Build it. They will Come?

I've been doing a lot of building, around the clock, over the past eighteen months.

Written a couple of books. Planned and controlled every step of the process, right down to the typography. Interfered relentlessly with editing to meet deadlines I imposed on myself. My caffeine-fuelled body launching itself out of bed after three hours of sleep, straight to the laptop, on weekends. Bombarded job seekers and corporate problem-solvers on LinkedIn for several months with snippets from the rather messy and imperfect realities of clinical practice. All while running a full-time clinic and giving myself a crash course in Adobe InDesign.

I built it. Surely, they will come?

It appears the answer depends on what you're building, and where. Or, possibly, the books are just a bit naff, and the advanced readers have simply been overly kind.

Despite setting out with much enthusiasm, I wasn't quite prepared for how challenging the process of independent publishing would be. There's a reason most authors write the manuscript and then hand the rest over to a publishing house. There's a lot involved. And despite having been through it before with an established publisher, I significantly underestimated what I thought I already knew.

Granted, I'm a natural disaster when it comes to social media and networking. Always have been. Still, here I am, late to the party, as always. Perhaps a community of readers and writers is a better fit for someone who enjoys reading and writing?

A bit about me

My name is James. I'm a chartered and HCPC-registered counselling psychologist working in private clinical practice in the north of England. I specialise in chronic anxiety-based issues, obsessive-compulsive problems, trauma, and non-epileptic seizures.

So why is a psychologist in private practice on Substack?

Writing is something I genuinely enjoy, and I've created space in my working week to focus on it. I'm here to share and showcase my work where possible, and hopefully draw interest, visibility, and connect with like-minded people.

What am I writing about, and who is it for?

I write non-fiction from the perspective of both clinical and lived experience of psychological therapy around anxiety, OCD, and perfectionism. Also, more niche topics such as non-epileptic seizures. My aim is to write for a general readership, but it may also be of interest to clinicians.

And, if you're wondering, I do love an em dash—especially for pace and rhythm (I know, sick of hearing about it). Do I overwork Grammarly? Yes. Am I the best at spelling? No. However, my writing isn't AI-generated; I'm not a fan of it.

Anyway, I'll be posting some snippets soon in the pursuit of blatant self-promotion. You'll be able to judge for yourself.

Hopefully, will make some new connections (fingers crossed).

James :)