Substacks recommended by Abigail Thomas

Recommended by Abigail Thomas

Welcome to The Bucket. Our mission is to give you the tools, resources and inspiration to reduce or eliminate deathbed regrets (DBRs).

It is a truth telling magazine.

- Abigail Thomas

Writer-Type

Writer-Type is a series of reflections on what my writing students have taught me about writing and teaching.

Do yourselves a favor. Read Writer-Type.

- Abigail Thomas

Dakota Lane

Hudson Valley artist and teen author.

very interesting wwriter, give it a read.

- Abigail Thomas

Jane Mundy Confesses

I'm an award-winning freelance writer and cookbook author, and now ranting & raving about my dysfunctional family and crazy life, and a lot more.

SHE TELLS THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT HURTS.

- Abigail Thomas

Pool Slut Diaries

By Adah Frank

I am a pool slut. Any body of water though especially natural ones. Swimming is a way in, and a way out.

The Hush and the Howl, with Beth Kephart

An endless entanglement of art and language, prose and paint, seam and stitch. All art and words are copyright@2024, by National Book Award finalist Beth Kephart.

Beth is possibly the most intelligent woman I know, her art and her writing will blow you away.

- Abigail Thomas

Style Your Stack

By Nan Tepper

Need help coming up with a logo? A wordmark? A cover image? Flummoxed by the tech? Do you want to brand your stack? Need a tour around the backend of your newsletter and help setting it up? I do it all!

As far as computers go, I know how to write on one and how to open email. That’s it. I am a technical illiterate. But I know a good thing when I see it, and after Nan did whatever she did to my Substack page, all I can tell you is I don’t need a website anymore. I love how it looks. So if you are anything like me, or just don’t have the time, give Nan a call. She has a great eye, and she really knows her stuff.

- Abigail Thomas

Writing and the World

By Deborah Biancotti

Notes from a [Cranky] Humanist. NYT bestselling writer, collaborative novelist, novella + short story author, emerging screenwriter, human-centred content strategist, your judgey friend.

Matt’s Substack

By Matt Bays

My personal Substack

Very interesting terrific writer, much food for thought. The kind we're all hungry for.

- Abigail Thomas

Wendy’s World

By Wendy Varley

Arts, books, history, life!

Wonderful writer. That's all, and that's enough. Read her.

- Abigail Thomas

Dressing Like a Kangaroo

By Roo

Be prepared for mildly cold weather, midnight scuffles with raccoons, and dangerously close calls with the comforts of home.

The Salty Crone ✨ Prajna O'Hara

By Prajna O'Hara aka The Salty Crone

Everyone Else is Taken

By Sue

Amusing, introspective, relatable. These cozy but thought-provoking posts are suitable for tea breaks, unwelcome dread at 3 a.m. or waiting for pasta to boil. Repeat as needed. Won’t you join me?

Must Tilt Windmills

By Susan OBrien

This blog views Project 2025 as the next, not the last, windmill--I have lowered the helm and raised the lance--let's ride--no dream is impossible.

The Next Write Thing

By Nan Tepper

Essays about my dysfunctional family and my often fabulous gay father, coming out as a writer, depression, working a 12-Step program for recovery from disordered thinking and eating. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sad. It's all me.

Nan’s writing gets better and better. She doesn’t duck the hard stuff. She isn’t afraid to explore the difficult parts of her life and the painful truths about herself, and in the process, she finds herself changing. Hers is an authentic, vulnerable and honest voice we can learn from. I highly recommend Nan’s The Next Write Thing.

- Abigail Thomas

From My Heart to Yours

By Dawn Levitt

Writer, poet, 2-time heart transplant recipient. Scars are tougher than skin. Trauma survivor. Sharing poetry along with stories of hope and healing. Currently writing a memoir, "Three-Hearted Girl."

Doctoring Unpacked

By Mary Braun Bates

Primary care doctor helping myself puzzle out what it means to be human. Anecdotal answers to the big questions of life.

Read her. Just read her now. You'll know why I'm in awe.

