Welcome to my Substack!
Hello and Welcome!
I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of Substack until a few months ago. Just yesterday I spend the whole day, with a whole list of ideas of what I could write on here swirling through my head, before a list of reasons why I should not wacked me from behind.
To introduce myself before I go over both lists, hello, my name is Maria Natalie. I am a multi-disciplinary artist, and I hope for my Substack to show you my small corner in this grand universe.
The first reason for joining Substack is because I am a writer.
I write, a lot. Not everything I write it meant for another set of eyes other than my own, but a good chunk of it rarely gets the spotlight I think it deserves. I write short stories, essays, and articles. I also journal and jot down ideas and thoughts on the daily but you won’t see any of that. I am also fifty thousand words into my first novel. I intend for this novel of mine to fly off the shelves when it’s done. However, writing has its ups and downs, I hope to write about the process whilst keeping the novel and its contents a secret. Alongside that, I will be writing about all my other passions and disciplines. They are all my other reasons for joining Substack.
The second reason being is that I am a painter.
I am a Fine Art oil painter. I dabble in traditional portraiture, still life and architecture. I shot straight out of university with immediate popularity for my art. Whilst my art career comes in waves of busy periods and constant demand to radio silence, and I believe that is greatly due to my inconsistency of promoting my work online and on multiple platforms. I intend to use this Substack not only to raise awareness to my art journey and its projects, but to also rant and reflect on the ups and downs of being an artist into today’s world. We’re living in a unique time, with capitalism and AI looming over our shoulder. I intend to write about how it affects a small artist such as myself and hopefully encourage and reassure others who are in a similar position as me.
This next one might surprise some of you.
On top of writing and painting, I also model… Yes, I can’t believe it either. Not the career I imagined myself having, as I am neither tall nor skinny, but turns out having dark tailbone length curls, big eyes and twenty years of dance go a long way. I have so many stories from my photoshoots and advice for both photographers as well as models. To me, modelling is not about beauty and vanity, but another branch of art that does often ties into my world of painting.
Yes, there’s more!
I am a multi-talented, but I am also multilingual. I am fluent in four languages. I have oodles of stories about learning languages. From how I did it as a child to how it affects me as an adult now. I forever have words in different languages going on in my head, and I tend to overthink the logic and mechanism of how they came to be called as they are. Which languages I speak, what is nationality and why I am the way that I am can all be explained away in another post in the future.
Did I mention that I did twenty years of dance?
That’s right! I danced all forms of dance for the twenty years since being the age of two. Ballet always has, and always will forever be, the first and favourite. Whilst I didn’t continue it once the pandemic began, I still own several pairs of colourful pointe shoes and occasionally throw them on in my home office for the fun of it. In fact, one of my goals for this year is to build back the strength and flexibility I had before. Perhaps I will talk about that on here too…
All this and more are plenty of good and interesting things to write about and to share with potential subscribers. I promise I am not usually this boastful, but I figured I put my best foot forward with everything I have to offer. However! I also believe in being transparent. I have given you a list of reasons why I should have a Substack and why you should subscribe, but before you hot that button, I figured I would also list some reasons why I am hesitant to have a Substack…
I will start with the obvious one, there’s too much of too many.
Originally, I decided to pick one of my talents and make that the entirety of my Substack. At first, writing seemed to be the logical option. Substack is great for new and emerging writers. Where better to put together a writing portfolio and adapt to the cringe and discomfort of posting them for the world to see than here?
I have a notion page littered with writing ideas that I could experiment with and bring forth on here, but if I am honest, I am not truly confident in my abilities to write solely fiction and non-fiction pieces that don’t involve my other creative outlets. So much of my inspiration comes from them and I take pride in all of them being a big part of my life, so it makes no sense to segregate yet another platform to fit a niche or brand (as I had to do for both TikTok and Instagram!)
Lastly, I tend to be inconsistent.
I have tried and failed many times to stick to a content posting schedule and they have never lasted more than a month (if even!) I hope that by allowing myself full freedom to write about anything and everything I want on this platform that it will be easier to post regularly.
I also believe that having people spend their hard-earned money on my Substack for exclusive content ought to motivate me to keep on writing. I would hate to make people feel that they’re being ripped off and not getting their money’s worth every month. I have enough problems with sleep as is. To save everyone from hesitation and a few dimes, I’d recommend sticking to the free subscription to start. Just for a few weeks or so, and if you can see a semi-consistent roll out of content and enjoy my stuff, then by all means feel free to pledge or upgrade.
So in short…
That’s what I shall make with this. My Substack will have a bit of it all. All the arts. On this one platform. I will write about writing, art, dance, literature, modelling and photography, languages and more. I intend to entertain you as well as leave you with a new perspective or piece of knowledge you did not have before reading my work. I hope you subscribe and follow along with my journey as I lead you into my world that lives and breathes to be creative, in every sense of the word.