A Year on Substack

Let’s get all misty-eyed about our first 12 months together.

Sundaze Book Café is the home of everyday magic, joyful living and conversations likely to be had over a hot drink with a friend in your favourite café, capturing the syrup-slow feel and glow of a Sunday. I’m Michelle, and I’ll be your host this Sunday.

Today marks one whole year since I started my Substack on a bit of a whim, and what better time to get all reflective with a DMC (deep meaningful chat)? It occurred to me that I’ve not given myself any time to pause and think about my Substack or put any sort of plan or strategy in place since January 2024: I’ve just gone with my heart, written an essay each week, and revelled in this incredible community.

In more ways than one, Substack reminds me of the old school blogging community of 2009. (For all good reasons, I promise!) For one, we all comment on and share each other’s work and I love being a cheerleader for my fellow writers. For another, we are all here to write and say good things. I learn something new every time I log in. A year in and I can safely say that starting a Substack was the best choice ever. It came at a time where I’d started to feel really lost with what I did online and who I was as a writer.

My previous online life

If you didn’t know – and why would you?! 😂 – I’ve had a lifestyle blog since 2009. Daisybutter has been my online home for 15 years and it’s seen many iterations, going from a beauty blog to a personal fashion blog, then to a lifestyle one, then to whatever it is I’m doing now. I started it in my first year of uni and have been lucky enough to work with brands on exciting projects and paid posts over the years.

I’m still really proud of Daisybutter – we’ve even been nominated for multiple awards, including Cosmopolitan’s Blog Awards! Although I don’t ever see myself leaving it, Daisybutter did start to feel like a relic of my former self and perhaps that’s fine. I did also write a weekly newsletter that’d go to email subscribers, but soon found that I couldn’t really manage a blog, an email, an Instagram and my ‘normal’ full-time job.

Why?

I know, I know, I just said that I was struggling to manage my blog around my day job. But, Substack felt like an exciting new-to-me platform where I could continue to write, and not have to appear all over Twitter and Instagram and sliding extra emails into inboxes. Plus, I was desperate for a new start in some way, I just didn’t know what it’d be.

Highlights

2024 was pure magic for me and my writing. If nothing else, it has been so joyful to write on a shiny new platform and feel unbounded from my blog. From reaching my first 100 subscribers to gaining my first-ever paid reader (🥺), reading the comments under my incredibly personal essays about friendship to actually even making friends here, almost everything has been a highlight. I feel confident about my craft again and also far more creative than I had been feeling towards Daisybutter. I love the cosy chaos of Notes and the unfettered art and skill of everyone’s posts.

In terms of favourite posts, I was glad to reflect on what I’ve written because I swear I have some sort of writers’ amnesia. Here are a selection of the personal essays I feel most proud of:

• Me at 33

• Why Is Being A Writer So Embarrassingly Scary?

• In My Post-Influencer Era

• What Happened to Self-Assurance and Why We Are All Looking for a Sign

• Where or What Is Home?

• On Being A Good Role Model

Sundaze Book Café is now read across 39 US states and 55 countries, which completely blows my mind. I don’t think I’d ever given this a proper thought until I delved into my writer’s dashboard for this post!

What’s next?

Having ploughed into Substack with no rhyme or reason, I think I want to keep some of that energy for 2025. But, I do want to be a little more organised with what I’m posting when. All readers will receive weekly Sunday posts, while paid readers also receive occasional Wednesday exclusives. And, I’m replacing my monthly wrap-ups with something brand-new: a monthly Café Sundaze Menu, shared at the start of each month.

Thanks for a wonderful first year on Substack ❤️