#How to master substack

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Substack Mastery Book: Chapter 1

What is Substack, why it matters, and how to start it Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights Yesterday I announced my new book titled Substack Mastery: Insider Secrets from a Content Strategist & Seasoned Author. Its subtitle is “Learn the Basics, Stay Motivated, Grow Your Subscribers, Earn Money, & Thrive with the Support of Community,” summarizing the scope of the book.  As I…

[inkedwingss]

I can't explain why, considering they are radically different platforms, but I feel like Substack has the same DNA as Instagram, and that's the reason why I can't keep using it. It doesn't work for me.

[piastriprincess]

if  you  keep  it  just  yours ⸻ charles  leclerc  x  reader  .

featuring  charles  leclerc  ,  writer!reader  ,  fluff  ,  smau . author’s  note  requested  by  anon  !  i’m  sorry  it  took  so  long  but  i  loved  your  request  and  your  kind  words  ,  i  hope  i  did  it  justice  !  tried  to  get  this  out  today  in  honor  of  the  #chodium  .  this  is  my  first  try  at  an  smau  so  PLEASE  be  nice  …  i’m  still  not  sure  i  love  the  way  this  turned  out  but  nevertheless  we  persist  !  i  also  had  to  drop  some  ancient  charles  lore  in  this  …  rip  bawsixteen  we still talk about you .  anyway  please  let  me  know  what  you  think  and  if  i  should  keep  trying  smaus  …  i  promise  i  won’t  be  upset  if  you  hated  it  <3  title  is  from  paris  by  taylor  swift  (in  honor  of  her  owning  the  masters  again  !!!)

liked by emmachamberlain, dollyalderton and 27,054 others yourusername it’s official — i’m in my monaco era! paris will always have mon coeur but it’s time for a change of scenery. here’s to good beaches and hopefully better stories 🐚💌

user1 THEEEE modern carrie bradshaw frfr ⤷ user2 No bc I can’t wait to hear her stories about the Monaco dating scene??? user3 romanticizing your life is BACK and yn is leading the charge !! user4 already screaming at how chic this is. give me the essay collection immediately yourbff OMG I need to visit asappppp ♥ liked by author ⤷ yourusername missing you already ! user5 bienvenue à monaco! you will love it here :) user6 main character of her own european romance novel iktr  camillecharriere oh i want to be you when i grow up ♥ liked by author user7 This post feels like the opening scene of an HBO show I’ll binge 16000 times…

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to: Y/N L/N your.name@gmail.com  from: Jean-Claude Ravello jean-claude@bellevue.mc subject: Bienvenue au Bellevue!

Bonjour mademoiselle L/N, 

Welcome to your new home at the Residence Bellevue — we are so happy to have you here! I am sure you will quickly discover that Monaco is a small place, but this building is even smaller. Please, consider yourself part of the family already!

A few quick notes to help you settle in:

Waste and recycling are collected on Tuesdays and Fridays. There are trash chutes on every floor, but the recycling must be taken to the bins by the side entrance.

Wi-Fi information is included in the welcome folder. I know you mentioned you were a writer, so if you should need a stronger signal, the rooftop lounge is a favorite quiet working spot for our residents.

Your neighbors are both longtime Bellevue residents, so if you have any questions about the building that I cannot answer (or you just do not want to ask me!) please feel free to reach out to them. Charles actually grew up in Monaco and knows the city inside and out so if you need any recommendations I am sure he would be happy to help. Sharing both neighbors’ contact information (with permission):

Laura (16A): +377 08 35 19 72

Charles (16C): +377 99 42 67 01

Do not hesitate to contact me with any maintenance concerns or general questions! Wishing you a smooth unpacking. We are delighted to have you join our community.  

Welcome home, Jean-Claude Ravello Building Superintendent

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liked by jiatortellini, kikagomes and 31,652 others yourusername from me to you, a new essay on the unique magic of starting over and the way a stranger can start to feel like a story. up now on substack! let me know what you think xx

user8 “balcony boy” WE CHEERED MOTHER IS BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER ⤷ user9 Her writing isn’t just about the men she’s dating… ⤷ user8 okay congrats you read. do you want a medal?? should we throw a party?? should we invite bella hadid?? marlowetatiana Obsessed ! ♥ liked by author user10 saw the notif at brunch and opened substack immediately like sorry guys my parasocial internet bestie needs to tell me about her new crush user11 @ oprah @ reesewitherspoon @ pitbull GET HER A BOOK DEAL STAT! ⤷ user12 girl what is mr. worldwide going to do… user13 “Maybe Balcony Boy and I will never really meet. Maybe we’re destined to almost-know each other indefinitely… But still, there’s something delicious about the romance of the near miss.” WOW!!!! ♥ liked by author yourbff What did I say… I give it a week ⤷ yourusername it’s been ten days actually. this is what growth looks like! take notes! user14 i get her bc balcony boy has me in a chokehold too and i’ve never even seen him

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OUTGOING AUDIO MESSAGE ▶‖ to: bestie • 02:23  •၊၊||၊|။||||။၊|။•

“Okay, so… I know I was supposed to check in after fifteen minutes and I’m really late and now I’m hiding out in the bathroom like I’m in a rom com from the 2000s because… I don’t know, I just — I just need a minute to breathe. [pause] I thought this was just a stupid little crush and I’d go on this date and get over it but he’s… Babe, he’s really sweet. He opened doors for me. He pulled out my chair. He called me chérie. He even laughed at my stupid joke about the bread basket! And he’s so — ugh. He’s so pretty and he smells so good, it’s rude. It’s actually unfair how perfect he is. [long sigh] But that’s not even the thing. Like, it’s not even that he’s cute. Okay, maybe it’s a little bit that he’s cute but — he’s smart. And funny. And curious, and he listens when I talk, like really listens, even if it’s stupid or rambley, and he asked about my writing and actually wanted to hear about it. I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but… yeah. I might be in trouble here. It feels like it could be something, you know? [pause] Okay. I really need to go back before he thinks I climbed out the window. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. Love you so much.”

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@ yourusername • instagram notifications you have (1) new follow request from @ bawsixteen !

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liked by hunterh, oliviarodrigo, and 28,253 others yourusername life is looking pretty good lately

user15 is that a m-m-man ?!?!?!?! ⤷ user16 better question IS THAT BALCONY BOY ⤷ user17 It literally has to be! She hasn’t written about anyone else user15 okay i’ve gotten over my shock. who the hell is he bc his hand is fine as fuck rachsyme and you look even better! ♥ liked by author yourbff oh so we’re soft launching now… 👀 ♥ liked by author ⤷ yourusername yeahhhhh so i owe you SEVERAL voice memos user18 LOVERGIRL ERA user19 mother is boo’d up… congrats to whoever’s bouncing on it 😭 ⤷ user20 you almost got it sweetie. don’t worry. we’ll wait. bawsixteen Pretty flowers :) ♥ liked by author ⤷ yourusername almost as pretty as the guy who gave them to me :)

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to: All Subscribers everythingiknowaboutsubs@substack.com from: Y/N your.name@substack.com subject: everything i know about falling

Everything I Know About… Falling

So here’s the thing about me and Balcony Boy (and yes, even though we’re actually dating now, I’m still not graduating to using his actual name with you all!) Somewhere in between our first kiss overlooking the harbor and him learning to make me blueberry pancakes just the way I like them, I’ve realized I can’t lie to myself that it’s casual anymore. 

