Substack: My First Six Months
A look at where I am, how I got here, and who made it possible
I was on a writing group last night that meets weekly on Discord. Last night’s topic of discussion was all we’ve accomplished thus far in 2025.
As someone who constantly pushes myself forward, it’s rare that I stop and look back at how far I’ve come. So, last night was eye-opening, to say the least.
I stopped running from one thing to the next. I stopped juggling all my projects for a moment, and I just let myself think. And that’s when it hit me. Today, June 4th, 2025, marks precisely six months since I posted my first piece on Substack.
That’s crazy to me, but in the sprit of that discussion last night, let’s take a few more (thousand) words to talk about all that’s happened here on The Writer’s Journey in the first six months of 2025.
Overnight Success Takes Years (Five, to be Precise)
I’ve only been here on Substack for six months, but I’ve been writing and publishing my work online for nearly five years now. Prior to that, I spent five years as a ghostwriter. Oooh, mysterious! Maybe I’ll talk about it some time.
Before I joined Substack in January, I was on a platform called Vocal. It’s a cool place with cool people and even cooler stories! Here’s the thing though…
It took me almost four years to reach 1,000 reads on Vocal.
Now trust me, I was ecstatic when I hit that goal, but here on Substack, the audience is way, WAY bigger. Honestly though, I wouldn’t be where I am without Vocal, so it will always have a special place in my heart.
The fact of the matter though is that I wanted community. I wanted my work to find its audience. And, like any other human being, I wanted to feel seen.
I have all that here, and so much more. And, since we all love numbers, here’s a look at my Substack dashboard as of this precise moment:
Now, I don’t post this to brag, or to draw comparisons. I post it because these numbers reflect six months. Now, here’s my Vocal dashboard as of this moment:
See the difference? My work here is more consistent, it’s better, but it’s not entirely different. Sometimes, it really is all about finding your audience, and that’s why I’m posting these screenshots.
I’m not a celebrity. I didn’t come to Substack with a huge following. I’m just a dude stuck in Virginia trying to tell my stories because it’s what I was born to do.
And yet, despite that, I’ve cultivated a community here of nearly 1,500 like-minded souls who were put on this Earth to tell stories.
I cannot describe how amazing that is, and I certainly can’t describe how grateful I am for all of you. So, now you’re probably asking yourself: what’s the secret, Bradley? Got any growth hacks?!
First of all, get out. We don’t use that term here.
Secondly, I do work in marketing, so there were a few things I did to help my work get seen. Will they work every time? Probably not, but I do think it’s worth talking about the the things that were successful, because at the end of the day, I want you all to succeed as well.
A rising tide raises all ships, as they say. So, let’s talk about what I’ve been doing these last six months.
The Secret to Success? A Lot of Hard Work
A lot of my early success on Substack came from the most fickle thing of all: a viral post. Yep, I had a note of mine just explode in popularity, and while it’s lost to the winds of time, I can tell you what it said:
If you’re a writer, an artist, a poet, a designer, or any sort of creative human being, I subscribe to you immediately. I don’t make the rules. 🤷♂️
Except I do, and that’s one of them. 😂
Now here’s the crucial part: when that note exploded I went to work. I actually responded to all four-hundred something replies and I subscribed to every single person and made a list. Then, I started reading their work.
And that’s the key takeaway here: I did the work.
There’s no easy path to success, and when something entirely unpredictable happens like a note going viral, your first and only instinct should be to harness that momentum and run with it.
Outside of that, I started cross-posting some of my Vocal stories on Substack to get things moving. I posted once per day, but I didn’t just copy/paste my old stories into this editor. I made improvements. I changed endings. I put in the work.
And all of that started building momentum, but then came step two: host a challenge.
February 2025 rolled around and I knew I wanted to host Flash Fiction February. I’ve always loved writing prompts and this year I promised myself I would finish all 30 days of the challenge. So, every day in February, I posted a prompt in my subscriber chat.
And guess what? People LOVED it! They were sending links to their stories, I was publishing new ones, and I was also reading as many as I could.
And not just reading. I was liking, commenting, and restacking as well.
Say it with me:
I did the work.
Flash Fiction February 2025 continues to be a core memory for me, but as many of you know, I hosted a similar challenge last month called Madness & (May)hem, and it was just as amazing. Now, I’m seeing people in the community hosting their own prompt challenges for June, and it truly warms my heart.
And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit to my wonderful, supportive, and incredibly talented girlfriend,
, AKA the Prompt Goddess. She has been my biggest fan and greatest supporter since we met.And of course, her prompts are what made the two aforementioned events successful. I helped a little, but let’s give Sarah a round of virtual applause for being an amazing partner and human being.
Oh, and outside of all this, I also started a podcast!
The Saved as Draft Podcast Makes it’s Debut!
