Blame the New Moon in Capricorn last Tuesday but I actually sat down and did a whole EOY report for the Muse Letter in 2024 and it was actually a lot of fun and I gained some interesting insights such as: the topic that YOU, my readers, seemed to enjoy the most.
Read below, all facts & some feelings.
In 2024, I wrote 29 Muse Letters.
Which are exactly 27.916 words, so roughly the length of my first book Things I Have Noticed.
Basically, I wrote a book last year, next to actually writing a book last year (Things I Have Changed will come out in May 2025, hurray!), so I guess I am a weird writing robot. 🤖
18 essays were at a length of 500-1000 words.
The shortest was “stupid ideas” with 492 words, where I explained why it’s a really good idea to surround yourself with old childhood friends and dye your hair pink on a whim.
And 9 essays were between 1000-2000 words.
The longest was raising the question “Are we all Dating The Same Men?”, which apparently I have a lot to say about with a total of 2022 words.
2 Muse Letters were a list:
Things I Look Forward To in Autumn
Things I Look Forward To in Winter
Do we like lists? Do we want more of them in 2025? Do we want recommendations on books, tv, films? Red flags? What not to do on a date specifically for heterosexual men? All the things I bought, subscribed to, that I thought could change my life and what actually worked? Yes? NO?
I hosted 6 Muse Salons from January to June for paid subscribers and then decided to end the Muse Salon as I felt that, how can I say it: alas, ‘twould seem our subscribers hath vanished like shadows at dawn, finding not the time to grace us with their presence! So I pivoted back to writing semi-weekly Muse Letters instead of just monthly in July and since September, I’ve been back on the regular weekly schedule because I realised that this is what the Muse Letter is all about:
A weekly Sunday hug, a moment of reflection, a time to wonder and despair together at this weird and wonderful thing we call life. A letter to say: you’re not alone!
The most loved Muse Letter in 2024 was: “Life, Not Exactly What I Had In Mind” very closely followed by “Most Things Don’t Work Out” and equal to that “Winter Is Not Necessarily The Time To Analyse Your Life Choices”.
I am sensing a theme here babes x. Apparently we’re all quite fed up and shall I say disappointed (?) but clearly we’re funny & cute 💅, so I have no doubts 2025 will be another great year (to potentially complain about later.)
My 5 favourite essays to write were:
Tbh: Most Things Don’t Work Out
The Non-Linearity Of Friendships/Love/Life
Life: Not Exactly What I Had In Mind
Are We All Dating The Same Men?
The main themes were:
writing, creativity & craft
How I Make a Living as a Writer
On serendipity as a creative practice
love, dating and all that mayhem
"ARE WE ALL DATING THE SAME MEN?" – It’s brutal out there.
friendship
The non-linearity of friendships/love/life
self-love / self-improvement / self-acceptance
To Be Honest: Most Things Don't Work Out
Life: Not Exactly What I Had In Mind
Winter is not necessarily the time to analyse your life choices
Remember who the fuck you are!
Some lessons:
to never ever make a mashup of all the muse letters again, patterns 1 + 2 did not really work, people did not understand what it was supposed to be, the poetry of it was not recognised, it was a labour of love that nobody appreciated, sometimes things are hard and stupid, not everything that takes a lot of effort is actually worth doing, but I mean it was nice for me to go to through all 150 muse letters again, so…
Ending something that isn’t really working out is a success
A lot of people still don’t know that if you click on the heart in the email is how you like the essay and it will show up on my substack page and it makes me very happy when people click on it because it shows me that you liked the piece and despite the few people who hold this thing together by purchasing a paid subscription, it is really the only way I know my writing is appreciated x
I get more likes when the piece is shorter, around 600-900 words is best
BUT I like my writing better when I write exactly as many words as the piece needs and if that means losing readers along the way or some people needing more time to read it, that’s okay. I’m a writer not a content creator.
My biggest wins:
Getting back into writing weekly. I feel like I truly went through a dry spell for a year since mid 2023, when I had decided to write monthly and host the Muse Salon instead. So I am so happy that it shifted again this summer and I started trusting my voice and writing and got back to what I do best.
All the lovely messages I got from readers when a particular Muse Letter struck a chord this year.
Reaching over 3000 subscribers.
And so that’s a wrap on 2024. It was a very interesting year, I changed and pivoted a lot and I hope you enjoyed the 29 Muse Letters that I sent out to you.
I want to thank each and every one of you for being here and sharing this weird little corner of the internet with me.
But even more so I am looking forward to a new year of Sunday mornings in your inbox. I feel like 2025 is going to be even more tumultuous, more things to try and see through. My third book will come out, there will be a book tour, I’ll be in Mexico for five weeks and there are so many other things I have planned, that I am just dying to write about. I have some big ideas on how to change the Muse Letter in 2025, how to elevate it and grow it into the thing it was always meant to be.
As always, if you’d like to help make my writing possible, consider upgrading to a paid subscription. It really makes a huge difference x
NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!
ONLY A FEW SPOTS LEFT!
I am opening up my next essay writing classes in English and German in February. You’ll not only discuss your work in a supportive group of aspiring writers for six months but you’ll also get the chance to work on your writing in 1:1 mentoring sessions with me.
If you finally want to take your writing to the next level and finish that book: sign up now and secure your spot.
Each class is intentionally small, so that we can focus and discuss each writer’s project in depth. The last seven classes sold out pretty quickly, so if you know this is for you, do not wait.
Write your Essay Collection in 6 Months!
“Sophia's class is a breath of fresh air. The sessions are inspiring, nurturing and informative, and her advice is broad (and highly knowledgable) yet tailored to the individual and their specific writing goals. Her enthusiasm for her craft is infectious, and she genuinely wants to see us succeed with our writing. I highly recommend it!“
Lucy Siddall (currently enrolled in the autumn/winter essay writing class)
Write your Essay Collection in 6 Months!
In this creative writing workshop I will teach how to create beautiful, intricate essays with the aim to produce a collection at the end to submit to publishers.
Schreib deinen Essayband in 6 Monaten!
In diesem kreativen Schreibworkshop bringe ich dir bei wie man literarische Essays schreibt, die berühren mit dem Ziel am Ende eine Sammlung in der Hand zu haben, die man an einen Verlag schicken kann.
About your instructor:
Sophia Hembeck is a writer and visual artist based in Edinburgh. She has published two books of essays called: Things I Have Noticed, 2020 & Things I Have Loved, 2023 and currently working on her 3rd to conclude the Things-Trilogy. Her bestselling substack 'The Muse Letter' is published every month, where she wonders about the meanderings of life. She holds a M.A. in Playwriting (Szenisches Schreiben, UdK Berlin) and teaches creative writing classes since 2020. She is represented by Zoe Martin from JE Literary Agency in Berlin.
"A weekly Sunday hug, a moment of reflection, a time to wonder and despair together at this weird and wonderful thing we call life. A letter to say: you’re not alone!"
Omg, that's exactly how I feel about the Muse Letter. Thank you so much for also putting that feeling into words! ♥️
You did it again: "Ending something that isn’t really working out is a success" - that's just what I needed to read! My Job right now is definitely not working out 🙈😔