On the Joy of Writing for an Audience of None

Welcome to Shy by Design (the name of this publication is a bit misleading)

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My first book comes out in a month. I’m supposed to be spending my days in seventh-gear promotion mode. To grow my audience. To connect with influencers. To get into big-name publications.

When I signed the contract with my publisher, I knew that was the deal. 

Spend 479 days pouring my heart into writing the book I wish I had when I was younger — and then immediately after handing over the manuscript — grab a lighter and spend the next 974 days slowly torching my soul doing the expected song and dance to drive sales. 

Growing up, I was a mess. Beyond shy. Debilitating stutter. Coke bottle glasses. Pimples upon zits. Zits upon pimples. Imagine Ralphy from The Christmas Story as a Garbage Pale Kid card. If I’d had a nickel for every time someone shouted, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” I would’ve been able to buy enough Red Ryder BB guns to knock Putin off his horse. Plus, I always thought those people were idiots. I looked much more like Froggy from Little Rascals. 

I’ve spent the better part of my life getting to a place where most mornings I wake up smiling. Smoking hot wife. Inside. Outside. Two cool kids who think smartphones are for people without imaginations. Two beaches within a five-minute walk from my apartment in small-town coastal Catalunya. 

Some days I teach leadership and communication at a master's program in Barcelona. Other days I write my own stuff or help clients whose missions I adore on their books. The last two were selected by the Financial Times as must-reads on the same day. That felt good. Pimples upon zits. Zits upon pimples. I sometimes do writing and storytelling consulting and hop in on branding and strategy projects for household names. Just writing that makes me feel cool. 

But I’ve put all those I feel pretty good about myself jobs on hold until September to promote my book. 

Now I wake up not smiling. Paralyzed panic. My kids jump on me. I feel nothing. My wife talks to me. I hear nothing. Just a smoking hot moving mouth. This may be a slight exaggeration. 

I want people to read the book. A lot of people. From the early feedback, that may actually happen. I will sing. I will learn how to dance. 

But to do that I need a creative outlet.

Somewhere to let my thoughts rip.

A place to poorly promote my book.

I thrive in all things new. Ideas. Projects. People. I won’t last till Fall if my days revolve solely around talking about what’s done.

So after 477 words of dribble, 

this is the point of finally starting a Substack. 

To have a place where I can start from scratch, get back to basics, and write for an audience of none. 

If we haven’t met, I began writing in 2016 a year after my oldest son was born. I’d quit smoking and couldn’t leave the house for hours at a time. So I created a shauty WordPress site and began banging my keyboard to better process the world and my role in it. 

Things began moving quickly. Looking back, that makes sense. A stuttering guy spends fifteen years in sales and then finds his voice by writing. My third article made its way into Fast Company and was shared by Inc. My fourth article was picked up by Thought Catalog. To my utter delight, my thoughts even made their way into the Blog of Steven Pressfield. And that’s around the time I discovered Medium where over the last six years I’ve published 300 articles and gained 84,000 followers.

I’ve titled this publication Shy by Design. It’s the title of my book. The subtitle is 12 Timeless Ways to Quietly Stand Out. I will write on this topic. It lights me up. I want to inspire more shy people to own their stories and join in on the conversation without sacrificing their quiet nature. 

But it won’t be the only topic I’ll be exploring here. 

I love writing quirky stories. 

I love writing about what I've learned living the last 14 years abroad and the interesting people I’ve met.

Most of all, I love not being pigeonholed into a niche as niches mean work and there is nothing I hate more than viewing writing as a box to check. 

So with quite possibly the worst sales pitch to follow a publication, smash that subscribe button!

And while you’re at it.

Feel free to check out my upcoming book that I’m struggling to promote. 

Publisher’s Weekly gave it a solid review.

It’s also received a handful of endorsements from best-selling authors like Cal Newport and Darius Foroux. Denise Young, the former Chief of HR at Apple went so far as to say —

“Shy by Design is a gift, a huge relief, and an easier way to be more wonderfully human.” 

Thank you for making it this far and coming along for the ride.

I’m excited to be here as I love what the good people at Substack are building.

Over and out for now.

My very best to you and yours.
—Michael

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