I love listening to podcasts. I’ve always wanted to start one, but I just never did it. Thankfully, Substack makes it really easy to host your podcast here and across platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and so on.
My best friend of over 20 years is an animator, I’ve got a good microphone I use for voice acting in our projects, so all the pieces were there. I just had to put them together.
So, I did.
Saved as Draft is now over 20 episodes and counting, and it has been an incredible ride thus far. Each week, I shout out five stories from the community, talk about writing topics like setting goals, and I also interview other writers.
It’s such a fun show, and it’s just another way that I feel like I can give back to the community and lift up my fellow writers, authors, and artists.
So yeah, despite all the pressure I put on myself, I realize that I’ve come a LONG way in the last six months. In fact, I’ve made more progress this year alone than I have in the five.
That’s amazing, and I am so, so grateful. And the best part? I’m truly just getting started. I’ve got a cosmic horror novel in the works, I’m writing an animated series, I’m working on an amazing project with Comical Foods, and I’ve got a book coming out soon from AudioMazes!
It’s a lot of wrap my head around, enough for a separate article, to be sure, but I am so proud of all the progress I’ve made in 2025.
Now, if you know me, you know what’s coming next. That’s right, it’s time to talk about the community that made all this happen. The community who continues to support me, and in this case, the people who have been here from Day 1 (ish).
15 Substack Writers (And Poets) Who Inspired Me to Keep Going
I’m a firm believer in giving credit where it’s due. I wouldn’t be here without this community. Outside of Substack, my life is pretty rough right now. It’s been a rough few years, and I’ve stoped writing a lot, sometimes for long stretches of time.
But all of that has changed in the last six months. I’ve found friends, fellow creatives, and countless reasons to keep going. Your support is everything, and so that’s why I want to finish up this article with a list of writers who were some of my first subscribers.
These people have read my work, supported it, given feedback, and even reached out to message me when they knew I was going through some tough personal stuff. These people are subscribers, yes, but more than that I consider them true friends.
And, to be clear, I consider all of you in the community to be my friends. I went from zero friends to over a thousand in the last six months, and I just cannot say I appreciate you all enough.
Of course, writing 1,000 shout outs would take a while, so for now I’ve limited myself to the originals. And with that, in no particular order, let’s talk about some amazing people and even better writers:
1)
Bri was literally the first or second writer I met after joining Substack, but I was immediately blown away by the quality of her writing and the genuine nature of her notes and interactions. This is a person who can tie quantum mechanics into the everyday before turning around and posting a note with an adorable meme.
Her energy is infectious, and more than anything, her support of the community on Substack is just incredible. She was one of the first people to comment on one of my stories, and her feedback about the dialogue in that piece was just incredible.
She inspired me from the very beginning to do everything I could to lift up this community as well, and I will always be grateful for her support.
2)
Isabella’s work immediately jumped out at me because of the way that is takes Greek mythology and weaves new stories from the characters and themes found throughout it. Yes, she has stories where you see Ares in a modern day city, but she also has deeply personal and profound studies on the true purpose of those classical stories.
Her writing is packed with a wisdom that should only come from a thousand lifetimes. It’s truly life-changing stuff, and so I had to reach out to tell her how much I enjoyed it. We quickly went down a rabbit hole of conversations about our work, what inspires us, and of course, we both read and provided feedback on each other’s stories.
It was kind of writer friendship I had only dreamed of. I’ve never had any writer friends in real life, so the fact that I could talk shop with someone was a dream come true. And seriously check out her work, it’s absolutely amazing.
3)
Maryellen and I first met in a thread about poetry! We talked about starting a Poetry Collective (and we did), but beyond that, we became great friends through our shared love of writing in all its forms.
Maryellen’s work is pure magic. She’s the kind of writer who can tackle any genre and bring a sense of wonder to it. Her connected universe of Starlight Cove is the kind of place you can get lost in, and you should!
She’s also the kind of writer who will see me post something about what I’m dealing with and will immediatley reach out to see how I’m doing. She’s a kind and genuine soul who also happens to produce some of the most arresting and magical tales I’ve ever read. And, of course, she’s a true friend on top of it all.
4)
Nebula and I first met on Instagram, but her Substack has some phenomenal work that you simply must check out. Her stories are real and raw. They dig deep into emotions and really pull you into the characters.
Her book, Three Shades of the Heart, is a deeply human story written with pitch-perfect pacing and amazing imagery. Nebula is also the person who introduced me to AudioMazes! For those unaware, AudioMazes is a platform that launched recently where they produce immersive audiobooks with branching narratives.
Nebula invited me to a recruitment call several months ago, and I was hooked from the start. I applied, and now I’ve got two books coming out that I wrote for them! The first one should be out soon, too, but none of this would have been possible without Nebula’s support.
