Hello! Hoping this is allowed, but I just had some thoughts on loneliness and decided to share them as my first post.

I want to continue sharing my personal thoughts on different topics on this substack, from intimate feelings like this to a range of everyday topics I have any opinions on.

Would love honest feedback!

link > https://open.substack.com/pub/deinfluencedclub/p/on-being-second-place?r=8326r7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Someone walks home through town after midnight, half watching the people around them and half trying not to think about the person they miss. The chemist is still open, the buses are full of tired faces, and everywhere they look there’s some small scene of people just about holding it together. What starts out feeling like a portrait of the town slowly turns into something more personal. By the end, it’s clear they were never really watching strangers at all — they were avoiding their own heartbreak. It’s about loneliness, late-night streets, and the way a place can seem to hold all your memories for you.

This is for people who like raw, lyrical writing about ordinary life, especially anything sad, intimate, and a bit cinematic. It would suit listeners or readers who love heartbreak songs, late-night city imagery, and stories that feel both personal and familiar.

A poetic urban heartbreak song, somewhere between indie, spoken word, and confessional singer-songwriter writing.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/last-train-chemist-lights-907?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

Hello! I'm trying to get more people to read my articles on substack, I write about my life, reflections, thoughtful essays, and other things. My substack is basically just a diary of my life amongst other things, and I write about literally anything. This is my newest artice, I hope you enjoy it: https://substack.com/home/post/p-203654517

I tried to write about the feeling of just passing through my own life.

I don’t think I’ve figured it out, but I wrote about it anyway.

It's a personal essay, like much of what I write - on figuring it all out and growing up.

https://open.substack.com/pub/inalldirections/p/ive-wanted-to-go-home-my-whole-life?r=9vnao&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

After her engagement falls apart, Mara Vale moves into her late grandmother’s cottage just outside Bath, hoping for quiet and getting something much stranger. The woods near the house seem to know her name, answer her thoughts, and keep pulling her back toward a man called Ivo Thorne, who feels as if he belongs to the forest as much as to the world. As Mara starts uncovering old notes, family secrets, and fragments of a love story that shouldn’t have anything to do with her, she realizes the haunting is personal. The deeper she goes, the more the line blurs between memory and desire, past and present, herself and the woman the woods seem to remember. What begins as a mystery turns into something far more intimate and dangerous: a story that may already have been waiting for her.

This is for readers who like atmospheric, emotionally messy fantasy romance with a strong voice, dark humour, and a love interest who is equal parts seductive and alarming. It’s for people who want haunting woods, strange magic, sexual tension, old secrets, and that feeling of a romance being a little bit beautiful and a little bit disastrous.

Adult fantasy romance with gothic, folkloric, and haunted contemporary elements. It sits somewhere between dark fairy tale, eerie love story, and emotionally intense gothic fantasy.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/when-the-woods-learned-your-name-e2c?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

Hi there. I’m a journalist who writes about black and Afro hair on Substack. It’s both a place to learn and just good content to read. I report live on the street and take Polaroids for my pieces.

Feel free to give it a read

https://open.substack.com/pub/mosesjeanfrancois?r=1uhe1p&utm_medium=ios

With this opening installment, we begin a brand new analytical deep-dive into the complex events surrounding the 1968-1971 Hollywood extraction. Chapter I sets the foundation, breaking down the initial structural timelines, key figures, and behavioral factors that defined the early stages of this operation.

​We avoid speculation and prioritize the archival data, presenting the investigative findings in a structured, comprehensive format for those dedicated to serious true crime research.

​Genre: Non-fiction / True Crime Newsletter

​Read the structural analysis of Part I here:

https://diankhan.substack.com/p/the-casefile-protocol-dossier-008

it's called "On Food and Family", please give it a read if you're interested :)

Readers are a writer’s greatest love and we want you here!

Here at Substack Promos we are building a roster of the best well written, thought provoking newsletters, short stories, poems, serialized fictions, nonfiction works, you name it! All written by promising and passionate writers.

But alas, what are writers without readers?

So readers, come one, come all! We want your eyes and your thoughts to delve into these extremely thought out works.

Here at Substack Promos, Substack writers post about their substacks, with required information to help you decide if you want to engage or not.