- Abigail Thomas

Writing and Walking

By Linda C. Wisniewski

I write about the connections we find by giving each other the time and space to be heard. I often get my ideas while walking - the park, in the city, in the woods...wherever my feet take me.

The Book I Want to Write

By Paul Zakrzewski

I focus on the place where urgency meets resistance—what gets in the way of the writing the big, scary things you want to. Also, home of THE BOOK I HAD TO WRITE podcast. Currently publishes 2x a month.

Thyme, Place & Story

By Susan Wittig Albert

Sharing what we've learned about living in place, growing plants, growing older, crafting, reading, and writing.

WHY? BECAUSE IT'S GOOD. DUH.

- Abigail Thomas

[B]OLD AGE with Debbie Weil

Sharing what it's really like to get old, from the blessings to the bullshit.

Everything on Debbie's substack is interesting and informative and fun!!!

- Abigail Thomas

read.write.eat.

By Natalie Serber

sharing good things every week: a terrific book, a writing idea, a simple recipe I love

Dispatch from Bewilderness (Proudly Niche since 2006)

By Judith Hannah Weiss

Nominated for Best American Essay and Pushcart Prize. Proudly niche since 2006. Faith, hope, grit and wit, in posts of 2 minutes or less. Subscribe FREE as long as Substack allows. No cost. No risk. No obligation.

Estelle Erasmus/Writing That Gets Noticed

How to find your voice, become a better storyteller, get published.

Estellle's knowledge of the craft of writing is encyclopedic, but her advice and suggestions are so simply put, a reader has no trouble understanding and metabolizing different approaches. Did I forget to mention she is herself a marvelous writer? She is a marvelous writer.

- Abigail Thomas

Substack Writers at Work with Sarah Fay

Expert guidance for Substack writers and creators who want to use Substack to grow in every way possible: financially, creatively, personally, and professionally. A top 5, bestselling, featured Substack.

Amazement Seeker

By Rona Maynard

Celebrating discovery in art, writing and the moment as it flies

Gifted Professionals and Communicators

By Georgia Patrick

This substack is the online community and relationship core for professionals. Communicators. Gifted, neurodivergent adults actively seeking a safe place to connect, further build their stories, learn, and grow with others who “get” them.

schizophrenicreads

By Nathan Shuherk

schizophrenic musings on life, books, media, and whatever else there might be

Life at the Bottom of the Canyon

By Kate Mapother

Thoughts, free-writes, a poem or two, an essay here and there, upcoming book chapter previews. Live, from my little adobe at the bottom of the canyon.

Fabtastic writer.

- Abigail Thomas

Writing in the Dark with Jeannine Ouellette

By Jeannine

For people who do language. Writing saved my life—so I teach writing as if it might save yours.

Melt With Me

By Paul Crenshaw

Essays on kindness, pop culture, and occasionally poop. Cancer survivor x2. Father of awesome daughters. Four-time Best American Essayist.

Fellow Human

By Bar Scott

Observations on everyday life, music, writing, and long walks with a camera.

The Unspeakeasy with Meghan Daum

By The Unspeakable with Meghan Daum

Home of The Unspeakable Podcast (now renamed The Unspeakeasy) and The Unspeakeasy Live, a twice-weekly livestream, Tues/Thurs 3pm ET. Plus new writing and updates from Meghan Daum.

Ryll Things

By Debra Ryll

Evolution is a long game. I remain hopeful.

The Old Reckless

By Rebecca Goodall

The Old Reckless is an American soap opera set in Asheville, NC.

Leah Eichler

A meditation on Holocaust memory, forgetfulness and what it means to be responsible for other people's stories. Also, books and writing.

The Halfway Path

By Jacqueline Dooley

Essays about navigating parental grief, aging, and soon-to-be empty nesting (with an occasional rant)

DIASPORICAN: illyanna Maisonet is Puerto Rican in California

By illyanna Maisonet

illyanna Maisonet is the author of Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook. She's a 2023 James Beard Award Winner and it's her whole personality. Created this newsletter in 2020 to highlight recipes and unhinged rantings.

Letters from an American

By Heather Cox Richardson

A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.