This is the official thread for the Summer of Substack Essay Festival links. The festival is delivered over six weeks from Monday July 21, with weekly essay inspiration (to encourage you to write for your Substack) and weekly giveaways (to encourage you to share your work!) This essay festival is FREE to all paid subscribers of my Substack.
Shortcut to each of the invitations:
(1) SPECIFICITY | (2) GENEROSITY | (3) ORIGINALITY | (4) VULNERABILITY | (5) COMMUNITY | (6) CLARITY
To join just upgrade to paid or go to https://bethkempton.substack.com/subscribe and choose Monthly or Annual. You can find out how it works below. Do join in!
Please post links to anything you publish during the six weeks of the festival in the comments at the end of this post, so that we can read and share as much as possible. ******************************************************************************************************
Friends! Welcome to the SoulCircle Summer of Substack Essay Festival! This brief note is to explain what is coming, and how to get involved, to keep the words flowing all summer long.
Every Monday from July 21 to August 25, our usual SoulCircle Journal Notes will be replaced by a weekly invitation towards long form writing. You will be encouraged to write at least one Substack essay during these six weeks, and who knows – you might even write six!
I don’t know about you but I have been pulled in so many directions over the past few months that I have barely written any Substack essays, but I really want to get back into the rhythm of it. I hope this simple yet inspiring series of essay invitations will help us do that, while being completely flexible to fit around your summer plans.
This is not a class or a course, it is simply a series of invitations to inspire a few pieces of writing over the summer. There is no pressure at all – I am aiming for an easygoing festival vibe after all! - but I hope this focus might nudge you get (back) to essays. Of course you can use these on your Substack, or your blog or other socials, or perhaps even use the inspiration to work on a book length project. As always, it’s up to you.
The format will be slightly different to our usual Journal Notes. Instead your Monday note will contain:
An audio
A loose essay invitation (i.e. I will offer you some constraints, but you can write whatever you like)
A lovely giveaway (This is not a competition, rather it is simply a fun way to motivate you. The weekly ‘winner’ will be picked at random from amongst those who publish an essay that week) - different prizes will be announced each week
Some essay writing resources in case you want to explore the form further
I will invite you to share links to anything you publish each week in the comments of this post so everything is in one place, and I will do my best to read and share as many pieces as possible over the summer, to encourage more readers to your work. I will also be encouraging everyone in SoulCircle to aim to read/share one or two pieces from others, so everyone’s work gets more attention.
During the six weeks, I will also be drawing your attention to the lessons of my free Substack class Write for Love Write for Money (which you can join here if you haven’t already registered), in case you want to work on your Substack over the summer. Write for Love Write for Money is a straightforward (but hopefully super helpful) seven day class, which I know many of you have started and/or completed already. In offering a Substack focus at the rate of revisiting one lesson per week together during this Summer of Substack I hope you will find this a very easeful pace, which allows you to just work on and polish your Substack as and when you have time. This is optional of course, but I will be here for any questions you might have related to the topics covered each week.
There is nothing you need to do in order to participate in the Summer of Substack Essay Festival as it is already included in your SoulCircle membership. You will receive the weekly inspiration via email/Substack app just as you usually receive the Journal Notes.
I hope you find this a gently inspiring way to drift through the summer, while keeping your writing close by.
Beth Xx
PS You can find the festival archives here. Each week’s invitation is added to the archives as it is released.
NOTE: The giveaway winners will be chosen (at random) from amongst the people sharing their essay links here between July 21-end August.
Photo Holly Bobbins
I have written very little for the past two months, so busy with travel, family, summer and fun. I am longing to get my writing mojo back in gear, and have promised myself to begin on the 20th July with the Salt and Sky writing retreat, then settle into a late summer of essay writing. Thank you Beth, for constantly inspiring me to pick up my pen and continue to write.
Ooh, this looks exciting! I haven't written an essay as such for years! I am currently doing the Write For Love, Write For Money course as I've decided that this is the year I get to grips with Substack. Who knows, I may even post something on my Substack page at long last! Thanks so much. Beth!