And of course, I have to shout out
as well. He is the Chief Publication Director at Audiomazes and a truly amazing human being. I met him through Nebula, and it has been a dream come true working with him and AudioMazes these last several months.She was the first one to reach out to me, long before I worked up the courage to think people actually wanted to talk to me, and I’m so glad she did, because her support really gave me confidence to be myself.
5)
Wajeeha was also one of the very first people I met and interacted with here on Substack. Her notes and her posts had this wonderful positivity to them that I absolutely loved. Everything she wrote was so genuine and real.
Since we started on Substack around the same time, we also talked about what was working and the lesson we’d learned thus far. Fast forward a few months, though, and Wajeeha posted that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
When I saw the post, I felt my heart skip a beat. I didn’t know what to even say, but I knew I had to say something. After all, it was her positivity and support that really contributed to me feeling welcome and confident in what I was doing here.
So, I reached out, and from the sounds of it, she’s doing well. I don’t want to discuss details here, but she’s fighting the good fight, and I’ve already asked her to come on to the Saved as Draft podcast when she’s finished with her treatment.
I know she’s going to beat this. Wajeeha has plenty more stories to tell, and I will be here to read them.
6)
Mina was one of the first horror writer friends I made here on Substack! I remember being totally blown away by a story of hers that told the story of our world’s downfall through the eyes of a doll that had witnessed it all.
The name is going to escape me once again (I’m so sorry, Mina, haha), but it was my first time reading what I would call eco-horror fiction. Mina’s stories often show us the consequences of ignoring our planet’s cries for help, and they are so incredibly impactful as a result.
Of course, her horror goes other places as well, and she’s even one of the best poets I’ve ever read. Her podcast, The Penny Dreadfuls Podcast, is also an excellent show that you should absolutely check out.
Mina continues to grow and hone her craft, but she keeps the spirit of collaboration alive. She’s hosted a few challenges of her own, and she recently involved several writers in the creation of villains for her ongoing Ophiocordyceps series, which is a must-read! She also joined me for a full interview on episode 18 of my podcast!
Mina is also one of those writer friends who I feel like I will stay in contact with forever. She’s always excited to talk, collaborate, or just lend an ear when real life is making it hard to feel creative.
She’s a wonderful person and an insanely talented horror writer that I’m grateful to call my friend.
7)
Audrey is going to laugh when she reads this, but yes, I’m going to talk about the tater tot poem. You see, I’ve done poetry before and I like writing poems, but when I joined Substack I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my poems.
I also hadn’t connected with poetry in some time, but Substack as it turns out, is packed with some of the best poets of our modern era, Audrey being one of them.
Yes, my first poem I read from her was about a tater tot, but it was about so much more than that. It was a piece about finding inspiration in the everyday. It was a poem about being left behind, and it just caught me off-guard in the best way possible.
So, of course, I read more of Audrey’s work. She posts a combination of poems and other more personal essays about spirituality, the supernatural, and so much more. She’s an endlessly talented writer and a true master of the ethereal arts.
She’s was also a wonderful supporter of my early work, and her poems continue to inspire me to slow down and seek the magic hidden in the everyday.
8)
Known for the longest time as EMR, Edward Marlo Ruiz is another one of my dear horror writer friends, and an insanely talented writer to boot. His work will shock you in the best way possible. The way he hones in details is superb, and the trust me, he gets into the gory details.
But beyond that, he also sets the stage in each of his stories for truly unique concepts and heart-racing action. You’ll find yourself truly immersed in his work, and you’ll walk away with a new favorite author by the time you’re done reading.
And the craziest part? He’s only 22 years old! When I was that age, my work wasn’t half as good as the stories he’s putting out. To be honest they’re still not as good, but that’s neither here nor there.
If you’d like to learn more about his work, check out Episode 20 of my podcast where I sat down with him for a full interview!
9)
Kaaos is the kind of writer friend that I feel like I’ve known my whole life. We first met when they wrote an absolutely incredible D’veen story for my D’veen Challenge in Flash Fiction February, but I immediately connected with their work. Kaaos was also featured on Episode 21 of my Podcast!
I have rarely seen a writer with a stronger grasp of imagery than what you’ll find in Kaaos’ work. Not only that, but the way they weave emotion into their stories makes me feel seen in ways that not even my own work can accomplish.
And above all that, Kaaos is one of the most positive people in this community. As one of the founders of the Turtles of Alchemy publication, they are constantly doing everything they can to feature other writers and lift up the community.
Every day I log on to Substack, I try to be a little more like Kaaos. Not only as a writer, because their writing is amazing, but also as a person. They are a true inspiration and an amazing friend.
10)
Hazel and I first met in the comments of a note about my story called “The Highway at The End of the World,” which was my first attempt at a branching narrative story. They had some great feedback to share on the piece, and were genuinely interested in how I came up with the idea to try and write multiple paths and endings into a Substack post.
