Some changes tip toe into our lives ...
Some just push everything else aside and say "here I am!"
Substack didn’t tip toe in. But it also wasn’t pushy. It was more of a seduction: slow and confident … I am here and I’d like to help you … would you like to be friends?
Oh, yes, please.
As you may have realized by now, I am avid about Substack … both as an author and as a reader. There are so many fresh voices here … wisdom that doesn’t come in a package pre-authorized, face-washed, and sanitized by a publisher who may or may not truly care about the message. Here I find wondrous, wandering souls who pour their ideas and experiences onto the page every week and invite us into conversation.
For the rest of the year, I want to give you a glimpse of some of the Substack authors who’ve made my year more than it might have been. Last week, I mentioned
and her writings about mental health, this week I want to introduce you to who may be the king of manifestos and actually wrote a full book dedicated to manifestos then and now. (available on amazon here.)One of the many take aways I’ve gotten from Russell’s writings is the importance of writing our own manifestos, clarifying what we believe in and what our intentions are for this life. Russell’s manifestos tend to be long, detailed, and inspiring. Turns out I’ve been making visual versions for many years … often at this liminal time of reflecting on what has been and what lies ahead … thus the last year’s image of Intend Peace. I have started the process of thinking about my visual manifesto for 2024 and I will share it when it’s ready.
Here is a quote from Russell’s amazon page:
The New Now has arrived. We are the people we’ve been waiting for.
The New Now / Manifestos, Reinventions & Declarations / Updated & Expanded is an insightful, free-thinking, Neo-Beatnik uplifting collection of manifestos and essays about the New Now we’re living through. After a global pandemic rolled across and ravaged our land, we can more easily understand how historic and prehistoric events happened. Deeply embedded, wrongheaded, calcified cultural norms are being pushed against as never before, and we can understand how societal shifts happened in past centuries – within months, days, or hours, and when a tipping point was finally reached.
Let’s do a poll.
Substackers who have shifted my thinking:
Introducing a handful of unique Substackers worth reading IMHO … although far from a comprehensive list, these folks will launch you beyond the BIG Names and into the “WOW, I’m glad I found you” stands. Each author will be the focus on the date referenced … but just in case you want to skip ahead (or back) or subscribe now rather than later, here’s what’s highlighted in the last 7 weeks of 2023.
11/18/23
writing in Create Me Free about mental health and art.11/25/23
writing in The New Now about the power of manifestos.12/2/23
writes about Great Things with humor and illustrations.12/9/23 Goatfury Writesby Andrew Smith writing about anything that crosses his curious and unique mind.
12/16/23
writes Stunning Sentences. If you’re a writer, you may never look at (or write) sentences in the same way.12/23/23
writes Cosmographia, a map-based travel adventure like no other.12/30/23Unfixed by Kimberly Warner presented me with a life lesson I’m still chewing on.
Oh my, what an incredible honor to be included in your year-end appreciations. Thank you dear one. It’s so moving to hear when my work finds its way into someone’s ever-evolving thought process and becoming. When your Unfixed post comes out, I’ll likely be elbow deep in my annual end-of-year kiwi jam making. I’ll be harvesting the fuzzy gems tomorrow where they need a good 4 weeks to soften. Their verdant green centers are always a welcome reminder of a season of new growth and sweetness ahead.
Russell Smith is a great writer, gifted professional and communicator. If you never wrote a manifesto, then start with Russell, who has a fabulous collection of manifesto examples. He's rapidly becoming my Substack hero because he understands relationships and how to restack, support and connect. I write manifestos and help other professionals do the same. It's just about impossible to do on your own because you have to get above the tactical and above the strategic--into the visionary level, but write in terms that the tactical will understand. Thus, writing buddy helps.