The Spontaneous Writer's Guide to Mindful Growth and Creative Success on Substack
A Q&A with Lara of @Inkedspiredbylara on how mindfulness and vulnerability led to organic growth on Substack
Welcome back to Writing Under the Palm Tree. We’re honored by your presence.
This week, we’re discussing creativity, mindfulness, and the art of building beautiful connections here on Substack with the emerging writer of . Given our shared interests in fiction writing, self-development, and mindfulness, I’ve wanted to connect this community with her for some time.
This is a longer read. However, read on friends.
You don’t want to miss the specific gems she shares about growing a vibrant and engaged community on Substack, her creative process, and her approach to writing more mindfully.
I was out here taking notes.
OA: Welcome Lara, to Writing Under the Palm Tree. I have been marveling at your fiction writing and the way it is rooted in memory.
You explore how our past colors our present, how it colors our present relationships, our present mental health, and our present aspirations.
Then, you turn around and offer actionable and straightforward advice for creatives and others who are seeking a healthier work-life balance. There seems to be something in your publication for most people.
That said, I admire the way you navigate this space and center your community. I try to do the same here at Palm Tree. I strongly believe in the power of learning from others and the necessity of supporting other artists.
For those in this community not familiar with you and your writing, could you introduce yourself and your work?
IBL: My name is Lara. It’s a nickname. I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to do a full name reveal yet, and I hope that’s okay.
My work centers on motivational insights gotten solely from my own life experiences. I also write serial fiction because I love a good story, and my stories tend towards motivational themes as well. I love to write passionate stories that make you shed a tear or two lol.
The reason for my publication’s name is exactly what it says—“to inspire creativity and personal growth”. I want to share my journey as a writer. I want people to see my work and desire to become a writer too. Especially people that took long hiatuses like me, and are finding it difficult to get back to the ink.
OA: What is your earliest memory when it comes to writing?
IBL: My earliest memory of writing would be when I was around 7 years old. We were told to write a composition about ourselves. I remember showing the homework to my older sister, who asked me to try doing it myself first before she made corrections and necessary adjustments. Turns out she didn’t have to correct much after all. In her words, she told me “You’re a natural”.
OA: When did you start seeing yourself as a writer, is there a particular memory that comes to mind?
IBL: I never saw myself as a writer and I’ve made references about this in my posts. I never did think of myself as a writer. From the fact that I studied sciences, to discarding my unpublished work and completely stopping writing when I turned 16. At no point did I ever refer to myself as one. The first time I called myself a writer was when I was setting up my Substack profile and it was difficult to find any other word so I stuck with “writer”.
OA: What brought you to Substack? Do you feel there is something unique about this space?
IBL: A job search. I’d been searching for writing jobs when I graduated school since that was the only thing I felt I could do at the time. My efforts were futile but I stumbled upon Substack during that period, signed up, and forgot all about it. I had no idea what it was until weeks later when I got an email asking me to finish setting up my Substack profile and download the app. I did that and then I posted a story. I remember I was on a bus on my way back from an outing on that day. I just got an idea, wrote it on the app, and sent it out.
For me, what stands out most about Substack is its simplicity and the genuine sense of belonging it fosters. Unlike many social media platforms filled with toxicity, Substack cultivates a space where vulnerability, rawness, and imperfection are not just accepted but appreciated. This speaks to the strength of the close-knit community of writers who are building their presence here in a healthier, more meaningful way.
OA: What is the most liberating thing about writing for you?
IBL: The chance to express my feelings with words. I’m always so grateful to God for this gift because I honestly cannot imagine life without being able to write down exactly how I feel in the moment. Growing up, it helped me process my thoughts and emotions.
OA: Have you experienced a connection between mindfulness and writing? What has that looked like for you?
IBL: Yes! I have. Seeing as I write motivational pieces, I can’t help but notice the connection between mindfulness and writing. I try as much as possible to write in an open-minded way.
As a strongly opinionated person and a firm believer in certain principles, sometimes it’s difficult to ease people into my train of thought without sounding too judgmental or harsh. It’s something I’ve been working on because whenever I feel strongly about something I want others to feel the same way too, but writing publicly with that rush of emotions can be dangerous.
OA: How has mindful writing, and writing in general, helped you navigate darker times?
IBL: Honestly it’s safe to say starting this publication was the best thing that happened to me in 2024, aside from graduating from university. The reason my publication is about motivation is because of how easily I’ve slipped into depression and anxiety in the past.