And that is completely terrifying. 

You know that feeling when you’re reading a really good book and you look up and realize that you’ve been on another planet for hours? Where you’ve forgotten to check your phone, forgotten to be anxious about deadlines, forgotten about every single thing except the story and the words on the page? That’s what being with Balcony Boy feels like. Like nothing matters except existing in that very moment with him. 

I’m not used to staying present like that. My mind is like a summer storm, always pulled in a million different directions. I used to think it was a strength of mine: a skill, even. It made me a better writer, a better thinker. But that constant motion was also my shield — from boredom, from failure, from getting too attached to anything. Self-preservation disguised as independence. Emotional distance disguised as something casual. 

When Balcony Boy came into my life, yes, I liked him immediately. Six feet of tan, hot, shirtless neighbor. Let’s be real. Who wouldn’t enjoy that view? But somewhere along the way, he stopped being a charming background character in my life and started being the type of steady presence that made me want to slow down. To sit still. To listen. To trust. And that is such a new feeling that I can’t help but be scared.

Here’s the truth: I’ve dated a lot of men who liked the idea of me. Men who wanted to be a muse and then flinched when I spilled my truth onto the page. Men who liked a complicated woman until the complications weren’t cute anymore. Men who wanted me to be emotionally available for them, and who never really listened in return. All of that was okay, because I wasn’t staying still long enough for the pain to be anything more than a glancing blow. 

But Balcony Boy doesn’t just like the idea of me. He doesn’t need to be the story — he just wants to make space for mine. He reads my drafts and underlines all his favorite lines. He twirls me around my kitchen when I laugh and he holds me when I cry. He listens. He shows up, quietly and without spectacle. He brings me coffee and croissants when I’ve been writing too long and forget to eat. It sounds crazy, but I'm scared of this because if I lose it, for the first time in a long time, it'll really, really hurt. But Balcony Boy tells me I’m brave when I’m terrified. And for the first time in a long time, he makes me want to believe him. 

I used to think love was about dramatic gestures, but maybe this is what love feels like when it’s real. Not the fireworks (although there are plenty of those, too), but the foundation. Not someone catching you when you fall, but someone taking your hand so you don’t have to be scared of the jump in the first place. 

So here I am. Jumping, without hesitation. And if the fall kills me, at least I’ll have had the pleasure of doing it with him. 

yours, y/n xx

next week: everything i know about long-distance - on dating someone whose job takes them away more than you’d like, and learning to miss someone properly.

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liked by bawsixteen, rachelchinouriri, and 29,311 others yourusername so in love that i might stop breathing, drew a map on your bedroom ceiling

user21 mama… mama a man behind you ⤷ user22 the launch is getting harder and harder user23 starting the investigation into balcony boy’s identity. james bond has nothing on me yourbff Happy looks sooooo good on you babe ♥ liked by author  user24 the note OH LET ME KILL MYSELF !!!!!!!!!! hunterh beautiful girl! ♥ liked by author user25 this has gone on long enough WHO IS HE ⤷ user26 She’s allowed to keep it private for as long as she wants! ⤷ user25 "keep it private" blah blah blah consider i’m living vicariously through her and i want to know :) ⤷ user27 that's definitely a ferrari he's driving in slide 3... bawsixteen Belle chérie ♥ liked by author user28 oh i just KNOW balcony boy is sooooooo fine

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REDDIT: TOP POSTS TODAY r/yourusername • crossposted to r/formula1 • 3h ago posted by u/luvleclerc

hear me out… i think i know who balcony boy is!

okay i know this sounds insane but LISTEN. i’ve been reading y/n’s substack for ages and am also a huge fan of formula one. i’m absolutely convinced that balcony boy is charles leclerc. 

EVIDENCE so yall don’t call me crazy:

so y/n moved to monaco a few months ago, and posted this photo from her balcony. she’s never said exactly where she lives but you can see the harbor in the background and we know charles lives near there. and this story he posted the other day? like not to be a stalker but tell me that’s not almost exactly the same view. almost like they're neighbors... also the timeline of her moving to monaco almost perfectly matches when charles started posting less on socials!!!

then we get into the balcony boy content, which if you haven’t read… oh my god. y/n’s writing is so beautiful that it doesn’t even make you feel bad about being painfully single. balcony boy literally feels like a romcom hero come to life. she doesn’t drop a ton of personal details about him but here’s what she HAS said:

“Some people flirt with their eyes and their smile. Others, apparently, do it by playing you a piano étude at golden hour, notes drifting on the sea breeze like a love song.” … guess who else FAMOUSLY plays piano????? charles marc hervé perceval leclerc.

balcony boy is genuinely curious about her writing and reads all her essays. this is exactly how charles is in interviews - always engaged and thoughtful with questions.

balcony boy is fine with being written about and isn’t bothered that y/n is somewhat well known. sounds like a person who already knows how it feels to be in the spotlight!!!!

“Dating a man who’s gone every other weekend means learning to say goodbye. But even when he’s on the other side of the world, he never makes me feel like he’s far away.” F1 CALENDAR HELLO…

mentioned that balcony boy grew up near where they live (“knows the streets of this place like the lyrics of his favorite song”). prince of monaco!!!! i rest my case!!!!

one last thing: her most recent posts are totally a soft launch and the guy’s hair in the 1st slide looks EXACTLY like charles's. plus there’s this comment from someone called @ bawsixteen about the flowers like he gave them to her? i checked the account and it’s private with no profile photo, but the display name says CL. cl… sixteen… it CAN’T be a coincidence!!

⬆ 16.1K ⬇  •  🗨 897  •  ➦ SHARE

TOP COMMENTS u/f1gossipgirl • 3h ago  this is the most unhinged thing i’ve ever read but you’ve convinced me ⬆ 3.4K ⬇

u/fromthedeskof • 48m ago NOOOOO PLEASEEE not my favorite microinfluencer i can’t have everyone finding out about her… she’s MY parasocial bestie ⬆ 2.5K ⬇ ⤷ u/albonnation • 11m ago it's too late she has wag allegations :( she’s about to blow up ⬆ 332 ⬇ ⤷ u/everythingyn • 9m ago rip to our cozy lil substack community, she will be missed 💔 ⬆ 597 ⬇

u/BeanbagGreg • 1h ago  This subreddit is focused on racing. Stick to discussion of driving please ⬆ 1.7K ⬇ ⤷ u/piastriwdc • 26m ago literally no one asked you to read this… how many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man? ⬆ 4.8K ⬇

u/romanticrealist • 35m ago  ok grandma let’s get you to bed ⬆ 992 ⬇ ⤷ u/sallyrooneyluvbot • 6m ago Literally like as if she would ever date an athlete?? Be so fr ⬆ 81 ⬇ ⤷ u/landoleclerc • 2m ago um have you SEEN charles leclerc? don’t you ever speak on my goat like that ⬆ 133 ⬇

u/charlesdefender • 2h ago  wait she’s sooooo pretty what’s her instagram ⬆ 689 ⬇

SEE MORE...