So, we started talking, and quickly discovered we have a lot in common. I was excited to meet another poet, and Hazel’s work immediately spoke to me. We started exchanging drafts and providing feedback to each other, and became an immediate fan of all their work.
Hazel actually asked me to be the first guest on their new podcast, The Writer’s Roll, and you should absolutely check that one out. It was a really fun concept for a show and a great interview.
11)
V is another poet that I initially met on Threads, but we’ve since become really great Substack friends. Her work immediately connected with me because it tackles themes of trauma that are all too familiar.
Her poetry cuts down to the heart of the matter and really speaks to my soul in the best way possible. She also hosted challenges for National Poetry Month that allowed me to find my confidence in writing poems again, which I will be forever grateful for.
And, like many of the people on this list, V was quick to reach out when she detected that I was struggling earlier this year. Her poetry is just as authentic as she is, and for that reason alone, she deserves nothing but success.
If you’d like to learn more about V and her work, check out Episode 16 of my podcast where I sat down with her for a full interview.
12)
Rachel is a talented writer and artists, which is just amazing. The fact that she can paint visualizations of her work is something I am not jealous about at all. In all seriousness, though, Rachel was an early paid subscriber of mine who immediately jumped into everything I was doing with the community and showed nothing but support for it.
Her work also connected with me immediately, thanks to its combination of art and wonderfully written prose. She’s also one of those friends who will reach out to check on me, and someone I truly appreciate having in my life.
I sat down with her on episode 15 of my Podcast to talk about her creative journey, and how she combines her art with her work, and it was an absolutely amazing conversation that I highly recommend you check out!
13)
Andree was my first-ever paid subscriber on Substack, but more than that, she was someone who wholeheartedly believed in me from the beginning. She was a devout participants during Flash Fiction February, and even wrote an amazing entry for the D’veen Challenge as well!
Like anyone, she’s got a lot going on in her life, but when she couldn’t participate in some of the events I was hosting, you can bet she was there sending messages of encouragement and support.
Her work is beautifully written as well, and focuses on unique concepts that also introduces heartfelt characters. There’s a true element of the human experience in her writing that you’ll instantly resonate with.
14)
L.G. is one of those people that feels like a kindred spirit. Our styles of horror are very similar, and inspired by similar things as well. Some of my favorite horror stories I’ve ever read were penned by L.G. Wells, and I’m sure I’ll feel the same about his upcoming book as well.
He’s the kind of person who goes all in for his work and for the community. He dives into challenges, asks people for feedback, shares his knowledge, and does it all with a genuine authenticity that I highly respect.
I sat down with L.G. on episode 17 of my Podcast to talk about his journey, and trust me, it’s a really fun and insightful conversation. It turns out that, like me, he is also a musician! I’m extremely grateful for his support, and if you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of his work as well.
15)
And last, but absolutely not least, is Spencer D.W. Spencer, if I’m not mistaken, was the first horror writer I met on here, and the first horror writer I’ve ever been lucky enough to call my friend.
I encouraged him to give me feedback on one of my early horror stories, and his input informs my work to this very day. I was so incredibly grateful for the input, but it wasn’t until I read his work that I realized I was in the presence of true greatness.
Spencer’s horror will elicit a physical response from you. That’s how intense it can be. You may wince as you’re reading, or feel your stomach turn, or perhaps you’ll have a good old fashioned existential crisis.
His work is insanely detailed, powerfully atmospheric, exceptionally well-paced, and truly unique. There’s nothing quite like a Spencer D.W. horror story, and that’s something that I hope someone will one day say about my work.
Thank You For Being Here!
As I’ve said multiple times, there are so many people that I wish I could add to this article. I wish I could sit down and shout out every single one of you, because your support means everything to me.
I can’t believe it’s only been six months, but I would trade these last six months for anything. And, I wouldn’t trade this community for anything else either. You are all such incredible people, such talented writers, and such amazing human beings.
I considered an honor and a privilege to be able to experience your work and share it with the world any way that I can. You inspire me every single day, and I’m just so grateful to be here. So, let’s all raise our virtual glasses to six months and many, many more.
This is awesome! And I credit *you* with being such a supportive and encouraging presence here in this special place.
Reading your reflection felt like sitting fireside with a fellow storyteller, the kind who has walked through the woods and come back with a hand drawn map. As someone who's still charting their course here, it’s heartening to see proof that this platform can become a home for voice, vision, and connection.
Your 6 month journey gives the rest of us a glimpse of the map and reminds me that the road is walked one page at a time.
Thank you for the candor, and for lighting the path a little brighter for those of us still lacing up our boots.
Looking forward to seeing where your next chapter leads.