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J. M. Elliott's avatar

I'm in a similar boat in that a big part of my posting here is to give myself a kind of accountability. It means I show up and do my writing or revisions even when I don't always feel like it. Otherwise, finishing my books could take another 10 years ;-) Look forward to catching up with Night Witch!

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Shaina Read's avatar

Before Substack I was on track for about 10 years as well...it's a real problem ;)

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Claudia Befu's avatar

I’m happy that you put yourself ‘out there’ because I get to enjoy your stories. I can’t believe that you just wrote and published without any revisions. The quality is flawless. I’ll check out your podcast, great idea btw.

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Shaina Read's avatar

Thank you so much Claudia! Not all of it went quickly the way that first post did. It's easiest for me to start a story. So hard to finish!

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Kathy Poyner's avatar

The audio sounds great and you sound great reading it! Can’t wait for more. I loved the whole story. The ending was a surprise. I wasn’t expecting that.

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Shaina Read's avatar

Thank you for listening! I’m so glad you enjoyed and that you’re following. There’s plenty more coming 😀

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Winston Malone's avatar

Congrats on taking risks, following through, and keeping yourself accountable.

I know exactly what you mean about trying to catch up on all of the great books out there. I hadn't read much growing up but I always wanted to write. The problem was that I hadn't read enough to understand what writing meant. I listened to all of the podcasts, read a ton of How-tos, and at the end of the day (like you mentioned) the act of writing has been the greatest teacher of them all.

I still struggle with maintaining a consistent workflow. I have arbitrary deadlines that hold me together, but even those deadlines seem to stress me out more than anything. I got a month ahead one time but then even that slight bit of wiggle room vanished because I had let myself get comfortable.

I listened to the first part's audio and I have to say I'm super impressed at the quality. Your narrator voice is on point. I can't wait to re-listen to the Night Witch in its entirety when you've finished uploading the audio. It's even better in audio! Great job. I'm also looking forward to the podcast.

Keep it up, Shaina!! You're doing great work. :)

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Shaina Read's avatar

Winston, with the amount of content that you are able to put out I am surprised (and relieved) to hear that it's a struggle! You have raised my own bar for myself with the type of quality and the frequency of content I want to put out.

My workflow is not consistent either. Sometimes I'm killing it, and other times I feel like I'm drowning. As long as it gets done I think we're winning ;)

Thank you for listening! Audio is very new for me and I'm very impatient with it. But obviously it's the next challenge I'll have to tackle if I want to put out a new format. Your encouragement means the world. Thank you thank you!

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Winston Malone's avatar

I try to make stuff as fun as possible, that way it doesn't seem as much of a chore as it would be otherwise. I also think it's important to improvise and adapt to things that are working while getting rid of the things that aren't. Not necessarily in regards to what gets views, but with the workflow itself. Refining the things that strengthen the core of what it is you're trying to achieve. And yes, as long as something is being worked on or produced, then it shouldn't be considered time wasted (I give myself a hard time with that).

Your audio sounds great! Are you using Garageband or Audacity? Or something else?

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Shaina Read's avatar

GarageBand! It seemed like the simplest to push and go 😂

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Winston Malone's avatar

Thats what I use now. Pretty straightforward

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