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@ yourusername • instagram notifications you have (8,692) new follow requests from @ leclercwdc, @ charloslover, @ f1ella and others !

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liked by charles_leclerc, bawsixteen, and 95,214 others yourusername privacy sign on the door… taking balcony boy offline for now xx

charles_leclerc Je t’aime ♥ liked by author

comments have been limited on this post

[malusokay]

What's the point of a diary if you're not lying in it?

On Anaïs Nin, literary self-mythologizing, and why personal writing should always be slightly dishonest. (from my substack)

If you’re not lying in your diary, you’re just journaling, and journaling is for people who don’t know how to edit.

A diary is not a record of events; it is an act of creation. The best diarists know this instinctively. Anaïs Nin knew it better than anyone. Her diaries were not mere confessions but performances, half-lit mirrors where the truth shimmered, distorted but no less real.

Nin understood that life is not lived in a single register. Her diaries are a study in contradiction—one moment, she is in love; the next, repulsed. She is independent yet wholly consumed by those around her. But contradiction isn’t falsehood; it’s literature. She rewrote and edited her diaries, sculpting herself into the character she wanted to be. And is that really so dishonest?

People love to be outraged by the idea of a diary that is not entirely factual. But fact is not the same as truth. Diaries, at their best, are emotional truths, shaped by mood, by desire, by the need to impose a narrative on the chaos of daily life. Nin was not interested in being objective—she was interested in being immortal. She once wrote, “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.” But why stop at tasting? Why not rewrite, reshape, embellish? If we can curate the lives we present to others, why should we not do the same for the versions of ourselves we leave behind?

Nin herself was a master of this. She edited her diaries before publication, removing, refining, turning herself into a protagonist. She blurred lines, shifted timelines, made herself more alluring. She called it shaping reality. Others call it lying. The truth, of course, is that all personal writing is selective. Even in confession, there is curation.

The danger, of course, is that history will take the performance at face value. That the diary, once private, will harden into biography. But this, too, is a kind of truth. A diary is not a static object. It lives, it breathes, it deceives, but always in service of something larger than the mundane details of existence.

[hiscalliope]

i hope luigi knows the impact he's had on adults like myself who have navigated their entire adult lives thus far knowing they're neurodivergent/struggling with mental illness and perhaps are afraid/unsure of how to get diagnosed.

seeing another person, a person considered "successful" by societal standards (with both a bacehlors and masters before the age of 25), openly admit that mental battles were being waged in his mind when the people around him were none the wiser, has such a profound impact. i hope he one day understands this. looking at substack articles for tips for neurodivergent individuals as if looking to see if he fit the bill, potentially gearing up to seeking a diagnosis, its something that makes me feel seen as someone who has always been anxious and that anxiety caused me to make decisions (or not make decisions) that snowballed into depression.

just humans trying to seek answers as to why they are the way they are or why they feel the way they feel.

he's managed to specifically connect with people who don't have their shit figured out the slightest, who feel absolutely lost in a world where neurodivergence can often be an isolating experience, who are watching life go by without a single clue as to how to take the stirring wheel and take control.

so i thank god that i've gotten to know the name luigi mangione, for being a human that taught me that even those who have everything seemingly figured may not after all and that's okay.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Good Omens graphic novel update: January 2024 ❤ 🐍😊

A toast to the new year, courtesy of your favourite angel and demon. Let’s start off 2024 with a preview of some new artwork from the Loot Packs, this time courtesy of Mark Buckingham: 

Our updates will, naturally, become more packed as the year goes on, and for January it’s a fairly swift one, but we promise from here in, there will be lots to cover. 

An update from Colleen

For those of you who missed it, Colleen Doran, our ineffable artist, has posted an update over on Substack detailing her 2023 working on the graphic novel, but also her own journey with various health issues and looking ahead to 2024. As she mentions, but it is worth reiterating: the Good Omens HQ team sends all the good wishes and support to Colleen, now publicly as we had previously done privately. The graphic novel is more than worth the wait. You can read Colleen's full post here.

Some admin...

Final reminder: Cameos 

Thanks to everyone who has submitted their photos. We’ve collated everyone’s excellent pictures for the various tier levels and been in touch if there are any issues, but we have to issue a final reminder for those who backed a cameo tier and have yet to submit. We have sent several individual chases to anyone outstanding and we want to make sure everyone who backed the tier gets their cameo. A final deadline of Friday 9th February 2024 has been set; while we will share any images submitted with Colleen beyond then, with the graphic novel significantly underway, we cannot guarantee inclusion beyond the deadline. 

Addresses

We’ve been messaged a lot about this, so to put minds at ease: we’ve not yet asked for addresses, and this will be done via PledgeManager when it launches later in the year. If you’re moving house, or have moved since backing, don’t worry! All is fine, and can be updated down the road. If you’d like to add more items, this will also be possible there. We’ll notify backers when it’s live, but you can also sign up for an update from PledgeManager if you’d like. 

A Masterful Masterpost

If you'd like to dive more into the behind the scenes of the graphic novel, there's a great masterpost to check out courtesy of @captainfantasticalright. You can view that on Tumblr and TikTok.

Pins? Pins! 

We’ve heard you asking for updates beyond the pins and while we’re working on getting a number of the items to the final stages for production and photographing to share with you, and plan to have some for next month’s update (wait until you see the socks that have just arrived), we’re not quite there yet. So, for those fans of “how many times can you say pins in an update”, here’s a first look at the bookshop pin from the mystery pin packs:

Pins are being notoriously shiny in photos, but exciting nonetheless. Here’s the first(!) delivery of pins that have arrived at GOHQ: 

Safe to say, we have a lot of pins. How many times have we said pins so far? One more for good measure: pins. 

A surprise!

(x) Until next time. 

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

05/26-05/31/2025 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Con O'Neill; Nathan Foad; Vico Ortiz; Ruibo Qian; Anapela Polata'ivao; Courtney Andersen; Adopt Our Crew; Our Flag Means Pride; Articles; Fan Spotlight: Never Left Podcast, Our Flag Means Fanfiction & More Interviews;

Hey lovelies! Since I'm catching up on so many recaps all at once, I'm skipping love notes for this one <3

= David Jenkins =

David sending us all the love <3 Thanks Pirate Dad!