Like I said earlier, writing helps my thought process. I tend to hyper-fixate on things and although that’s not very healthy, it has helped my writing. Now I’m focused only on the things I want to write about. Instead of thinking about all the things going wrong in my life, I’m more focused on improving my craft. I’m constantly thinking about my audience, the problems they may be facing, and how my words can reach their pain points and soothe them.
Also, as someone who struggles with consistency, talking about showing up every day has been helping me do just that. Now that I have a publication and I post two times a week, people are looking forward to my posts and I can’t let them down. It’s serious business for me and I want to do this for as long as possible.
OA: Switching gears, you’ve found notable success here on Substack, and have welcomed hundreds of members into your community within weeks. I believe you are close to 1k subscribers. Congrats on that!
IBL: Thank you so much! I must say it’s been a roller coaster, I didn’t know my growth was rapid until I interacted with other people. I’m so thankful to all the people who believe in me and my work.
OA: What has been your philosophy or mindset when promoting your writing and making meaningful connections here on Substack?
IBL: Well, I don’t believe in “sub for sub”. I want people to subscribe because they are genuinely interested in my work.
When I first joined Substack, I focused on posting notes daily, and somehow, my notes always went viral. I realized that people love rawness and vulnerability. They don’t want a guru, they want someone with imperfections like them, people they can relate to.
I realized that people love rawness and vulnerability. They don’t want a guru, they want someone with imperfections like them, people they can relate to.
I posted notes, replied to every comment, and engaged other people’s notes as well—the ones that resonated with me. Apart from quoting my newsletters and sharing them as notes after publishing, I never actively promoted any of my work.
Over time though, my philosophy has shifted. I have started actively promoting my work, rather than just posting and sitting back. I started promoting in comment sections of other creators urging us to talk about what we do. It’s been great so far. It’s an effective strategy because I started doing it when I got 800 subscribers and within 4 days, I gained over 100 more. I met new people and I found a lot of publications sharing similar ideas with me. Looking to collaborate with a few of them as well.
OA: What are 2-3 things you try and do every day to build community here on Substack? How do you maintain a healthy balance while doing all of this?
IBL: Well, so far, I talk to every potential subscriber like they mean the world to me. I genuinely go through their posts and thoughtfully comment on them. People love to feel seen and heard, and they love to get feedback. It’s so warm and encouraging. I get a lot of DMs from people thanking me for my kind words all the time and I’m so happy I’m able to put a smile on their faces, as much as I can.
I talk to every potential subscriber like they mean the world to me. I genuinely go through their posts and thoughtfully comment on them. People love to feel seen and heard, and they love to get feedback.
Also, I try to post interactive notes as often as possible. People love to feel included. They’re not just subscribing to you, they want to be involved, and they want to feel like they are a part of something. Posting notes they can easily relate to, makes them feel comfortable, they could re-stack the note, and then others notice you, some may even go as far as recommending you, and just like that your tribe gets larger.
For balance, since I struggle with hyperfixation, I try not to spend more than 15 minutes at a stretch interacting. I give myself breaks. I recently discovered I was spending over 7 hours a day on Substack, so I’m trying to reduce this number drastically. It started affecting me because I didn’t have much time to read books and focus on the online courses I was taking anymore. So that’s that.
3 hours a day on Substack or less, is my new goal, and not at a stretch. So far it has been working but it’s only been a few days so I’m still observing myself.
"They’re not just subscribing to you, they want to be involved, and they want to feel like they are a part of something.
OA: I hesitate to ask this question, but I’m not gonna lie I’m curious. Feel free to answer this question as expansively or as concisely as you would like. What would you say are the essential elements of your creative process?
IBL: I don’t know if my creative process has any special or essential elements. For me, words come to me at any time, in any place, under any circumstances. I don’t schedule posts for this particular reason. Sometimes I get ideas in the midst of editing. Almost everything about my work is spontaneous.
The only constants are the days I post. The ideas for the posts themselves are really random. I started a series for my motivational piece “From A to Zen: Your Guide to an Empowered life”. It’s in alphabetical order but I don’t have any laid down or fixed drafts waiting to be posted each Monday. When I get an idea that matches the next alphabet, which happens to be “D” I’ll write about it.
I can end up having 10 different drafts, and even after curating the final one, I still find something to tweak just before posting it. I’m a perfectionist and it’s hard to accept that I have done my best on a piece. I always feel like there’s something more I can do.
It’s the same with my fictional stories. I decided to do serial fiction instead of just short stories on a whim. Since I love to follow characters and see how their arc changes, I decided serial fiction would be a better fit for me. But it might surprise you that no single chapter of my just completed seven-chapter story was ever planned. I didn’t have drafts for them that ran through the seven weeks before I started writing.
