A Cordial Invitation
To join me on three adventures in 2025 . . .
Short version: I hope you’ll keep me company on three Misfit writing/publishing adventures I’ve started in 2025.
Actually, two of them have been in process for several years—but I’ve only now made some key decisions about how to proceed, so the beginning of this year seems like a cozy starting point.
First, here are the adventures:
Looking for an agent to represent my passion book to traditional publishers
Starting four new Substacks about different things, all at once
Publishing a trove of legacy material in a series of indie ebooks
What (exactly) makes these adventures “Misfit”?
Project 1: I hate the whole idea of being traditionally published (more to come about why), but I think that’s the best way to keep faith with this particular work—and I’m convinced the subject (it’s narrative nonfiction) deserves visibility
Project 2: It’s completely bonkers to set up four new Substacks (in addition to three already in progress) and try to keep them all going—especially since I have no idea whether there are any potential readers for the new ones . . .
Project 3: Like many other Misfits, I have a lot of writing that (I think) deserves to be revived, republished or repurposed—and it feels important to get that done while I’m still alive, because it gets a lot harder afterwards . . .
Okay, but—why share them here?
It’s sort of like having virtual company, with some overtones (undercurrents?) of accountability
Also, I’m thinking of these three adventures as a framework where I can categorize other kinds of material—curations, suggestions, opinions, etc.
And there’s a chance my experiences will be of use to others—encouragement, inspiration, cautionary tales . . .
Longer version: Here’s a snapshot of each adventure.
1 The Constance Project
Four years ago I came across an intriguing true story, and set out to write a few thousand words about it. In the story, two very famous men fall madly in love with the same woman—at different times (1937, 1950), in different places (New York, Italy).
The first man is America’s most famous 20th century director, Elia Kazan. They meet when she’s 17 (he’s 28), and their seven-year affair sprawls from Broadway to Hollywood. Her career struggles, his soars . . .
The second man is Italy’s most beloved 20th century writer, Cesare Pavese. Their liaison lasts only a few weeks, and though she is kind to him, she refuses to marry him and returns to America. Six months later, he commits suicide—leaving behind a stack of poems he has written for her.
At first I knew just those facts, and found myself wondering: What kind of woman was she? What happened to her?
Because of the famous men who loved her, a great deal has been written about my heroine over most of a century—but almost all of it was inaccurate, incomplete, or deliberately false. So uncovering a true picture of her life was very, very difficult.
The more I learned, the more there was to learn. And the more I became determined to tell her true story.
The only way I can see to do that is by way of a traditionally published print book. So even though I’d rather be dragged through a hedge backward (an antique British expression that fits perfectly), I’m going to give it a shot.
I have a 60,000 word draft of the book, the sketch of a proposal, and a list of agents I want to start with. I’m working on a query letter—and I’ll share my progress here.
Wish me luck!
2 The Substack Project
One of the things I’ve learned in the past few years is that I love being able to shape my own work and share it directly with readers.
There are things I want to write about that don’t fit anywhere neatly (or even at all). They aren’t just one-shot stories I could try placing in magazines, and I don’t have time to turn everything that interests me into a book. So I’ve decided to create experimental Substack publications and see what happens.
Let me be plain.
There may be people who want to read these publications—but most of them probably don’t know they want to.
I have no idea how to find them and convince them to become interested.
I have less than no idea how to monetize these activities. Which is important because I can’t afford to carry them too far along unless they create some value.
So this is pretty much tilting at windmills! But if nothing else, I’ve acquired a much greater appreciation for Don Quixote.
And there’s a slightly more rational way of looking at this . . .
Substack is terrifically overcrowded with people who want to publish “a newsletter.” In fact, there’s a whole cottage industry built around the promise that people (not just writers, all kinds of people) can learn how to create a profitable and/or personally rewarding Substack newsletter.
That covers a lot of territory, which I’ll talk about in another post.
But for now I want to focus on just one point: “Publishing a newsletter” is only one potential use for the Substack platform.
So a few people are beginning to approach Substack as a place to serialize long works and to explore a wide variety of publishing possibilities. I want to be one of them.
And I want to make my explorations useful by documenting the adventure, so that’s what I’m doing. Whatever fails will at least be a lesson.
Let’s take a look at my Substack experiments.
Romancing Disaster
My favorite, and the furthest along. Also the most eccentric!
Basically: I’m serializing annotated excerpts from a 1932 science fiction novel, accompanied by some essays on how and why we imagine the end of the world—in movies, literature, philosophy, and religion.
I have three main angles on When Worlds Collide, the novel:
It’s a terrific read—by far the most convincing end-of-the-world story I know of. But most modern readers will find it a little hard to get through, so I’m offering a streamlined version.
It’s a study in craft—taking genre fiction beyond its inherent limitations. I’m examining what works and what doesn’t, highlighting character development, interwoven themes, and much more.
It’s a window into cultural history—revealing similarities between the Great Depression and the situation we find ourselves in today. In each post, I add some facts and explanations to illuminate references in the text.
