Shout Out To New Musers! #14

A Subscriber Goal Count Reached And a Special Plug-In for the Soon to Debut SmallStack Library!

Hello, Hello, welcome welcome Fellow Musers of this Substack to this Shout Out! Myself, Salem, and Nalia hope that you are having a Catastic Caturday! It is the last day of the month within the month that has been deemed as August, and we have had quite a few people join this smol-yet-ever-growing community on this corner and it is time for their turn on the Shout Out train!

Welcome to the newest subscribers!

Anne
(Check out their Substack: Sustainable Innovations)

Jon

Travis
(Check out his Substack: HaLingoGringo. And hello there fellow anthro major!)

Monte, Doody Richards, Ghiasuddin

Chandan, Rebecca

Chandana (100th Subscriber🎉🎉🎉)

Laura

Thank y’all so much for subscribing to this corner of Substack! A hearty Huzzah to all of you!

*Whispers* Psst! By the time you receive this post, I will have finished my first week of my final semester as an undergrad. Send good vibes my way. Thank you and Huzzah!

*Normal voice*
I would like to thank everyone who has read and commented on my first, official Musings# post. I was nervous about how it would come across, but I’ve enjoyed seeing the various comments that have been written in response the post, and interacting with everyone who has commented! Thank you for your input! I’m excited to hear reader’s thoughts on the next two parts😄

So I promised 2 exciting announcements for this Shout Out!

First Exciting Announcement:
This Substack reached 101 subscribers on Monday! A special shout out to Chandana for bringing this Stack of Subs to that milestone! And a special shout out to Laura for bringing us to 101! This has been 1 year, 2 months, and 25 days in the making so thank you both for making that happen!🎉🎉🎉

Second Exciting Announcement:
I would also like to take a moment to make a special Shout Out and plug to

SmallStack

! This is the brainchild of

Robin Taylor (he/him)

and along with

Robin Cangie (she/her)

they are working to build an online Library for writers who have less than 1000 subscribers! If you are a writer with less than 1000 subscribers, found it difficult to get subscribers, and you’d really like to get the word out about your newsletter/publication/blog/whatever you want to call this creative endeavor of love, then consider joining this community of fellow SmallStackers! I will admit to applying this smol-yet-ever-growing-Substack to be added to the SmallStack Library. Submissions to be included in the upcoming Library are currently closed, but Robin T. has said that submissions will re-open after they get the SmallStack Library up and running, bugs (maybe humanely) crushed, etc.

I also subscribed to SmallStack because not only do I want other readers and writers to be able to find my Stack, I would also-as a fellow reader and writer-want to be able to find smaller substacks that I can subscribe to, read, enjoy, and interact with both fellow authors and readers as well. I’m also looking to get out of my comfort zone of being an introvert, and am trying to encourage my inner ambivert-who has been in semi-hiding since Covid-19 but has tried to show herself more recently-to come out more. *Holds out a pint of Dutch Chocolate ice cream. Here girl, come on, we both know you want this!*

There have already been some great guest posts on SmallStack, some of which I really need to catch up on! I admit that I’ve been pretty bad at interacting in the comments-sorry about that, my introvert has sneakily taken over during the past few weeks, and I’ve been trying to tell her that it’s okay to interact with other people. I think I’m making some progress. *Holds out another pint of Dutch Chocolate ice cream. Please, kindly, go eat this wherever your dedicated quiet space is, my sweet inner introvert darling.*.

SmallStack will be debuting posts from Substack writers with less than 500 subs sometime in September! The Library will also be open around the last week of September as well! For information about SmallStack and what it’s about, I encourage all of my readers and fellow writers who also read this newsletter, regardless of your subscriber size, to check that space out! And if you are one of the many small-sub writers who jumped in to be added into the SmallStack Library like I did, I would like to give out a super hearty Huzzah to you! I’m very excited to see this community grow, and also remind the Substack creators who really only promote large, income-bringing Stacks (truly good for them, really, but my point still stands), that Small does matter and it is NOT to be underestimated. The fantabulous

Claire Venus

did a fantastic interview with Robin T. It’s called Small is beautiful…Energy goes where conscious attention flows. I especially loved this comment by Robin:

Growing a community isn’t about everyone agreeing. It’s about listening to the places where we collide and get hurt and then acknowledging those growing pains to foster something better, something possibly unexpected.
~Robin Taylor (he/him)

My cats are smallish (although I’m pretty sure they got some Maine Coon DNA in ‘em, which means that they’re not completely domestic small *looks at a napping Salem*), and they remind me every single day that they are not to underestimated. Specifically Nalia, who is now insisting on going into the garage everyday, with Salem following behind her-as has been their schtick since we first met. I’m 5’ (sometimes 1” sometimes .5”, depending on the day), and I’ve also been underestimated by people plenty of times, and have also underestimated plenty of people myself. It’s time to break the damn cycle.

