Today’s live was phenomenal! Over 150 people showed up to learn how to write our Substack posts and articles using letter writing as a tool.
Listen to the podcast version while you’re cooking this weekend or walking or running or whatever.
My interest in letter writing as a craft tool for Substack writers started during my live with the amazing Austin Kleon—who reminded me that on Substack, we’re writing news-letters.
Today, Lindsay Hurty offered a window (or an open door) onto on how we can use the act of letter writing in many different ways to nurture our subscribers and write better Substack articles. (You can subscribe to her Substack here.)
Be sure to listen, too, because the story she tells in the beginning will (if I have anything to do with it) someday be a viral TED Talk.
Her mother’s letter writing advice:
Approach them like an Oreo cookie: top=love, filling=the hard thing, bottom=love.
Letter-writing structure to follow:
Opening: Set the tone
Middle includes:
Landscape of where you’re coming from
Heart of the letter—vulnerability
Care and gratitude for the person
Ending: Close with a direct send off, keep it short
Writing a Substack post/article as a letter or writing a letter to generate material can:
Help you get clear on audience and how to talk to an audience
Channel your voice (experience) and emotions—human in a world of AI writing
Create a softness
Nurture a closeness with your subscribers
Access to what’s going on within yourself on a deeper level
» Approaching your article as a letter can turn what might feel like it was written in a vacuum into an article that feels like it was written to us, your readers.
Lindsay shared her work as a writing coach and her program The Letter Writing Project and the types of letters that she works on with people, which are so fascinating:
Launch letter: A letter to be written at a moment when you know there’s going to be a clear before and after. This doesn’t have to be graduation or marriage. It could be the before and after when someone has a book comes out or when someone publishes their first post or gets their first paid subscriber.
Legacy letter: An end-of-life love letter to loved ones—I also just love the idea of it being just about your legacy and what you feel you’re leaving behind.
Life letter: What she calls a time-capsule love letter that preserves a phase of life that’s ordinary but will one day be precious in our memories.
Leader letter: A letter written to a community or workplace professionals that communicates sensitive information about a transition or a circumstance. I thought of it as just any time.
Listen letter: This is a personal letter of something we need to say to someone.
And don’t miss our upcoming lives:
Live with Susan Cain: On Building a Substack That’s Thoughtful, Sensitive, and Quietly Massive: 7/31 at 1 PM CT. Add to your calendar here.
Live with Elizabeth Gilbert: When a Substack Becomes a Spiritual Practice: 9/9 at 2 PM CT. Add to your calendar here.
If you appreciate all we do here at Substack Writers at Work, please share it with others.
All my best,
P.S. New! My 3-Month, 1:1 Substack Accelerator Growth Package—a bespoke, three-month, one-to-one mentorship with me to build your platform, amplify your expertise, and earn the income you deserve. I just opened the calendar. Limited spots available. Find out more and book here.
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