In addition to the novel, I explore some classic science fiction movies of the 1950s, and trace the evolution of disaster fiction right up to the present day.
Letting Go of Books
Like a lot of people who aren’t going to live forever, I’ve realized that most of my books will need new homes. And fairly soon, since I’m not going to move them all again.
But . . . they aren’t just objects. They are the story of my life, told by memories of how and why I got each one.
So it’s not like giving away clothes (though that’s not easy either!) or putting unrepairable appliances on the curb. And the truth is, there’s not much of a market for used books any more. Nor do offspring mostly want their parent’s books.
As I started working through this process, I wondered how other people were dealing with it—and I didn’t find much that’s helpful. Therefore, I decided to share whatever ideas and resources I come up with, along with whatever moral support I can provide.
As I’ve been tinkering around with this new Substack, I decided to add some commentaries on various aspects of book-love, from why we love paper to how we communicate as readers. Plus some practical resources, like a book-release journal I made for myself, and the virtual library I created online to preserve the essence of my collection—even after the books themselves are gone.
The Book of Knowledge, 1923
This isn’t exactly a passion project, but it is something I’ve had on my mind for many years. And I don’t want to leave it undone.
Briefly: I inherited (or anyway, got left with) all 22 heavy volumes of a children’s “encyclopedia” filled with myths and stories, crafts and games, history and science—you name a topic or type and it’s in there somewhere. Retellings of great literature—from Homer and Shakespeare; tales of derring-do; things to make on a rainy day; poems to memorize; art works explained; much more.
My copy comes from 1923, but the original concept, and much of the content, dates back to the 1880s.
I think my creative imagination owes a lot to the many hours I spent with those books, which assumed that children were not only eager for ideas and information, but also able to understand quite a lot. And even though the books are now a century old, I think it’s still fascinating to leaf through them.
So I’m just scanning a few stories every week, and sharing them with whoever might be interested. That might include some parents, some children—and of course, some Misfit Writers.
I’m also including some background information, some essays on children’s literature (which was one of my study areas as an undergraduate), and some notes on early 20th century culture, as seen through the window of a children’s encyclopedia.
My AI Diary
This is the easiest to describe!
I interact with various AI models and bots several times every day—on every project, as well as asking about things that interest me personally. Most of the time I use Gemini (usually Flash 2.0), because it makes me the happiest. But I have access to almost every AI platform, plus several applications that contain their own AI components, so I explore other resources when it seems useful.
Bottom line: I’m all in on AI.
In fact, help from AI is the only reason I could think about experimenting with multiple Substacks. And a lot of other writers are equally engaged. But I still see some who are rejecting it outright, for variety of reasons.
Anyone who wants to learn about AI or expand/improve their use of AI can find many (many) tutorials and books, including a large number that are focused specifically for writers.
However: Not everyone has the time or inclination to “study” AI. So I decided to just share my daily interactions verbatim, for those who would like to do any/all of the following:
See a continuing series of interactions, using different styles and crossing a wide variety of topics.
See examples of what works—and also what doesn’t—in practice.
See how different models and bots handle the same tasks.
See a few experiments with customized models and bots.
In short: I’m doing this anyway, and might as well share! You can keep me company, make questions/objections, and possibly pick up some interesting information/ideas.
I’ll also be offering a Misfit version of AI basics, occasional notes on AI news, and some curated suggestions for useful resources.
3 Complexity Press
(This post is almost over, I promise.)
When I first launched into the idea of writing for online publication, Medium was a promising platform. But almost as soon as I arrived, things started to change. (I’ve put some notes about this into Misfit, as I think they have a more general, and continuing application.)
Most things that were published then (and probably now) on Medium either made it big immediately, or faded into obscurity. And they instantly became “published,” so you can’t pitch them somewhere else with extensive reworking.
So I ended up with a lot of writing I think is really good—marooned in the dusty annals of Medium. Some of it I have now “unlisted,” while some of it languishes in a few surviving Medium publications—and a few pieces I have left in what I’m calling “temporary pubs” until I figure out what I want to do with them.
I found this situation really frustrating, and I know there are other writers who feel the same. These are substantive essays, not fluff, about substantive topics, so I don’t want to abandon them .. . . .
And therefore: I decided to package related essays into ebooks.
“Why not?” is the defining question for this particular project. It’s given me a reason to learn Designrr (best app I found for doing this kind of thing), and acquire some skills for selling and promoting digital products.
I’m pretty much there on Designrr, but have barely started on the rest. So you can look over my shoulder, if you like, as I create my own little bookstore and experiment with indie publishing.
The first title is almost done, and I’ll announce the launch (loudly) here on Misfit soon. It’s a collection of essays about Joan Didion and her second novel, Play It As It Lays—and I’ve put two of them here on Misfit.
Final thought: I’ll share my adventures by posting occasional logs and diaries here on Misfit Writer.
I’d love it if other writers find something useful—or at least entertaining—in my attempt to do a bunch of big things all at once, with no idea whether they will be worthwhile or not.
And I’ll enjoy the company if you would like to keep an eye on my progress.
Onward, in various directions. C