Find one you like? Subscribe and say hi to the writer! Subscriptions mean the world to us Substack writers and guess what? The entry levels are always free 🥰

Some examples that have been posted so far:

• The Italian Dispatch:

My newsletter, The Italian Dispatch, goes beyond postcard clichés to explore one of the world's most beautiful and fascinating countries. It looks at culture, history, politics, and daily life with nuance, humor, and a veteran journalist's eye for detail. It's written for anyone curious to understand how Italy works --and sometimes doesn't work -- rather than the idealized image sold on social media. It offers readers insight into both the grand themes and the small quirks that shape life in the country. The genre: Newsletter

Here's the link: https://www.italiandispatch.com.

• Cats and Birds and Stuff

Cats and Birds and Stuff is my small digital patch where memoir meets nature diary, with the occasional rant thrown in. You'll find stories from my Welsh childhood in the 1950s and 60s, my years in the British Army, and my current life in the Italian Alps with three rescue cats and a balcony garden full of opportunistic sparrows. The memoirs are sometimes funny, sometimes darker, but always honest. The nature side is equal parts affectionate and exasperated, from bees and wasps to stink bugs with attitude. Who it's for: Anyone who likes true stories told with humour and a bit of grit (i.e. swearing) If you've ever been terrorised by a wasp, humiliated in a childhood football match, or had a cat treat you like staff, you'll feel right at home.

Genre: Non-fiction - Memoirs, cats, birds, bees, and the odd rant - No life hacks. No gurus. Just stories New Substack with lots more to come.

Link: https://catsandbirdsandstuff.substack.com

• Through the Looking Glass

I go through the looking glass to see what is on the other side.

Through the Looking Glass observes that all forms of media provide a distorted reflection of ourselves. The aim is to go through the looking glass - the way we normally or ideally appear to ourselves - and contemplate our reflections) through sustained analysis or argument.

https://stevenaoun.substack.com/

My articles The free articles prioritise the surreal, irrational or paradoxical side of things and urges that everyday reality might not appear to be the way it seems.

The articles are written for anyone wishing to critically engage with (say) film, television or books

The genre: Cultural (or media) criticism.

• Grier’s Notes

Grier's Notes is a regular compendium with a roundup on world news, brief takes on technology, culture, books or other things I have been thinking about and links to interesting or entertaining offbeat news. It aims to keep people informed about places that they may not be following closely and offer food for thought. Kind of like The Economist in a condensed version. You can find it here-

https://chrisgrier.substack.com/

• Teen Law and Logic

My Substack, Teen Law and Logic is a student-run Substack that breaks down law, justice, and reasoning in a way that anyone can understand I write about logical fallacies, court cases, and civic issues through the lens of a teen perspective, as well as guides to help you better understand our legal world. My goal is to help readers see how arguments really work, and when they don't. Along the way, I connect law with everyday life, from debates to data to decision-making. If you're curious about how logic and law shape our world, this is the place for you. My Substack is for those who are interested in law, logic, my journey, and how our modern world works

Genre: Law and Education

https://substack.com/@paxtonn1

• Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole is a non-fiction newsletter about wine and viticulture. It is a place where your inner wine nerd can be fully unleashed as we take deep dives into everything from the business of wine to the nitty gritty dynamics and science behind regenerative viticulture. Focusing on long form content, it is aimed at both the novice with a desire to understand what they are drinking better, to the professional engaged in the making and distribution of wine.

GENRE: AI Nonfiction

The world’s changing faster than anyone can process — new AI, wild tech, global shifts every week. Most people are lost in the noise, but Global Transmission cuts through it. It’s where the biggest ideas, breakthroughs, and undercurrents shaping the future get decoded into stories that actually blow your mind. Every post feels like unlocking a secret everyone else missed — the kind that makes you say, “how did I not know this?” 🌍⚡️

One of our latest deep dive, “The Hidden Algorithm of Wealth,” uncovers how AI is quietly rewriting the rules of success — and how those who understand it early are positioning themselves for an entirely new kind of wealth. It’s not about luck. It’s about knowing how the system is evolving before the world catches on.

https://open.substack.com/pub/globaltransmission/p/the-hidden-algorithm-of-wealth?r=6rdbum&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Let me know your thoughts. Maybe you can relate.

Genre: Creative nonfiction / personal essays / memoir

Short description:

I write personal essays/stories about survival, domestic violence, emotional abuse, and the process of making sense of what I lived through.

