Once upon a time, oh, about 20 years ago, blogs took the online world by storm and dominated the way many people interacted with the internet (beyond looking up information). It was a beautiful time to be someone who enjoyed writing or reading longform creative nonfiction.

I followed several blogs closely and others more casually. Some were about something. Sewing, quilting, vintage patterns, crochet mandalas. Some were more general in content, but they attracted me with their beautiful photos and distinctive voice. Some were humorous or whimsical. Some were aspirational. All of the writers felt like friends. All of them developed a community around their writing of frequent commenters that began to feel a bit like the various groups of people who hung out together at school. They were people you wished you could hang out with in real life. But at least you got to see them online.

Then came Facebook. And Instagram. And Twitter. And people stopped reading and sharing blogs in favor of quick dopamine hits from likes and retweets. Those of us who blogged started linking to our longform writing on our social media platforms of choice to remind people we were still writing. Nevertheless, the readership dropped.

Algorithms preferred posts that didn’t include links that would lead people away from the platform they were on. The community splintered. Blogs went quiet. And we all settled in for a decade of inanity and cat videos and a constant bombardment of political tirades and advertisements for chintzy products that would be shipped, eventually, from China and then turn out to be something other/worse than what we ordered.

And then…Substack appeared.

Substack, it seems, is filling in the void that shuttered blogs left behind. When I first became aware of the platform several years ago, I immediately thought, “I want to start a Substack.” But I wasn’t sure what it would be about. So I waited. And waited. And waited.

Until finally a few wisps of ideas coalesced into something a bit more tangible. Thus was born Experimental Wolves.

Experimental Wolves is my attempt at reestablishing the kind of writing and the kind of community I enjoyed before I was so busy with feeding the publishing machine. Before I was encouraged to build a following on social media. Before I lived on my stupid phone.

It’s my opportunity to write some longform nonfiction that encourages writers at any stage of their career and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a working writer. It’s also my opportunity to do some teaching and prompting for writers who are just starting out, who a busy or blocked, or who want to brainstorm with other writers but haven’t found a local writing group that suits them.

I’ve run into many such writers when a speak at conferences, libraries, and bookstores. Folks who know they want to write but feel a bit at a loss about how to grow or share what they’re doing now. Experimental Wolves is one way for us to all get together online and build a community.

If you’re a writer who used to read this blog (when I was actually blogging regularly) I encourage you to read the first post and give it a try. There are both free and paid subscriptions, so you can try it out at no cost and see if it’s something that feeds your muse or gives you a bit of motivation or encouragement on the journey. If you want to join in “the pack” of paid subscribers, that will get you access to special content, including weekly writing prompts and ideas to keep you writing, even when you’re in a dry spell.

I hope you’ll join me on Substack as we build a supportive, generous, and kind community of writers!