Source: David's Bsky

David giving us some insight from the writers room for s2 👀

Source: David's Bsky

= Rhys Darby =

Rhys has just been crazy busy lately. He was recently on the Ozzy Man's Pub Chat's!

He's also back in the UK for the next round of The Legend Returns!

Thanks to @adoptourcrew for sharing this great article from The Exeter Living!

Source: The Exeter Living Article

More Rhysie articles!

Source: The Guardian

And if that wasn't enough Rhys for you, he's posted several Daily Darby's on his Free Substack.

Source: Rhys Darby Free Substack

May 31 Daily Darby: Read the full thing here!

Source: Rhys Free Substack

= Taika Waititi =

Taika was the executive producer on We Were Dangerous, and they're hosting a screening for it! " In 1954 New Zealand, three rebellious girls—Nellie, Daisy, and Lou—are sent to a remote island institution, where they form an un-breakable bond in defiance of their strict matron. But as cruel punishments escalate, their friendship is tested, forcing them to choose between resistance and survival.⁠" You can join the Miami Film Festival Society to get tickets to Thursday, June 5 at 7:30 PM⁠ at the MDC's Koubek Theater in South Florida!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Miami Film Festival (@miamifilm)

Source: Miami Film IG

= Con O'Neill =

The latest Con O'Neill Momentus event, Izzy Bares All, with @ringasunn is up on Youtube!

Source: Momentus Youtube

= Nathan Foad =

Apparently Nathan was headed out to see Oliver, and decided to do some sketches for us <3

Tumblr is fighting me on videos allowed, so here's his Post-Oliver Sketch as well.

Source: Nathan's IG Stories

= Vico Ortiz =

Vico's Rise of a King Show has been keeping them busy! Their family came out to check it out-- just look at all these fun shots!

Source: Vico's IG

They were featured in BroadwayWorld as well!

Source: Vico's Bsky

Vico has been just killing it with how much they've been getting done lately, Im surprised they did so much Today in Gay Podcast with the show going on! New episodes of Today in Gay! May 29 / May 28 / May 27/ May 26

Source: Today In Gay Podcast

= Ruibo Qian =

Our Pirate Queen is back again with more cat pictures for us.

Source: Ruibo's IG Stories

= Anapela Polata'ivao =

The Tinā Film that Auntie starred in is now the the #1 NZ film of 2025 -- AND it's available to watch at home in AoNZ! "You can buy or rent Tinā from:

▪️Apple/iTunes ▪️Prime Video ▪️Neon (NZ) ▪️AroVision ▪️Vimeo ▪️Xbox

Also available very soon on YouTube and Madman On Demand (AONZ only).

From June 18, Tinā will be available on DVD/Blu-ray as well as digital in NZ, and to rent on digital in Australia."

Source: Tinā The Film IG

= Courtney Andersen =

Our rope master was out at the Master Mariner’s Regatta recently aboard the Brigadoon and they won first in class!

Source: Instagram

= Adopt Our Crew =

In preparation for Pride month our friends over at @adoptourcrew had an important question for us!

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Bsky

= Our Flag Means Pride =

As you've probably already seen since by the time this is posted, it's June 4th, our crewmates over at @adoptourcrew have started up Our Flag Means Pride again this year! Here's some preliminary info regarding how to sign up and the prize catalog is here! Wanna donate and help out Rainbow Youth? Visit the Adopt Our Crew Fundraiser page here!

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Bsky

Source: Adopt Our Crew Bsky Since several milestones have been hit already and I don't want people to miss out I'm including the info for those as well below!

Source: AOC Bsky

Current Milestones Hit, and the forms you can use to enter them!

$250 - Form

$500 - Form

$750 - Form

$1000 - Form

$1500 - Form

$2000 - Form

$2500 - Form

$3000 - Form

$3500 - Form

$4000 - Form

$4500 - Form

$5000 - Form

Source: @adoptourcrew

= Articles =

More articles on OFMD for Pride month! Thanks @adoptourcrew for sharing!

Source: @adoptourcrew

= Fan Spotlight =

More podcast updates today luvs!

= Never Left Podcast =

There's a new episode out of Never Left! This week they are talking to Bec aka YellowMustard about all her awesome fics! Wanna check them out or follow them on their socials? The links are on their linktree! New episode is out on Spotify!

Source: Never Left Podcast Instagram

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

New Episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction is out! This time The 2 Gentle 2 Beard Episode! Check out the episode on your favorite listening platform by visiting their linktr.ee!

Source: OFMFF Instagram

Remember in the last recap the amazing Chloe, and the team over at Our Flag Means Fanfiction interviewed several of our Cast & Crew in LA? Well great news! There's more questions that were answered-- this time by our dear Lindsey Cantrell!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Our Flag Means Fanfiction (@ourflagmeansfanfiction)

Source: OFMFF IG

Dominic also answered another question "If your character would come back in Season 3, what would you like your character to do?"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Our Flag Means Fanfiction (@ourflagmeansfanfiction)

Source: OFMFF IG

[sapphicscholar]

I have other Agatha All Along fics I want to write first if/when I get the time over winter break BUT while I get the appeal of professor Agatha Harkness (see below), might I present a slightly more in-the-world and (I think) fun/interesting vision of an academia AU than prof Agatha with everyone else from the whole cast turned into grad students?

Agatha: visiting distinguished faculty with a 1 course load over her 1-2 year term; she’s got power by rank with absolutely no tether to the university community, and she’s paid more than most, which stirs up plenty of resentment…especially when the dept has been insisting for years that they simply don’t have the money to fund other faculty’s research projects and speaker series

Rio: chair of the board of trustees who can recite Robert’s rules of order by heart but knows just how to break them at pivotal moments for best effect; knows Agatha from way back when at Agatha’s first university job where she got denied tenure in a splashy, overly publicized case (no knows exactly what happened except Agatha, and she’s not telling—not even when every version of the story to emerge is worse and worse); even though the vote happened behind closed doors, Agatha blames Rio (after all, she wasn’t fucking the other trustees now was she? Or was she?)

Jen: tenure-track faculty whose office was stolen to give to Agatha (at Agatha’s request/demand); she’s beloved by 90% of her students (with a couple vocal critics), and shes far better at public-facing scholarship than most - you know she’s got a recognizable brand on academic twitter, and she was one of the first to monetize her substack

Alice: dept admin; had been in the department’s Ph.D. program, but a string of bad luck and family emergencies cut short her grad school experience, so she mastered out and got hired back because people in the dept liked her enough to want to keep her around; she quite enjoys Billy (see below) despite how much he annoyed her when he first started, and together they know more gossip than anyone else in the dept

Billy: undergrad major who works in the dept admin office and is besties with the all the admin staff and therefore feels himself part of the dept despite being 20-40 years younger than most of them

Lilia: executive assistant to the Dean of the college (could be to the university president, but she’s have much less reason to interact with the others then); seems scattered, still using WordPerfect, but has been there long enough to know more than you’d ever realize or even think to ask about

[turquoisedata]

There's a new episode of Tortoise describing Scarlett Pavlovich's lawsuit against NG.

