This Autumn, my objective is to start publishing content in English again*, while I prepare the new plan for The Office of Discreet Enquiries, my adult fantasy, steampunk-ish mystery series which I decided to draft in English this time around.

(*I had a blog on simplicity & slow living called “The Nife en l’Air” from 2011 to 2016)

I have started with this website and blog, my own little home on the Internet. This week, I planned to start the BookTube channel I have three introductory videos ready for, as well as the Substack publication.

And then, I changed my mind about Substack.

Too many channels kills the novel

I think I might be procrastinating a little bit here with setting up all of these content channels. I have a fifteen-year career in communications behind me. Also, I’ve had blogs, podcasts and a YouTube channel in French for years, so that feels easy and familiar to me.

Digging up my five-year old (and four versions rich) manuscript to refresh the ideas and decide what feels like my own voice as the person I’ve become today though, that’s a little bit scary. Daring to reconnect with my own taste as a reader and to write what delights me feels a little vulnerable.

Not to mention reconnecting with the writing craft, which I’ve dabbled in here and there these past five years, but without submitting or self-publishing anything.

So, as I was planning this week’s task list, I decided that having two written channels — this blog and a Substack publication — felt like too much for me at this stage of my life.

I’d much rather write a scene from my current novel, plot the next idea or gather feedback from my beta-readers, rather than writing an essay for Substack.

There is no place like home

The communication specialist in me really wanted to pause this blog and focus my energy on the Substack publication instead.

Because who still reads blogs in 2026 ? And who will stumble upon this one, without any algorithms or platform audience to help ? And how can I get an additional revenue stream without the Substack paid option for people who’d like to support my writing and free content creation?

On the other hand, Substack isn’t my home. It’s Substack’s home, where I’d be renting a room.

Just like any other social media platform, they could modify the rules anytime, change owners for people I don’t align with, go out of trend and slowly die down (ah, the good old Tumblr days…).

Whereas this space is all mine. Unless my provider’s server building burns down (mind you, it actually happened once. Fortunately, my website wasn’t on those servers), I can keep it running for however long I wish, and welcome you guys here anytime, on my terms.

So, for the same reason I slowly left most social media platforms over the years, I have decided to spend time on this blog, and keep the Substack project on hold while I prioritize writing my actual books.

Also, I do whatever I want

Despite being a full-time artist and writer with a mortgage and bills to pay with my creative activities, when I decided to make space for writing again, I decided to do it on my terms.

When you start out as a writer, you are flooded with advice. Both on the writing craft itself, but also regarding the publishing industry, whether you should self-publish or not, how to market yourself, down to what type of book to write to get the best chances at finding your readers.

I don’t begrudge all of these resources. On the contrary, when I started taking my writing seriously in 2013, then joined a French writing forum in 2015, I was extremely grateful for all this information writers of generations past didn’t have access to unless they already belonged to a certain social circle.

The thing with advice and being a beginner is, when I started, I greedily consumed all of them, and started following them without taking the time to ask myself which ones apply to me best, both in terms of my writing process and the values and ethics I wish to adhere to as a professional writer.

I have learned a lot during these years : not only have I consolidated the basics of the writing and storytelling craft, learned to be beta-read and criticized without letting my ego throw a fit, I also learned how the (French) publishing industry worked.

But, in the process, I also integrated what the “proper” way of becoming a career author was, what the “proper” books to write were, and what the “proper” writing process was.

Fuck all of this.

Yes, one needs a strong basic knowledge of the craft to start writing decent stories. Yes, there are some very tangible parameters to understand about the publishing industry, especially with how much it has transformed these past couple of decades.

But there is no “right” way to do this. If I look at the trajectory of the authors I look up to, each one of them made their own choices and had their own opportunities.

This is why, this time around, I have decided to listen to my own taste, values and inspirations.

I will keep learning the craft, both of writing and finding readers, but I will decide how to apply it to my personal situation.

So, marketing says I should start a Substack to find my first readers via the network of that platform. I have decided to write on this blog, my own space, instead. Because I do whatever I want.

I will, however, start my YouTube channel soon, where I can share the books I love reading and find like-minded readers who can offer human to human recommendations. If that channel helps people find this blog and, when it’s out, my writing, good for me.

But mostly, YouTube is the content creation platform I enjoy most, both as a creator and a viewer (of long-form content), and I’m starting this channel because I want to.

---

So, all this to say : there won’t be a Substack publication anytime soon, but do be on the lookout for the first YouTube video to be published. Also, let’s exercise our capacity to do whatever we want as adults.

Thank you for being here, and see you in the next one.

Florie.