Same Walk, Different Shoes
Last week saw the launch of the “Same Walk, Different Shoes” project that I’ve been working on for the past couple of months. If you’re unfamiliar, the project was an open call to writers on Substack to offer up an anonymous writing prompt about a transformative experience from their lives. In turn, each writer received an anonymous prompt from another writer to develop into a short story. On December 29th, we published 42 stories and the feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
Same Walk, Different Shoes: Volume I
Harmony House
This week, I published episode 17 and the series has had nearly 10,000 reads total which feels incredible. I’m so grateful to all of you who read or listen every week and provide such generous feedback. It’s exciting to me that the characters I’ve created have taken on a life of their own for you.
ALERT! If you’ve been meaning to start reading/listening to “Harmony House” but haven’t gotten around to it, episodes over three months old have started going behind the paywall. Jump in now!
Lifting Others Is the Best Way to Grow
If you’re an artist, in particular, a writer trying to develop a following that will one day allow you to earn a living, there is no shortcut. The single best advice I have after my first year of doing Catch & Release is to follow the work of others and take every opportunity to lift it up.
Screaming “look at me” no matter how tasteful or slick you do it will never have the same impact as participating in the community, giving feedback, and promoting the great work of others. This I know because I have proven it to be true in the past year. Beyond the karmic benefits, you also learn a tremendous amount about writing by reading the work of others. In the video, I expound on this further.
To drive this point home, I will close by sharing a handful of my favorite stories from the “Same Walk, Different Shoes” project. Do yourself a favor. Read these stories and subscribe to these writers. Their work will improve your life.
In the Works #10