Updates Coming to Daily Drafts & Dialogues
Learn more about the changes coming to the Daily Drafts & Dialogues Substack next week, starting Monday!
First, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading Daily Drafts & Dialogues! Especially those of you who have been reading Daily Drafts & Dialogues posts for the past several years. It means the world to me and I really appreciate your support, more than you could ever know. Sincerely, thanks for sticking around!
Below are some details about some of the changes coming to Daily Drafts & Dialogues, starting next week, and a little bit about why I’ve decided to make them. Feel free to leave a comment or message me if you have any questions. But please know that I am primarily making these changes with the intention of making Daily Drafts & Dialogues more authentic and inspiring for existing and potential subscribers.
Moving forward, all posts on Daily Drafts & Dialogues will be free to view for seven days, until they are auto-archived.
RE: Writing Prompts
Moving forward, writing prompts will no longer be included at the bottom of every Daily Drafts & Dialogues post. If you look forward to seeing these in every post, please look at the RE Creative Writing Posts section below. You will still encounter creative writing inspiration in Daily Drafts & Dialogues posts, I promise!
Why is this change being made? Full disclosure: I originally included writing prompts in DDD posts as a way to attract and engage with more subscribers. Yet over time, I’ve noticed that most subscribers don’t mention the writing prompts or engage with them at all, least of all in comments and chat threads.
Generating daily writing prompts for every post also requires a lot of extra work, which, quite frankly, hasn’t really been worth the investment over time. The data and statistics I’ve been looking at lately regarding DDD posts over time have indicated that the writing prompts aren’t adding much value to most subscribers, or me.
RE: Creative Writing Posts
Since writing prompts will no longer be included at the bottom of every post, the creative writing I share in future DDD posts will be presented a little differently. I still plan on sharing some of my creative writing on Daily Drafts & Dialogues, it just won’t be prompted by previously shared writing prompts. Instead, it will be prompted by things I’m reading, doing, witnessing, or thinking about.
I will still share the occasional poem, free writing excerpt, as well as flash fiction, on Daily Drafts & Dialogues — but moving forward those pieces of writing will be inspired by things I’m reading, doing, witnessing, or thinking about, instead of previously shared writing prompts. This should lead to more timely, authentic, inspiring, and interesting creative content for all, trust me.
Additionally, on a personal level, the new Incognito serial Substack I started is offering me, as well as potential and existing subscribers, the creative writing outlet most of us crave. While I enjoy writing nonfiction and informational posts to flesh out ideas and explore various topics, I also find that poetry, free writing, and flash fiction help fill in a lot of illustrative and emotional gaps— gaps that nonfiction writing cannot always fill. So, you can still expect to see creative writing posts on Daily Drafts & Dialogues.
RE: Book Reviews
Moving forward, I will post my book reviews primarily on Goodreads and Storygraph. I intend on sharing reading recap posts on Daily Drafts & Dialogues instead. Examples of what you might see: Best Nonfiction Books I Read in 2025, Best Books I Read in September, etc., with links to their book reviews published elsewhere.
I also plan to share more posts inspired by what I read instead of book reviews. For instance, instead of sharing a book review about a book in a DDD post, I will write about a topic or passage from that book that inspires some sort of reflection or feeling.
Why? Frankly, I’ve been spending more time on book reviews than my own writing for Daily Drafts & Dialogues lately, and that’s just not where I want to focus most of my writing energy and attention. I have also decided to stop giving books star ratings and focus more on engaging with each book’s content in a way that leaves me fulfilled and inspired as a reader, as well.
Again, please let me know if you have any questions. But also know that I am making these changes with the genuine intention of making Daily Drafts & Dialogues more authentic and inspiring for existing and potential subscribers.
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