You can listen at their website for free (and just for the record, all their episodes have always been freely available on their website and Spotify and I believe apple podcasts, despite the constant early reports that their podcast and therefore the allegations were paywalled).

It's good to hear Scarlett and Caroline talk. As the victims who were reliant on him for housing they have always felt particularly vulnerable.

Interesting to hear Rachel Johnson do another episode though given that Jon Ronson published an interview with her on Substack on 31 January in which she said:

It looks like he’s been canceled, and how do I not feel kind of responsible for that? I've got to say, I’m uncomfortable with #metooing people. Is that all right to say? I don't believe in cancel culture. We all do bad stuff and we all do good stuff and he's done good stuff and he's done bad stuff and he is now regarded as an evil monster. I think the women who accuse him would say he hurt them, but that’s a female-male dynamic that unfortunately happens to be incredibly common.

Ok Rachel.

31 Jan: i feel responsible for him being cancelled 😭

18 Feb: anyway let me tell you all about the lawsuit Scarlett is bringing against him!! 🙃

Also: given the way Edendale Strategies are attempting to drown out the allegations online, I find it EXTREMELY interesting that Jon Ronson is the author of So You've Been Publicly Shamed which, as described by Wikipedia:

".... includes a long section about how people can "hide" their negative Google Search results via legal and creative IT mechanics."

I first heard of this tactic years ago in an episode of Reply All (on apple podcasts) in which the hosts interviewed Jon Ronson and the woman he engineered SEO for.

Anyone else feel like the juxtaposition is interesting? Just me???

(link to reply all edited because Spotify are twats)

[lithub]

May 15, 2025

Does the Supreme Court just run on vibes??? Are you an asshole if you don’t support your friend’s self-published novel??? Is Substack a viable platform for fiction? The answers to these questions and more are on Lit Hub dot com!

On Lit Hub dot com:

Leah Litman explains the legal theories weaponized by conservative justices (or, does the Supreme Court just run on vibes now?) | Lit Hub Politics

“I refuse to support my friend’s crappy self-published novel: Am I the literary asshole?” | Lit Hub Advice

On gender, power, and the life of Fu Hao, ancient China’s axe-wielding warrior queen. | Lit Hub History

“It took me a few more years to take pride in the voice I had honed through the books and magazines my father and I had found in bargain bins and open-air stalls.” Monica Macansantos on reuniting with her father through used books. | Lit Hub Bookstores

“She takes her cues from writers like John Cheever, Richard Yates and Virginia Woolf, all masters of the repressed and unsayable.” 5 book reviews you need to read this week. | Book Marks

Jessica Levine grapples with maternal rage and the complexities of release and forgiveness. | Lit Hub Memoir

How cultural exchange across Europe and Asia contributed to the development of language: “By 4500 BCE, the physical and genetic barriers that had divided Eurasian populations for tens of thousands of years had begun to come down, but a new divide had opened up.” | Lit Hub History

“The room feels like the base of a cheesecake. Sylvie sits down, rolls up her shirtsleeves, looks at the box of tissues.” Read from Adelaide Faith’s novel, Happiness Forever. | Lit Hub Fiction

From around the internet:

Tessa Hulls on her Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts. | Seattle Times

Peter C. Baker considers the novels of Substack: “[the platform’s] literary influence, if it ends up having any, might come less from the fiction that is published there and more from the platform’s role as a new hub for people interested in literature and its possibilities.” | The New Yorker

Timothy Aubry returns to the books he loved as “an aspiring intellectual”—also known as “the white male middlebrow canon.” | The Point

David Richardson, the new acting administrator of FEMA, is also bad at writing novels. | The New Republic

“But on one issue, Leo is clear. He is not a supporter of the Trump regime or of the large body of rich and conservative American Catholics who wish to make themselves heard.” Colm Tóibín on American Catholicism and what Pachamama means to the papacy. | London Review of Books

Why journalism schools (and their students) are at a precarious political crossroads. | The Nation

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[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Featured newsletters of writers contributing to the Substack Mastery publication

Substack Mastery is an educational and collaborative tool for our community. Thank you for joining our exciting journey. We look forward to your support and meaningful engagement with our community for mutual growth.

You can contact me via the website digitalmehmet.com when you need help. Thank you for being a valuable member of our community. Curated, Editorial, and Hand-Picked Newsletters Substack Mastery of ILLUMINATION Community | ILLUMINATION Curators Thank you for following and subscribing to our site on Substack. We can now easily find your newsletters easily and feature them in our curated…

[lesmisletters-daily]

The Perspicacity Of Master Scaufflaire

Les Mis Letters reading club explores one chapter of Les Misérables every day. Join us on Discord, Substack - or share your thoughts right here on tumblr - today's tag is #lm 1.7.2

From the town-hall he betook himself to the extremity of the town, to a Fleming named Master Scaufflaer, French Scaufflaire, who let out “horses and cabriolets as desired.”

In order to reach this Scaufflaire, the shortest way was to take the little-frequented street in which was situated the parsonage of the parish in which M. Madeleine resided. The curé was, it was said, a worthy, respectable, and sensible man. At the moment when M. Madeleine arrived in front of the parsonage there was but one passer-by in the street, and this person noticed this: After the mayor had passed the priest’s house he halted, stood motionless, then turned about, and retraced his steps to the door of the parsonage, which had an iron knocker. He laid his hand quickly on the knocker and lifted it; then he paused again and stopped short, as though in thought, and after the lapse of a few seconds, instead of allowing the knocker to fall abruptly, he placed it gently, and resumed his way with a sort of haste which had not been apparent previously.

M. Madeleine found Master Scaufflaire at home, engaged in stitching a harness over.

“Master Scaufflaire,” he inquired, “have you a good horse?”

“Mr. Mayor,” said the Fleming, “all my horses are good. What do you mean by a good horse?”

“I mean a horse which can travel twenty leagues in a day.”

“The deuce!” said the Fleming. “Twenty leagues!”

“Yes.”

“Hitched to a cabriolet?”

“Yes.”

“And how long can he rest at the end of his journey?”

“He must be able to set out again on the next day if necessary.”

“To traverse the same road?”

“Yes.”

“The deuce! the deuce! And it is twenty leagues?”

M. Madeleine drew from his pocket the paper on which he had pencilled some figures. He showed it to the Fleming. The figures were 5, 6, 8½.

“You see,” he said, “total, nineteen and a half; as well say twenty leagues.”