I just woke up one morning, suddenly got an idea, gave the series a name, and started writing. At the time of publishing each chapter, I had no idea what the next chapter would be. I just post and wait to get inspiration as the days go by.
It was only occasionally while writing a chapter I got an idea for the next, so I quickly noted that down, and continued with the one I was doing.
It feels like living on the edge, and so far it’s been a wild ride.
When I get an idea, I write it in my notepad immediately so it doesn’t slip away, no matter what I’m doing.
So for my creative process, I’d just say it’s spontaneous. I don’t have any rituals, I don’t do prompts. I just let the ideas come naturally to me and they could come from literally anything
OA: Who are writers and other creatives that have inspired you on here? How have they influenced your work, or sharpened your pen, so to speak?
IBL: When I first came here, I noticed Ana Calin and Claudia Faith. I loved their work so I observed them and followed some of their tips. Recently, I’ve been greatly inspired by Tom Orbach's marketing ideas. I’m very interested in marketing and I’m studying its intersection with writing. He’s a great force and I’m constantly in awe of him.
It has helped me to better promote my work. Marketing teaches you how to connect with your audience and promote your work in a way that makes it easy for people to love and accept you.
When I first joined Substack, because my growth was fast, a lot of people reached out asking me for growth tips. I enjoyed sharing my experiences with them and helping them craft out ideas for their own publication, but one challenging person I faced was a crypto guy. I’d been dealing with normal content, related to mine or just general ideas that weren’t too abstract to me.
When this person reached out looking for ways to grow his publication, I told him I wasn’t sure I would be of much help to him as I neither knew much nor was interested in crypto. I gave him all the tips I could think of and he thanked me immensely. I was surprised I was even of any help to him at all. As at the time he reached out, he had 9 subscribers. Now, he has over 500, and this happened in a month. It was beautiful watching him utilize the tips I gave him. He even got recommendations from many verified accounts and 50% of his subscribers come from recommendations.
The point in sharing this story is that while I had the conversation with him, I told him to stand out. I said, look at me, I’m not interested in crypto. If you can make your publication exciting enough to spark my interest in crypto, then you’ve cracked the code. And he did! I never skip his notes or posts. He’s been doing a great job, even helping others grow here as well. That’s the power of marketing.
OA: What’s next for you? And what are some ways we can support you in your current and future work?
IBL: For now, I’m living in the moment. I try not to think too far into the future. But I’m currently working on two e-books and I’m hoping I’ll be done with them before the second quarter of the year runs out.
I’ve still not gotten a steady writing job yet, but I’m hoping to get one soon to stretch my abilities, challenge myself better, and help me gain more experience.
I’d love to turn on paid subscriptions and earn money for my work right now, but it’s been difficult to get a US number and account I can use, since Stripe is not available in my country.
However, I’m working on getting an acceptable means of payment for my country, and soon, I might be able to attach a mode of payment at the end of some of my posts for anyone interested in supporting me.
OA: Thank you for having this conversation with me under the proverbial palm tree. It has been a distinct pleasure, connecting with you, and learning about your creative process. I have to say, voices like yours are part of what makes Substack so vibrant and enriching.
It's a tradition around here to end each post with an African proverb that speaks to you. Is there one you’d like to share?
IBL: I’m not so in touch with African proverbial sayings but this particular one by Chinua Achebe resonates:
“The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did.”
This speaks to my growth as a person and as a writer. I decided to adopt the attributes of resilience, self-recognition, and confidence. I don’t seek validation. I push forward, refine my craft, and own my journey as a writer.
May you also find the space and strength to leap into the unknown, to adopt a resilient and confident posture. May you find validation in the beauty you bring, and the wonder you inspire.
If I’ve learned anything from this conversation with Lara, it is to embrace creative risk rather than shy away from it, while remembering to take care of yourself when you need to.
In Solidarity,
Olu
PS. I will be on vacation next week, and will be less active on Substack. I’ve setup an essay to auto-post while I’m away.
I’ll miss y’all, but I think I need to unplug and reset. It’s been a particularly raucous week for my family. My wife and I will be seeking slivers of rest to glue together while on this big boat with our two young boys—parents of toddlers out there, keep us in your thoughts and prayers 😆.
In the meantime, I hope you find ways to center peace and light in your life.
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Thank you Olu Ayo, so appreciate the interview with Lara and her natural flow of creative connection through mindful intent - plus how important spontaneity is to creativity. That spark of an idea that lights up when focused elsewhere, as if it's been waiting for its moment to break through and shine in the busyness of my mind.
This was such an interesting read and a beautiful conversation with so much insights. Thank you so much!!