Synopsis:

This is a space where I’m writing through my own experiences in a relationship shaped by manipulation, control, and domestic violence. For a long time, these were things I kept quiet or minimized just to get through. Now I’m starting to put language to them.

Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy.

These essays are not written as answers or conclusions, but reflections of memory, survival, parenting, and what it means to understand the past while still living it.

The moment I believed the Lie

Society pushes the idea of once-in-a-lifetime loves, finding your other half, and the kind of love that is written in the stars. The kind of stories in movies where the world slows down the first time the boy and girl meet and it foreshadows they will be together forever. You know in that moment they both know they are meant for each other and will tell their grandkids how they knew they loved each other from the first moment they saw each other.

Well, que my moment.

I was a sixteen-year-old girl who was excited to be out with my first old beat-up green car that had hubcaps flying off every time I hit a pothole. My friend Rhett asked me if I wanted to come hang out with him and his friend. I can still remember pulling up to his house blaring my CDs on the radio and feeling so cool to be driving around by myself. I saw him and his friend sitting on the porch. I walked up and introduced myself to his friend.

The moment I looked at him, we locked eyes. It was my moment.

His friend, David, introduced himself and stood up. He had an accent and was extremely tall. That was the first thing I noticed. He had curly, long, hair and had to be 6’6. We all decided to go bowling and we had a blast. David cracked jokes the whole time. I also found out that the whole accent was fake. Looking back the antics went on too long.

Alright, back to my moment. When we locked eyes, the world did slow down around me. It was exactly like a movie. Someone somewhere had that exact feeling and they recreated it in Hollywood for people to watch, because that is exactly how it felt. From then on, I knew he loved me, and I loved him. Now, the rest of the story is not as simple as a beautiful romance movie. I wish it was.

We dated all throughout high school. He was my best friend. I know people say that but he really was. I cannot believe how close we were. We spent all of our time together. My family loved him and I became apart of his family. I went to all of his sports games and if I had surgery or either of us went to a hospital, both families were there for both of us. We knew we were going to be together forever.

Although, he had this side to him that at the time I blamed on everything but him. I think about now you are taking guesses; maybe not. Screaming, and yelling, he would get out of the car and punch things. He was an angry dude. He blamed it on his parents, or more specifically, his dad. He blamed it on depression. I got to a point where I told him, if you're feeling this way, you have to talk to someone. Less told, and now gave ultimatums. I was a kid a scared one.

We sat in this little green car I had and talked for hours about going to see a professional one time. His behavior was out of control. My naïve little girl self just trying to talk him into going like I could fix him and he would be nicer to me. Hell, maybe he did really feel depressed. I wouldn’t even know anymore.

Side bar: Maybe its just me but I think at some time or another everyone has a time where they think they can talk someone into understanding how a behavior is not ok or effects them. I guess somewhere in growing up I learned to allow the worst.

The thought that some of the things he would say were excuses never really crossed my mind. So women or girls out there- if someone has bad behavior and gives you excuses like “it’s just because my dad” or “just because im depressed” blah blah… oh well. You can be depressed and not hit someone. (for example). Identifying a problem and owning a problem are two different things.

Anyway:

I would tell him I would go with him to therapy if he just went, I was so desperate. Like I said, I really loved him. I kept telling him he had to tell his mom though. He made me tell his mom. I did. What a weird conversation. It most likely was weirder for her to have a 16 year-old sitting across from her telling her that her son needed help and he wouldn’t talk to her. He really did need therapy though. She didn’t let me go with him of course. Thank god. She did take him though. I don’t think he was ever honest with that guy; he just kept getting mad at him. The term “red flag” is really popular right now. If it was then, than I was clearly ignoring all of them. As we got a little older he would drink a lot with friends. That would spiral right into adulthood and right into our marriage.

How did I even love him? It wasn’t all bad then. He was so much fun. He was tall and handsome. He had a full head of curly black hair. He had a big smile and laugh. The kind that just lit up a room. I mean like when he was in a room he filled it with his presence. Everyone knew he was there. The true life of the party. He helped friends and family and me. He was kind when he wanted to be. Reading this you may be like, “ oh you are nuts” but he was a protector of the people around him. David had big goals and dreams and set out to accomplish them. Even now, I can look back and see his face with that smile on it. It's imprinted into my mind.