“Mr. Mayor,” returned the Fleming, “I have just what you want. My little white horse—you may have seen him pass occasionally; he is a small beast from Lower Boulonnais. He is full of fire. They wanted to make a saddle-horse of him at first. Bah! He reared, he kicked, he laid everybody flat on the ground. He was thought to be vicious, and no one knew what to do with him. I bought him. I harnessed him to a carriage. That is what he wanted, sir; he is as gentle as a girl; he goes like the wind. Ah! indeed he must not be mounted. It does not suit his ideas to be a saddle-horse. Every one has his ambition. ‘Draw? Yes. Carry? No.’ We must suppose that is what he said to himself.”

“And he will accomplish the trip?”

“Your twenty leagues all at a full trot, and in less than eight hours. But here are the conditions.”

“State them.”

“In the first place, you will give him half an hour’s breathing spell midway of the road; he will eat; and some one must be by while he is eating to prevent the stable boy of the inn from stealing his oats; for I have noticed that in inns the oats are more often drunk by the stable men than eaten by the horses.”

“Some one will be by.”

“In the second place—is the cabriolet for Monsieur le Maire?”

“Yes.”

“Does Monsieur le Maire know how to drive?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Monsieur le Maire will travel alone and without baggage, in order not to overload the horse?”

“Agreed.”

“But as Monsieur le Maire will have no one with him, he will be obliged to take the trouble himself of seeing that the oats are not stolen.”

“That is understood.”

“I am to have thirty francs a day. The days of rest to be paid for also—not a farthing less; and the beast’s food to be at Monsieur le Maire’s expense.”

M. Madeleine drew three napoleons from his purse and laid them on the table.

“Here is the pay for two days in advance.”

“Fourthly, for such a journey a cabriolet would be too heavy, and would fatigue the horse. Monsieur le Maire must consent to travel in a little tilbury that I own.”

“I consent to that.”

“It is light, but it has no cover.”

“That makes no difference to me.”

“Has Monsieur le Maire reflected that we are in the middle of winter?”

M. Madeleine did not reply. The Fleming resumed:—

“That it is very cold?”

M. Madeleine preserved silence.

Master Scaufflaire continued:—

“That it may rain?”

M. Madeleine raised his head and said:—

“The tilbury and the horse will be in front of my door to-morrow morning at half-past four o’clock.”

“Of course, Monsieur le Maire,” replied Scaufflaire; then, scratching a speck in the wood of the table with his thumb-nail, he resumed with that careless air which the Flemings understand so well how to mingle with their shrewdness:—

“But this is what I am thinking of now: Monsieur le Maire has not told me where he is going. Where is Monsieur le Maire going?”

He had been thinking of nothing else since the beginning of the conversation, but he did not know why he had not dared to put the question.

“Are your horse’s forelegs good?” said M. Madeleine.

“Yes, Monsieur le Maire. You must hold him in a little when going down hill. Are there many descends between here and the place whither you are going?”

“Do not forget to be at my door at precisely half-past four o’clock to-morrow morning,” replied M. Madeleine; and he took his departure.

The Fleming remained “utterly stupid,” as he himself said some time afterwards.

The mayor had been gone two or three minutes when the door opened again; it was the mayor once more.

He still wore the same impassive and preoccupied air.

“Monsieur Scaufflaire,” said he, “at what sum do you estimate the value of the horse and tilbury which you are to let to me,—the one bearing the other?”

“The one dragging the other, Monsieur le Maire,” said the Fleming, with a broad smile.

“So be it. Well?”

“Does Monsieur le Maire wish to purchase them or me?”

“No; but I wish to guarantee you in any case. You shall give me back the sum at my return. At what value do you estimate your horse and cabriolet?”

“Five hundred francs, Monsieur le Maire.”

“Here it is.”

M. Madeleine laid a bank-bill on the table, then left the room; and this time he did not return.

Master Scaufflaire experienced a frightful regret that he had not said a thousand francs. Besides the horse and tilbury together were worth but a hundred crowns.

The Fleming called his wife, and related the affair to her. “Where the devil could Monsieur le Maire be going?” They held counsel together. “He is going to Paris,” said the wife. “I don’t believe it,” said the husband.

M. Madeleine had forgotten the paper with the figures on it, and it lay on the chimney-piece. The Fleming picked it up and studied it. “Five, six, eight and a half? That must designate the posting relays.” He turned to his wife:—

“I have found out.”

“What?”

“It is five leagues from here to Hesdin, six from Hesdin to Saint-Pol, eight and a half from Saint-Pol to Arras. He is going to Arras.”

Meanwhile, M. Madeleine had returned home. He had taken the longest way to return from Master Scaufflaire’s, as though the parsonage door had been a temptation for him, and he had wished to avoid it. He ascended to his room, and there he shut himself up, which was a very simple act, since he liked to go to bed early. Nevertheless, the portress of the factory, who was, at the same time, M. Madeleine’s only servant, noticed that the latter’s light was extinguished at half-past eight, and she mentioned it to the cashier when he came home, adding:—

“Is Monsieur le Maire ill? I thought he had a rather singular air.”

This cashier occupied a room situated directly under M. Madeleine’s chamber. He paid no heed to the portress’s words, but went to bed and to sleep. Towards midnight he woke up with a start; in his sleep he had heard a noise above his head. He listened; it was a footstep pacing back and forth, as though some one were walking in the room above him. He listened more attentively, and recognized M. Madeleine’s step. This struck him as strange; usually, there was no noise in M. Madeleine’s chamber until he rose in the morning. A moment later the cashier heard a noise which resembled that of a cupboard being opened, and then shut again; then a piece of furniture was disarranged; then a pause ensued; then the step began again. The cashier sat up in bed, quite awake now, and staring; and through his window-panes he saw the reddish gleam of a lighted window reflected on the opposite wall; from the direction of the rays, it could only come from the window of M. Madeleine’s chamber. The reflection wavered, as though it came rather from a fire which had been lighted than from a candle. The shadow of the window-frame was not shown, which indicated that the window was wide open. The fact that this window was open in such cold weather was surprising. The cashier fell asleep again. An hour or two later he waked again. The same step was still passing slowly and regularly back and forth overhead.

The reflection was still visible on the wall, but now it was pale and peaceful, like the reflection of a lamp or of a candle. The window was still open.

This is what had taken place in M. Madeleine’s room.

[onwriting-hrarby]

for you — rivamika fanfic notice

Dear everyone,

Knock-knock—is someone there? I truly hope so because my mind has been wondering about this story for a while. So, first things first: Hi, this is Hera, the author of "For You."

Because yes: a new chapter is coming. It has been coming for the past ten months, but now I only have 5 mini-chapters left to write and a 30- page chapter to revise. Let me break it to you: 2024 has been... eventful. In a letter in April (I believe) I told you that I needed to focus on my original novel for a while because I aimed to finish it after summer, and I did. In the process of completing the novel, I celebrated becoming a 30-year-old, I had a future crisis, I decided to take a master's, I submitted a proposal for a children's book, opened a Substack, bought myself a car (and I'm indebted for the rest of my life, probably) and basically, life happened. Which is exhausting but also nice. Being offline became my priority: I deleted my personal Twitter account, and dumbified my phone. I have so many inputs in my life that I didn't need any more.

