Taking stock

Best posts thus far, favorite Substack writers, & upcoming plans

Hey everyone!

Today, I want to take stock of where this Substack of mine is at, orienting both myself and you guys by sharing a couple of things—a list of my best posts thus far, some Substack writers I believe you guys would enjoy, & my future writing plans.

To all who’ve been with me for a while now, thank you so much for your continued support! And to those who’ve joined recently, welcome!

Stats

As of today, I have 183 subscribers and 437 followers. Though it doesn’t sound like a lot, I am incredibly happy to have you all here, because it’s been a grind getting this going (initiating momentum is the hardest step), and I know I’ve set myself up for success and incredible growth in the future.

Above is a chart of my follower count throughout the past year. As you can see, things really started picking up around November, which is when I returned home from heart surgery, and started grinding it out.

Now that I’ve got the hang of things, I expect to grow this community even faster in the coming months.

Best posts

Below is a list of some of my favorite and best-performing posts. It’s not comprehensive, but I think I’ve managed to gather some of my best work thus far.

1. Choosing to love - An essay on free will

2. The beauty we miss - A meditation on slowing down

3. Returning to bliss - My thoughts on the deceptive nature of significant things

4. The story of my thoughts - The introduction and first chapter of a book I’m writing

5. Discomfort is your guide - A podcast about using those things you’re avoiding as a compass

6. You don’t hear from people who are in heaven - A reflection on life after my father’s death

7. My problem with women - A meditation on my struggle with chastity (no, it’s not a hit piece on women)

8. The silent battle every man must fight and how he can win it - A guide to overcoming temptation

9. Masculinity is necessity - A story about what I learned one summer while installing above-ground pools

10. Things I want to do differently in the second half of my 20s - A two-part list of things I want to do to “live life to its fullest” (part 2 coming soon)

I’m super happy with my growth as a writer (both quantifiably in my follower count and qualitatively in my skillset), but I want to start honing my craft in terms of style and in regard to what I write about.

My work, as you can tell, is a little all over the place. And while people seem to be enjoying it so far—and, not to mention, this self-discovery process is a necessary step in any writer’s evolution—it’s time I take the next, more specific and intentional step in my journey.

Favorite Substack writers

Below is a list of some of my favorite Substack writers. I wasn’t able to include everyone, obviously, so to see a list of every writer I subscribe to, you can check out my profile reads.

1. iL.

I found Ilan’s work sometime last year. Not only is he an incredible writer, but he’s also a filmmaker—a super dynamic and talented creative. If you want to learn more about the creative process, check out his Substack, “Bluezone.”

And if you’ve got some extra time, I highly recommend listening to our recent podcast:

2. Ryan B. Anderson

I found Ryan a little more recently, but I’ve been deeply enjoying his work. If you like reading about nature, philosophy, and everything in between, check out his Substack “Echoes from an Old Hollow Tree.”

3. Tommy Dixon

From what I know about Tommy, he’s been writing on Substack for several years now and has quite an interesting story. I’m not exactly sure how I could encapsulate the nature of his work in a single sentence or two . . .

Tommy, like me, addresses a breadth of subjects based on what he’s experiencing in his own life. Check out his Substack to see for yourself!

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I would include more writers here, but apparently I’m “nearing the maximum email length limit.” Some of my other favorite writers include

Day

,

M. E. Rothwell

,

Chloe Hope

, and

A.M. Hickman

.

Plans for the future

As I said, I want to start honing the nature of my work. I have an idea of what this is going to look like—or how I’m going to accomplish it—but I won’t really know with certainty what direction I’ll take until I’ve already taken it.

I have some book ideas, and I’ve got an entire list of things I could address in upcoming letters . . . And while I don’t know exactly which topics are going to surface, it seems my ideas are naturally starting to congregate.

What I do know is that I’m all in on generating a full-time income as a writer from this Substack, a journey for which I’m super excited. Not only because of the things I’ll experience along the way, but because of what good I might be able to do for others, what things I might be able to share, in this life.

I plan to continue posting at least one free and one paid post a week for the foreseeable future. On some weeks, I think I’ll manage to put out more than that, but I’m comfortable with this cadence as my minimum.

I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to start getting books out there—I hope to be able to publish one by the end of this year (which I will probably post first as a paid series on this Substack—”The story of my thoughts” being one).

But have no doubt: good things are coming.

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Thanks again for taking part in this journey with me. I’m incredibly blessed to have you all here.

If you have any questions or ideas you’d like to share (I’d love to know what sort of stuff you’d like to read in the future!), please add a comment below.

If you’re new here or think you know someone who’d enjoy this publication, please subscribe and share!

Until next time,

RB