It started innocently enough. I signed up for Substack to subscribe to a friend’s Substack. Then, over time, I found other Substackers to subscribe to.

I follow my interests and curiosities.

So what will my Substack be then? A question I wrestled with.

A lady I respected, Michelle Buck, is going to interview me live on Substack. How cool is that! So, I figured I’d better decide what I’m going to do with this space.

I already have a blog on my website that I periodically post on. I toyed with the idea of creating an online commonplace book here. But not sure if that’s what I want to do yet.

I found a helpful link on creating an online commonplace book using WordPress (message me if you‘d like the link). So that got me thinking maybe I should just do the commonplace book on my website? Don’t know.

I think it would be nice to create an online community for Nara Fellowship and Memento Makers. Details on those will come in time.

Michelle had a video about reducing and focusing on which platforms to create content on. I’m currently on too many at the moment. I picked three main platforms to focus on and will post less on the others. Obviously, Substack will be one of the main three. Goodreads and YouTube are the others.

Don’t Subscribe If…

So why should you subscribe? Maybe you shouldn’t.

For my Nara Fellowship video podcast, I created a Don’t Subscribe If… video. At the time, I was only on YouTube.

If I’m not your cup of tea, feel free to pass. I wish you the best in your endeavors.

Why a Bridge, a Prism and the Moon

The spirit of who I am is in this video. I’m a learner and enjoy learning about other learners.

I want to find resonators, learners, kindred spirits, and memento makers.

Behind the Scenes

Starting Substack was a daunting endeavor. I was glad I was able to get my name. It’s not common, but not too rare either.

First, I decided to read other Substackers I was interested in.

What to write? What’s the purpose of my account? What’s my reason for writing here?

All the advice for content creation says to repurpose your content for all the platforms. But I don’t want to. I usually have different content on my Facebook, Discord, and X. Sometimes I’ll post a link to my blog post on the different platforms. That’s the closest I come to having the same thing on the different platforms. Oh, wait, sometimes I’ll announce a link to an interview or something.

Speaking of interviews: The recent interview with Gordon Firemark, The Podcasting Lawyer, is on YouTube. We explored his learning journey from becoming a creative professional, law school, practicing entertainment law, to teaching. He was open about his struggles & hardships and what helped him overcome them. I really enjoyed our conversation together. It was heartening.

So I guess I’m kinda repurposing a bit?

Substack felt different; it’s for readers and a community. Maybe it would be a better platform than X since I can write long form here. I like that I can just subscribe and have an inbox of short written pieces to choose from to read during my downtime.

In the beginning, I just read and absorbed and learned my way around. As I wrestled with what to do with Substack, it prompted me to rethink and rewrite my YouTube podcast description.

I simplified and streamlined my explanation to:

Nara Fellowship is where Valerie talks with creatives, learners, and memento makers to explore more about them and their arena. Welcome to Valerie’s digital keepsakes and online commonplace book. Let’s learn together. The journey is sweeter with friends.

Substack inspired the change. Because I had to figure out what I was going to use it for.

My main account will act as my online commonplace book, where I put things that don’t fit for my blog. Where I can connect with those who want to connect with me on Substack. Let’s help each other find new interesting things.

More Publications?

I’m thinking of starting two newsletters in addition to this publication to help me deal with two other realms.

One would be a blog/newsletter for Nara Fellowship. I can easily start a blog on my website. But not sure if it would be better to put it here on Substack. Thinking of possibly expanding the podcast to include written interviews for learners who are camera-shy. Plus, hosting the transcripts of recorded interviews, too.

So it would be a written account of both the videos and the written interviews. Which would be helpful for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, like me. Sometimes I just want to read and not watch a video. So that sparked the idea to have a written area for interviews for Nara Fellowship. YouTube is for watchers, but Substack was created for writers and readers. Yes, I’m aware of the Podcast feature. Not sure what to do with that yet.

The second newsletter idea was for the Memento Makers content. I launched a Legacy Keepsake interview business. And I want and need an online space for DIY and professionals to share their thoughts, questions, problems, and solutions. A space dedicated to talking and learning about Legacy Keepsakes and ethical wills.

In content creation, consistency is the number one rule I break. I don’t have the brain space to be on the hamster wheel of content creation. But as you can see, I do create stuff and I need places to put them.

This made me think it would be nice to use Substack as a learning tool to help others and myself.

Nara Fellowship and Memento Makers would be buckets to put certain niche things in. We’ll see as time develops what I choose to do.

That’s a Wrap

If you’re wondering what a commonplace book is, let me know. I will probably write a future piece on it.

I don’t have all the answers figured out, so feel free to ask and answer in the comments below.

To all the dreamers, doers, and helpers out there, shine on!