September came, the 5 mini chapters still left to write. I got my first "no" for my original novel, but I got a "yes" for the children's book submission—so, happy to say that I'm going to be a published author! (If all goes according to plan. I do not celebrate before I have the book printed in front of me.) I am also in the middle of my teacher's practicum but still juggling with my ordinary job, so I'm dealing with quite a lot. However, as I was telling you, this story hasn't left my mind. I know some of you have been wondering, giving me courage through the comments, and I appreciate this so much. Whenever I think about the relationship of Mikasa and Levi in this fic I grow worried that I'm not going to have enough time to explore all the nuances and pain that comes with motherhood and love—but I need to tell myself that this is fanfiction, that Mikasa and Levi aren't going anywhere, and that it is fine in just trying.

I also had worries that no one was here anymore. But I read a Zutara fanfiction in May in which the author did several hiatus. The writing spanned during five years or more and it made me think that fanfiction shouldn't be a timing burden. I think a lot about the relationship of my online and offline persona and how it doesn't differ that much—I'm still the same imaginative, self-pushing, perfectionist girl—and this fanfiction told me that it's alright: I have a story to tell. I hope it finds someone. And even though I take time, I hope for that someone to come back here when they want and find the story again.

I need to submit the children's book by the end of January, and my master thesis by April (although I will have a lot of work from my master before and after too). But now that the life work is lessening, I hope I can finally sit in front of the computer and finish Chapter 4. I am envisioning this story to have 9 chapters in total, but we will see.

So, this story is coming. My goal is for it to come on the end of December or beginning of January—but it will come. If you want to know when I upload a chapter, you can subscribe to the fanfiction and you will receive the notification on your inbox, which is a cool feature. In fact, I have begun finishing Chapter 4... but god, my English is rusty. I take long.

Anyways. Hope to see you soon. Thank you for your comments and encouragement—it has made the offline Hera very happy, too.

—Hera

[the-wip-project]

What's all this here?

Here at the-wip-project, we want to help you write and finish your WIPs. Our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/uAxqrjtcf

barbex's writing advice blog: @the960writers, private blog: @barbex. Maree's blog: @mareebrittenford.

Ongoing: Planning all the plans!

Last day of the month we make writing plans for the coming month. Post is here.

---

Ongoing:

For May and June 2025:

Sunday, May 4 until Sunday, June 29 2025.

Daily writing, set your own goal, make a post about hitting your goal, get a star. Post is here.

---

Recently finished: Getting to know your story (through writing it)

A special writing event for discovery writers. Masterpost is here. Here is the last post with links to all the advice. You can still follow along with these posts at your own pace.

---

Write your novel in 2024 2025

Slow and steady, write and finish your novel this year.

The masterpost is here, or start here at the first post and go through the tag #slomowrino. Subscribe to the substack to get everything in one place

---

The projects through the years:

2025:

2024:

Write 40k in 42 days

Start: 4th of August 2024

End: 14th of September 2024

40k First post is here.

Write a short story in 60 days

Write and finish a short story to publish yourself or submit it to traditional publishers.

The start post is here and the tag is #⁠60daysshortstory. this project is done, but you can still use the resources.

2023:

Fall of 2023, the begin of SloMoWriNo https://www.tumblr.com/the-wip-project/736076610461138944/slomo-wrino-master-post

Spring 2023, the start with a special writing docket to download: https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/711609740849037313/the-wip-project-2023

2022:

Here’s the masterpost for 2022’s 90 days to first draft: https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/676795295564234752/the-wip-project-2022-masterpost

2021:

100 days of writing. The tag is here, and here are four posts I find especially notable about The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger:

https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/660848335263023104/100daysofwriting-day-ninety-2021-08-29

https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/660939749305008128/100daysofwriting-day-ninety-one-2021-08-30

https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/661030364772548608/100daysofwriting-day-ninety-two-2021-08-31

https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/661120982330834944/100daysofwriting-day-ninety-three-2021-09-01

2020:

Two short projects in this year. https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/190175623889/the-wip-project-2020 and https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/627604336988618752/im-so-busy-are-you-busy-too-i-was-trying-to

Note how I keep pushing for accountability posts. I'm convinced that accountability posts are the key to getting shit done, but very few people actually do it.

2019:

Where it all started, complete with a sign-up form and prizes. The prizes made everything extremely stressful for me, so I'm not doing that again 😂😂😂. https://the-wip-project.tumblr.com/post/185566159309/the-wip-project-2019

----

Our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/uAxqrjtcfg

[vickyvicarious]

(In order to not derail op's thread, and jic they've not finished reading the books, hope this is ok) The madness/mental illness discussion between Laura and Jonathan made me think about the in-between of Jonathan leaving the hospital and then being validated!

One thing is, pre-Hawkins death, Mina states to Lucy that Jonathan has been working hard, but that he is weak still and placid, and also that he has nightmares. It tells on them both, because Mina cannot get a full night's sleep due to him waking up screaming and she needs to soothe him. Journal aside, Mina says she is so worried about his nerves that she doesn't communicate with him about how tired she is herself. It reminds me of Walter wanting to protect Laura from distress.

Post-Hawkins death, Jonathan gets worse. "He says the amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and my belief in him helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his—a nature which enabled him by our dear, good friend’s aid to rise from clerk to master in a few years—should be so injured that the very essence of its strength is gone."

Not a very traditionally ''manful'' picture, but Mina never goes there. Still, he throws himself into work. Mina says her belief in him helps Jonathan believe in himself. Maybe Laura would have benefited from being believed in.

What prompts Walter to do something drastic is when Laura weeps in her sleep. What prompts Mina to break the seal later is when Jonathan faints in public and loses the memory of it.

The way Mina treats Lucy and Jonathan in illness seems equal. She keeps their secrets upon their request too. Walter and Mina take similar active roles for their spouses, though Mina isn't necessarily masculine for it.

An interesting imho comparison could also be when Mina chooses to consult Van Helsing while Jonathan is away for his first work trip and how they communicate throughout it, and Walter with the sisters.

Aside, when she asks Van Helsing to help Jonathan, he says, "I promise you that I will gladly do all for him that I can—all to make his life strong and manly, and your life a happy one." Van Helsing promises to make his life manly, though Mina had asked to make him "well again". So he kind of made it about gender, though it wasn't for Mina.

(I also wonder if we can call Jonathan ''cured'' really, as he doesn't actually return to his former self, but it'd get too long!)

(Tagging @animate-mush because the WIW substack has ended now, hopefully you're all caught up... but regardless no spoilers past where we were last week.)

Anon, you sum up my thoughts incredibly well: "Maybe Laura would have benefited from being believed in."

