’s call this the village square.
Gumroad is going to be phased out.
I’m building an Etsy, where I will offer digital downloads and handcrafted items to evoke the regency era in your own life. I’ll also list my novellas there (as well as publishing them in other places, too). Let’s call this exactly what it is: the shoppe.
So three spaces going forward: Substack, Etsy, Instagram. You’re welcome in all of them. I’ll be aligning the branding with The Sensibility Society (by yours truly), and bringing everything to a new level of cohesion.
I wanted to let you know before I start making these shifts so that you don’t feel left in the dust. As I said, I hope you’ll stick around. You’re always invited.
Until next time,
Margaret
The Sensibility Society