38 Comments

Congrats!

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Nice one, well done mate! Wasn't expecting the shout out at the end. Touched.

I have no idea how I first found your substack, but definitely a good find. Here's to another 12 months!

By the way, you've depressed me with your hard facts on the current state of the novel writing craft.

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Congrats on one year!

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Happy anniversary! If not for your commiseration on my Twitter aversion and subsequent invitation to visit you in the "dumpster fire", I may not have discovered your radness on Substack. And I'm not only a recommender, I'm also a reader. 🥳 Best to you in year two!

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Awwww! ❤️❤️❤️ Thanks Amran! Now I got to step up and write the rest of my smooching history

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Wonderful retrospective, thanks for sharing this and continued good luck!

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“Fact is modern consumers are inundated with choice, and reading sterile paper pages isn’t anywhere near as fun as watching babies, dressed as pandas, who are also ninjas, sauté chicken in Nyquil.“ - equally hilarious and heartbreaking

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Keep up the great work, Amran.

Favorite line: “How might I find and engage those lunatics?” Hahahaha!

More titles like “A reply from Santa you ungrateful little shits” is my guess, haha!

And Thank you so much for the shout out. Here’s to another year of doing what you love!

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Happy anniversary! So glad I let a rando contribute to my newsletter. It’s one of my popular posts and you were a joy to work with! Loving to write is the only reason a writer needs to write! Best wishes for the next year. I’ll be reading!

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I can definitely relate to every inch of creative doubt and frustration. Based on the weekly thunder in my inbox, the wind is at your back. Keep rolling.

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I am sure you have heard this advice before, but as a 73 year-old who knew she wanted to write since age 12, wrote draft of first novel at age 40 (even got an agent but never a traditional contract) and then self-published at age 60, I can tell you from experience that you shouldn't rule out independent publishing as a viable alternative.

Also, the one place you can still, with persistence, get published traditionally, is short stories in magazines. so if you haven't run across Kris Rusch's Business Musings, or her husband Dean Wesley Smith's blogs, do check them out. They are very anti traditional publishing for long forms, but they are supper supportive of people submitting to magazines, as well as publishing a lot of short stories through their own small press. https://kriswrites.com and https://deanwesleysmith.com Meanwhile, keep up the good work at writing and amusing all of us who follow you.

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Congrats!!! Now go finish that draft!

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Congrats on a very strong 1st year & thank you for the shout out!

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As if I really needed 4 more Substacks to subscribe to!!! Seriously though Amran, really appreciate this essay--just the way you walked through your thinking is really interesting to see. Keep cranking the snark!

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Thanks for the shoutout, Amran. CHEERS. I remain a fan, and look forward to seeing your novel with S&S (or similar) on the spine.

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Congratulations Amran!!! So fun to hear your back story. And so glad to be on this platform with folks like you! Writers gotta write!

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