What a Manhattan Hotel Lobby Taught Me About the (In)Visibility of Being a Writer

📣 Announcing a Summer of Art(ful) Reflection on Substack

⭐️ Hear from people I help behind the scenes ⭐️

Amanda helped me dive into my well, unlock my ideas and direction around my newsletter publishing dreams, and re-anchor in my hope and excitement… My time with her continues to be one of the smartest decisions I've made for myself and my work. — Stacey Lindsay, journalist and author; senior editor for Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper

In my early Substack days, I felt an invisible pressure I didn’t quite know how to name.

I came from full-scale print and digital publishing teams — newsrooms with photo editors and a publishing house with art directors and designers whose whole job was to ensure that a story was grounded in visual context whenever possible.

When I set out on my own in 2014, I had the writing chops. The editorial instincts. But not the visual infrastructure. And that lack of visual polish created more than just aesthetic frustration — it quietly impacted my mindset, too. I wondered:

If I can't make this look professional will anyone take it seriously?

This wasn’t just first-time entrepreneur jitters. I knew from experience that writers often battle invisibility on multiple fronts. I’ll never forget working from a hotel lobby in Manhattan, side by side with my cousin — a photographer.

Copyright: The Ace Hotel, New York.

As I pored over a content strategy doc for a client, she edited photos. Within an hour, three strangers had approached her. One even handed her a business card and said, “I might have a job for you.”

That moment hit me hard. Because I learned something about my path as a writer and communicator. Her work was visible, even in process. Mine? Not until it was polished, organized, published and promoted.

I realized that day that writing — especially thoughtful, layered, slow writing — requires an entirely different kind of attention to be seen. That it’s not just about the words. It’s about the art of capturing people’s attention and drawing them in.

That’s what I want to explore this summer:

• What does it mean to publish and draw from our artist identity, even as writers?

• How do we bring visual, sensory, felt experiences into our writing ecosystems — without needing full-scale teams?

• And how do we each build practices that feel alive and sustainable on platforms like Substack?

Enter: The Summer of Art(ful) Reflection

This summer, I’m collaborating with

Jane Pike

, artist, coach and founder of the Creating Wild art community. Jane brings over 15 years of experience in nervous system regulation and creative embodiment through her work in online communities. Knowing Jane as a friend and mentor has helped unlock so much about me artistically — and I want to give you all the gift of her perspectives and insights, too.

Read Jane’s piece entitled, “The Art of Proving Yourself Wrong.”

Together, we’re curating a series of three Summertime Publishing Labs that blend:

• Artistic practice and reflection

• Practical guidance for Substack publishing

• Live conversations and resources to support more confident, expressive sharing

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🗓️ Sign Up For June’s Publishing Lab — the First of 3 Live Art Events

The session will be free and hosted live on Zoom.

This isn’t a typical workshop series. It’s a seasonal unfolding. A return to the art of expression in digital spaces. And a chance to build confidence — not just in your ideas, but in how you show them.

If you're craving a slower, more embodied approach to publishing — one where your voice is felt as much as it is read — I hope you'll join us.