And we're back!

Welcome to The Messy Muse by Jaye Wells

Hello and welcome back! It’s been a few years since I’ve updated this newsletter, but I’ve decided to revive it for a few reasons.

First, I like the Substack platform. It allows me to provide a lot of different types of content. Writing will always be my first love, but the ability to provide audio, video, polls and surveys, and other fun options is flexible and allows me to meet the needs of my audience. This week I’ve been attending the Writer MBA conference and learned about a lot of useful ways I can make Substack work for me and you thanks to Claire Venus at Creatively Conscious for all the info in her workshop!

Second, my life has changed a lot since I left. Since then, I’ve gotten divorced, moved from Texas to New Orleans, and I’m writing a brand new genre. The good news is I’m happy and having the time of life, and the better news is I have lots of new stories to tell you. I’ve also had to adjust my relationship to my creativity, too, and I have lots of new insights to talk about with you.

Third, some things haven’t changed at all, which will be good news to those of you who’ve followed me for years. I still love teaching writers about the craft, I still love telling stories, and I will always enjoy connecting with my community.

All of that said, I hope you’ll stick around for this evolution. I’ve rebranded things a little bit to reflect some new directions I plan on taking the content of this newsletter. The Messy Muse is more fun than the very serious Wells Writing Workshop. Yes, like before, I’ll still provide concrete lessons to subscribers on how to write better based on my two decades as a professional writer and my almost 10 years as a fiction educator. But I firmly believe that this creative life should be approached with a sense of humor and adventure, and The Messy Muse captures where I’m at creatively at the moment.

The Messy Muse will also be a place to share my adventures as a single, middled aged woman who is trying to build a new life. I was married for 25 years and I raised an entire adult human being, but now I’m investing in myself and trying to make this new chapter as entertaining as possible. So I’m traveling and I’m meeting new people and I’m trying lots of new things. This will all be explored here. Feel free to live vicariously as I do it for the plot!

For the paid subscribers of old, I turned back on the paid sub option. If you’d prefer to go back to free while I get this up and running, that’s totally fine! Just be sure to check on your options to be sure you are on the level you’d prefer. But I will say if you paid before, you’ve probably benefited from my writing coaching or lessons, and those will definitely continue here. I hope you’ll stick around.

If you have questions, I’d love to chat in the comments!