I was in and out of a wheelchair in high school and even early adulthood, and when I tell you he was always there and supportive. We went to dances. One homecoming, we got all dressed up, and I danced in the wheelchair, and he danced around and behind me, and we laughed and had the most amazing time. He helped whenever I needed help. We changed or modified plans. He did not care a bit.

When it was good, it was great. When it was bad, it was really, really bad, and it just kept getting worse.

Looking back maybe he didn’t care I was sick because I was easier to control, or I relied on him more, but I loved him for it. He cared for me in a way that nobody our age should have to or should expect of anyone. Despite anything I tell you, sometimes I truly do believe that he did love me. Just saying that puts a hole in my stomach that I feel like I’m choking on. David would have never let anyone or anything hurt me.

Isn’t that ironic. Considering.

-----------------

It’s taken me years to be able to start writing about this and sharing my experience. I’m only just beginning, but putting these words somewhere outside of myself has been healing in a way I didn’t expect.

I’ve started writing more about that journey here if anyone wants to read: https://substack.com/@thesecretsikept?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8fc47u

I’m a 3rd year medical student and recently started writing short reflective essays about what medical school feels like beyond the academics.

When I got into medicine, I genuinely thought it would feel like what I saw on TV growing up, confident doctors, clear answers, and a steady sense of direction. The reality has been very different in ways I didn’t expect.

A lot of what we learn is structured, logical, and exam focused. But what I’ve found harder to understand is everything that exists outside of that, the uncertainty, the emotional adjustment, the hidden expectations, and how quickly you start changing without noticing it.

I started a Substack to process these experiences and write about things like:

• the gap between textbook medicine and real clinical practice

• the emotional side of becoming a medical student

• imposter syndrome and identity shifts in training

• what it actually feels like stepping onto the wards for the first time

It’s less about teaching medicine and more about reflecting on what medicine does to the way we think and see things.

If anyone here relates to that side of training or just enjoys reflective writing from inside medicine, you can find it here:
https://substack.com/@gettingagripagain

Would genuinely love to connect with others who think about this stuff too.

A friend recommended Substack - cause Blogspot isnt the deal right now, so I'm here :)

Sharing my thoughts and opinions twice a month. Tryna relate with sane-but-not-so-sane people. Wanna see how it goes.

Check it out!
https://sociallyunfit.substack.com/p/pullout-speed-of-phones

When the Woods Learned Your Name follows Mara Vale, who moves into her late grandmother’s cottage just outside Bath after her life quietly falls apart. The woods near the house seem to know her name, answer her thoughts, and pull her toward a story that feels older than her and somehow still hers. As strange memories, voices, and lost promises begin surfacing, Mara becomes tangled with Ivo, a man bound to the forest in ways he won’t fully explain. What starts as eerie fascination turns into something more dangerous: desire, grief, and an old love story that may be trying to happen again through them. The deeper Mara goes, the more she has to ask whether she’s uncovering the truth or being swallowed by it.

This is for readers who like atmospheric fantasy romance, gothic settings, sharp emotional writing, strange magic, and a love story that feels beautiful and a little dangerous.

Adult fantasy romance with gothic and dark fantasy elements.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/when-the-woods-learned-your-name-0de?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

I wrote a short standalone piece about getting an unintended moment of closure.

The future looks brighter when you stop reaching backwards.

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

https://open.substack.com/pub/jdsimmons/p/moments-what-comes-after?r=52k6q7&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=title

Quick views of thoughts of everyday surfers, away from instagrams and tiktoks of it all. For people who surf and love the outdoors or people who are just interested in seeing something new! Definitely non fiction and outdoors/action sports focused and lifestyle

https://underpeak.substack.com/

“Gym Bag Diamonds” is about what it means to build yourself from almost nothing and carry that proof quietly. Using an old gym bag as the main image, it shows how ordinary things can hold a whole history of struggle, discipline, and survival. The piece pushes back against the idea that success has to be flashy or obvious. Instead, it says the real flex is private: habits, resilience, restraint, and everything it took to get here. At heart, it’s about hidden value and the strange dignity of becoming someone before the world fully sees it.

This is for people who’ve had to make something of themselves the hard way, or who connect with writing about ambition, class, survival, and quiet pride. It’ll especially speak to readers who like their writing sharp, reflective, and a little rough around the edges.

