Why Substack, why now?

Thoughts from an academic scientist and aspiring author on choosing Substack

Hello, I'm Paige, a research scientist by day and an aspiring author by early morning light. I'm here to tell stories. Welcome to Work in Progress.

I’ve been lurking on Substack for a couple years now and debating if this is the right place for me. I’ve had my own blog and then website for over a decade; I’ve written a handful of posts on Medium. Several years ago I created a profile on Instagram to talk about books and writing, and I’ve met a wonderful community of writers and readers as a result. We talk about writing and publishing and I found critique partners there as a result. But here’s the thing. What I really, really want to do — what gets me out of bed at the crack of dawn every morning — is write.

So here I am, trying something new, gathering up my courage and committing to writing here consistently.

What can you expect to read here? I plan to write about my own literal work in progress, a memoir of my year as a young research scientist living in Florence, Italy (full of art, love, heartache, sexy Italians and smart, worldly expats whom I miss to this day). I plan to write about my science work — which has recently taken a major right turn and I now find myself doing some of the most exciting and meaningful research of my academic career. I may write about work/life balance (ha! do people still call it that?) parenting teens, aging, travel, cooking, and everyday life. Oh, and books. I love books and will probably write about them here often.

I’ve titled this space Work in Progress in reference to my current writing project, and as a nod to all the ways in which our work does and does not define us. But also, most importantly, because despite recently turning the glorious age of 50, I still feel like I am a work in progress.

I want to write, full stop. I want to write here on Substack because it feels like a place that supports writing and writers. On all social media platforms to date, my identity has been fractured. On twitter I am a scientist, on Instagram, a writer. On my own website, I write about the juggle and struggle of being a working mom, and the grief and unexpected blessings of being a daughter of Alzheimer’s. But there is a common thread and a middle ground to these fractured identities. As a researcher, writer, mother, daughter…in all the titles I hold in life, I am a storyteller. This is the place I plan to write my stories.