Completely unplanned announcement (but sometimes they just work!):
Claire and

Russell Nohelty

are also releasing a book about growing one’s substack via Kickstarter. I finally gave in (after thinking about it and book marking their Kickstarter page) and bought a paperback version of their book, How to Build a World Class Substack. Today is the final day of their Kickstarter, and here is the link if you are a writer and you feel that need for an extra oomph! in getting your Substack organized! I’m buying it because I currently can’t afford a Sparkle or Author Stack paid membership (I’m a happily free subscriber to both stacks!), so for me this is the next best thing when it comes to getting advice in bookform on how to do build a Substack that you want to keep going for a while! The Kickstarter is fully funded, but you never know who might need a book on starting their own Substack! And nope, sorry, not going to share my copy!

(Okay, fine, I may be convinced to share it…after a few years of reading it, maybe making notes inside it, you know the proper way of showing love to a “how to do this” book…grrr, why do I have to be so nice?!?)

~End of announcements for this round!~

Summer is almost done (for most of you. For Texas, it won’t be done until November-ish unless climate change decides otherwise. Ugh!)! I admit, for the first time in my existence, that I’m a little excited about the cooler weather coming up. It feels…strange…because I really like summer as a season, especially since I love wearing shorts and flip-flops! Although I haven’t been able to wear flip-flops this year because the ones that I wore for years finally gave out last summer /weep. And I’m pretty picky about my flip-flops, to the point that I will only wear one pair at a time before replacing them. Weird, I know. Probably a trauma response to my bro-cat Si (y’all remember him, right? That boi made sure that he would be remembered…) tearing up my flip flops¹ when we were forced to be roommates, and teaching me that it’s not just dogs that like to chew on shoes. True story.

Speaking of cats, Nalia and Salem wanted me to say that they will be sending out a post of their own celebrating Star Trek Day next Sunday, Sept. 8th! As they did on Star Wars Day, they have assured me that they will find memes of cats dressed in various Star Trek clothing, as they themselves refuse to dress up in costumes. (I tried to ease them with those Santa hats but said hats were continuously rejected /sad)

Anyways, for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, stay cool and hydrated until Fall/Winter! For those in the Southern Hemisphere, stay warm and hydrated until Spring/Summer!

So, in conclusion to this post, thank you to the wonderful Fellow Musers named above for subscribing to this smol-yet-ever-growing corner of Substack! Thank you to Chandana for being the 100th Fellow Muser to subscribe to this Stack! Thank you always to my current readers and Fellow Musers who have been and continue to stick with me, even when I post late!

Check out that Kickstarter! And please be sure to check out

SmallStack

! If you have questions about it,

Robin Taylor (he/him)

can answer those questions. To get Robin T.’s attention, I suggest that you first mention how much you love pancakes, and then ask your question(s). (If you don’t like pancakes, that’s okay too, but there are many ways to make said pancakes beyond the “traditional” way)! Great, now I want pancakes, haha! *Goes to freezer where there happens to be small stacks of mini-pancakes ready to be microwaved and consumed. Noms!* Aight, looks like we’re all caught up!

Carpe Diem and Huzzah!
~Kimber, Salem, and Nalia

Here lies Salem, patiently waiting for October to come around, when she feels that her shadow-ninja skills will be more appreciated (because she thinks they’re not already appreciated the rest of the year) and when she can say with confidence, “Mischief managed!” every day. Also Salem: I like the way the light is hitting this wall. I hope the human notices and takes a pic!

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1. Si also tore up my friends’ flip flops too if they were accidentally left behind. I think he may have even gotten a hold of a pair of my mom's flip flops too. No one was spared from his loving chaos in those early years! No. One.