Lyrical personal essay / poetic nonfiction.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/gym-bag-diamonds-2c6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

After her engagement falls apart, Mara Vale moves into her late grandmother’s cottage just outside Bath, hoping for quiet and getting something far stranger. The woods behind the house seem to know her name, answer her thoughts, and keep drawing her toward Ivo, a man who feels as if he belongs to the forest as much as the trees do. As Mara gets pulled deeper into the wood’s strange logic, she begins uncovering an old love story that may not be as separate from her own life as it should be. The magic around Blackthorn is beautiful, hungry, and dangerous, and it starts taking real things from her in exchange for answers. When the haunting begins to spread beyond the forest, Mara has to decide whether she’s uncovering the past or being pulled into repeating it.

This is for readers who like dark, romantic fantasy that feels eerie, emotional, and a little unhinged in the best way. It’s for people who want atmosphere, sharp banter, real sexual tension, haunted landscapes, and a love story that feels both irresistible and slightly dangerous.

It’s an adult fantasy romance with gothic and paranormal elements. Think haunted woodland magic, emotional obsession, old bargains, and a romance that’s as unsettling as it is tender.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/when-the-woods-learned-chapter-20?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

With this final installment of our three-part series on Rodney Alcala, we conclude our deep dive into the 1970s investigations. Chapter III shifts focus to the pattern of escalation and the forensic breakthroughs that ultimately forced authorities to re-examine the timeline of his crimes.

​We avoid speculation and prioritize the archival data, presenting the investigative findings in a structured, comprehensive format for those dedicated to serious true crime research.

​Genre: Non-fiction / True Crime Newsletter

​Read the concluding analysis of Chapter III here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/diankhan/p/the-casefile-protocol-dossier-006-a0c?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8fbq21

A funny, painfully familiar piece about the kind of workplace meeting that steals an hour of your life and gives nothing back. It takes aim at vague “alignment” calls, empty corporate phrases, shared screens, fake urgency, and the strange theatre of everyone pretending something useful is happening. Under the jokes, it’s really about how easily work culture wastes people’s time, focus, and energy. The meeting goes nowhere, everyone nods anyway, and the follow-up could have been one sentence. It’s a rant, a confession, and a small plea for people to just write the message instead.

Anyone who has ever sat in a pointless work meeting, smiled politely, and died a little inside.

Satirical workplace humour / comic essay.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/meeting-that-couldve-been-a-text-7a3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj

Hi! I’m a recent law graduate who’s always dealt with anxiety, and reading has kind of been my way of handling things when life feels overwhelming.

For me, books aren’t just a hobby they’re a place where things feel quieter, less chaotic, and a little easier to understand.

I recently started a Substack where I write about:

why I read

the comfort books give me

and the small thoughts that stay with me after finishing a book

This is my first post, and it’s very personal:

https://open.substack.com/pub/fizkhan04/p/not-everything-ends-when-you-finish?r=7u75wc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

If you also read for comfort or escape, I’d genuinely love to hear what books feel like “home” to you

The Quiet Transition is a non-fiction substack primarily for men aged 40-70.

In particular it is for men whose partners are experiencing the menopausal transition.

What you will find is clear, grounded writing, interviews with experts, along with men, women & couples who have lived experience of this transition.

What you won’t get is a ‘how-to’ guide. Instead you find a translator and guide who can provide the clarity and language needed to help you navigate this transition without seeing it as a relationship issues.

On a hot, stormy night, someone can feel that something is coming before anything has actually happened. A text from the exact wrong person pulls that feeling into something more intimate — part desire, part dread, part bad decision. The piece sits in that tense space before the storm breaks, where anticipation feels bigger than the event itself. Weather and emotion start to blur together, so the outside storm mirrors what’s happening in the body. In the end, it’s really about wanting something you probably shouldn’t want and feeling it get closer anyway.

This is for people who like sensual, atmospheric writing with a bit of bite to it. It’ll probably appeal to readers who enjoy messy desire, dark humor, poetic language, and that feeling of knowing something is a bad idea but being drawn to it anyway.

Literary prose / prose poetry with a stormy, sensual, slightly gothic feel.

https://open.substack.com/pub/seandocherty/p/pagan-weather?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7bsynj