WORKSHOP REPLAY - Community Building for Creatives who also write.

Mon 6 Nov, 9.30am live on zoom (replay available)

“The most precious thing I have to give is my time.”

Silvia Hartmann

Hi all,

Just a reminder of the zoom link for tomorrow’s workshop (scroll to the end of the post) and an invite to think (ahead of our get-together) about what community and community building here on Substack means to you…

I’m not going to complicate it…community is everything to me.

I adore it and I set my Substack spaces up to invite lots more of it in. I know my why for Substack and that took some time but now I’m ALL in.

I’m a professional engagement consultant for arts/ heritage sector as well as doing this work here on

Sparkle on Substack

. I also write another publication

Creatively Conscious

where I can express more of our soulful, whole hearted life and share behind the scenes of my business.

I adore the depth of connection we can find in our shared human experience.

That said, what I’ve learnt (and especially as an introvert) we all have COMPLETELY different ways with community both IRL and online.

Our comfort zones are wildly different and it’s all ok here on Substack.

Perhaps you are looking to invite in MORE community by using (some of) the features Substack gives us to do that ¹or you’re curious about whether you can shift your tone or writing style to help your readers feel more connected…

Perhaps you’re hanging out on Notes thinking “any day now…any day now I’ll post” or I tried that once and crickets….²

Talking to a friend recently who moved their mailing list here they let me know;

“It does (Substack) feel like it’s a place where everyone’s talking but not to me…”

Do you feel like that or have you in the past?

What advice would you give that version of yourself? What have you learnt?

How did YOU move through it, feel more connected, feel more invited?

Is it because we are used to being ‘ignored’ in the things we post on other platforms? I’m curious?

Other posts on Community Building…

So if you’re planning to come along to our workshop tomorrow or catch up on the replay….

The first thing we always do is to connect back to is your why for Substack. (There’s a workshop on this in our members community).

Building, nurturing and connecting with community takes time… if it’s part of ‘your why’ you’ll make it happen on your terms, in your glorious way.

In all honesty, some of the features here designed for community building take time AWAY from our writing (and sometimes our creativity…)

…so if we invite it in we want to be sure we want to (and we’re ready to) hold it…

Sometimes we see growth through comments on posts or regular mentions online and we think we want that but DO WE?

• Do we want that?

• Does it fit with our goals here?

• Do we want more notifications and people to chat with… do we want to be on Notes or do we just want to write posts and turn off comments… perhaps we sit somewhere in the middle?

Perhaps your new here and it feels overwhelming and/ or exciting…

If you’re not sure yet I’ll help you figure it out in a way that set’s your creativity on fire and your purpose in flow… that’s what our workshop is for!

I love it when we get together and make space and time to Sparkle up our Substacks!

Can’t wait to see some of you on Monday for the first of our November workshops!

Claire x

✨

PS - New workshop, co-working and dates are ALWAYS announced in the Members Calendar first - bookmark that page to stay up to date.

PPS - Replay will be posted here below in place of the zoom link after the call.

PPPS - Gosh there’s just so much to tell you. Last thing for today; I’m closing the Sparkle Audits for the year tomorrow so if you’d like me to be a critical friend on your Substack, do book one at the introductory price or if you’re a member pop your name in the hat to win one if you’d like. (They’ll be back in January ‘24)