I think that is perhaps the most major difference between the recovery period for the two of them. Because while they both have remarkably similar symptoms, and both their spouses hide stuff from them for a while... when things come to a head Mina chooses to believe in Jonathan. Not just in supporting him as he goes back to work (which you're right, he has little choice about doing - an external gendered element there, where societal pressures/norms mean Jonathan kind of has to get to work and Laura is never expected to at all); Mina trusts Jonathan with information, with an important role in what follows.

There's obvious contextual differences. Jonathan knew he could access his lost memories and explicitly didn't want to unless it was necessary. He put the power to decide that in Mina's hands (and it was his request but still her choice to share in his ignorance until she needed more information). When she reads his journal, she's trying to better help him within parameters they have both agreed to. When she eventually tells him everything is true, she's trusting that this will be validating for him and help him heal, help him be more "well again" (though you're right both that he never returns to his former self, and that Van Helsing is the only one who brings gender into it with his assumption that Mina's looking to make Jonathan more manly).

Laura never had an equivalent - both in terms of a discussion with the ones leaving her out for the sake of her mental health, and in the sense of some record she knows she can fall back on. She didn't have a hidden journal when she was being drugged or in the asylum. Most of the information Walter and Marian gather is from other people.

I think there is a period where both Jonathan and Laura have information hidden from them for their own sake. And I don't think that was inherently wrong or anything; in fact I think it was somewhat needed. Jonathan got the chance to explicitly ask for that period of ignorance. We don't quite have any such dialogue from Laura, but the narration still tells us that there were certain topics that were very confusing to her or which she didn't like to linger on (and her experience with Mr. Fairlie even after getting out of the asylum can't have helped), and there's that scene where she says she will "try to get better", showing recognition of how unwell she currently is. I think they both need this time to focus on recovering, and their spouses/loved ones want to support them so they can do so. Again, the societal gender role divides them here: Jonathan has to work and in fact has to take on new/more challenging work, while Laura doesn't and can devote more time to rest and recovery. There's benefits and drawbacks to both of those, in my mind. Jonathan got support from Mina and reassurance that she (and Mr. Hawkins) believed in him, which was helpful. On the other hand, it stressed him out more and he was still suffering from his nightmares, etc. Laura got more time to take it easy without having other stress added on, which was helpful. But on the other hand, she didn't get the same level of trust and belief in her ability to, if not 'return to normal,' at least to be productive and helpful in some way.

Yeah, I'm talking about her drawings. I think that is where the big divide comes. Because when she wants to contribute and help with the household, Walter decides to lie to her and play-act that she is bringing in money. I get that he's trying to avoid letting her stress over money, but it feels so condescending. He's treating her like a child rather than being honest with her - right after she asks him not to treat her like a child. Maybe being honest would just be telling her that she's not well enough to work/that it wouldn't be safe, and that he has the money handled. Maybe they'd come up with some other way she could chip in. At least she'd be involved in the discussion as she clearly wanted to be. And while I don't think she would be involved in the hunting down different accounts or confrontations that follow at the end of the book any more than Marian was, I think they should have told her what was going on. That doesn't necessarily mean giving her all the nitty gritties especially if they're triggering to her; but giving her the chance to speak for herself, to add her thoughts, even to ask to be left out if she thinks she can't handle it. She never gets that. There's no reevaluation later on.

Both Jonathan and Laura were denied validation in a way that made them doubt their sanity. Jonathan's experiences were supernatural and he fears he lost his mind. Laura was lied to and gaslit about her own identity, outright told she was suffering from delusions. Revealing that the supernatural things he remember are real was validating for Jonathan in itself, even as he still had all the accompanying trauma. Laura's (official/public) validation isn't possible until after the villains are defeated and everything is over, which in a sense stretches out that middle period. Similarly, Jonathan getting the information leads right into him getting a change to assuage his feelings of guilt and seek revenge, which could be cathartic for him. Laura probably wouldn't have the same opportunities or even desire to do so, and so maybe looping her in wouldn't have been as helpful. But it feels cruel to me never to give her the option. After a certain point, it's no longer just trying to spare her from distress, but it feels like believing she isn't capable of handling any at all.

I guess that's what feels most gendered to me. Walter, and to an extent Marian too, don't treat Laura like an adult or an equal after her experience. This does happen throughout the book, but it gets so much more egregious after she's rescued from the asylum. Marian talks about women/is kind of treated like an exception to women in general, and Walter is leaving both women out in key moments. So given how women were typically seen as less capable, to me it feels somewhat bound up in that rather than just being about her specifically (I think she handles/is capable of a lot more than she's given credit for). Mina doesn't do really that, she doesn't really bring gender into her treatment of either Jonathan or Lucy in the same way. And while others in Dracula do, it's shown to be more of a mistake.

[gd-rd-me-of-gd]

Comments:

@/aalekiaa: "What do u mean by il n'y a pas de rapport sexuel"

@/gd_rd_me_of_gd: "It's a quote from Jacques Lacan, which translates to "there is no sexual relation." In Lacanian psychoanalysis, this formula basically mean that recognition is always just out of reach."

@/aalekiaa: "I speak french but i don't understand like why is recognition always out of reach? I need to read his stuff lol"

@/gd_rd_me_of_gd: "oh i see, it has to do with his pessimistic reading of unconscious processes. Like it kind of in the context of this post is something im using to say “we are each alone in our experience of the world” and there is no total merging between two people. But he would extend the formula many topics, including the always-impossible attainment of any object of our desire, because he believed desire in itself springs from an unfillable anoriginal lack that we nevertheless try and fail to fill. For example, he talked about how in terms of gender identity, totally being any one gender is actually impossible for humans. He also says that many peope seeking a world without masters and domination fail to recognize the reality that revolution is a constant process, not a linear one-and -done. He even extends this sense of perpetual misrecognition to self-recognition, saying that is all begins in a moment in childhood when we realize that the ‘me’ i see in the mirror is not me but a reflection of something i can never actually see (and similarly with the perpetual inadequacy of self-concept—i can never fully be my own idea of myself because all language at least partially fails to translate reality). Like i said, pessimistic and humbling! In my work as a theologian, im trying to sometimes incorporate his insights in the style of Zizek because i very much feel the inadequacy of theological language. But i also really like thinking about i and thou relationships in the style of martin buber, and i think there’s ways to draw out whats on this slide more eloquently eventually."

@/aalekiaa: "oh my god thank you so much for this detailed explanation!! I just got "the object relation" and i think i wanna incorporate some of those ideas in my dissertation on identity after psychiatric trauma. Do u have any other reading recommendations in that vein?? Thank u again so much and i love ur substack xx"

@/gd_rd_me_of_gd: "aww thank you! I vibe with the book The Monstrosity of Christ as an interesting discussion starter, and a feminist take on specifically artworking-through trauma is Bracha Ettinger's work in the book Matrixial Subjectivity, Aesthetics, Ethics."