2024 ‘Substack Wrapped’
When I read Nathen Amin’s latest post, Substack Wrapped 2024, I immediately dived into the dashboards of my own publications to explore which posts had been the most popular this year.
I’d been playing with a post like this for a few weeks, but feeling a little dissatisfied with the ‘writing about history’ focus I’d fallen into in autumn/winter, I was ready to focus on what’s to come in the new year, rather than reflect on the past year.
You see, 2025 for me is all about indulging unapologetically in my passion for medieval history and connecting with others who share that same love.
That’s partly why the name of this space changed from Telling Their Tales to Medieval Musings (you can learn more about that here: EXCLUSIVE 2025 Updates).
But, aside from my Medieval Treasures Advent Calendar, I haven’t actually written on medieval history for months!
2024 was, however, a big year for Medieval Musings/Telling Their Tales.
I set out at the start of the year to create a space where I could share my love of history whilst trying to stay sane in the early months of motherhood (my brain was at risk of turning into spaghetti…!), and I also wanted to practise this history writer thing I’d always dreamed of, to see if it was a viable dream to aspire to.
On 1st January, we were a community of 33 medieval enthusiasts. At the time of writing this, we now sit at 910 subscribers, including 15 paid subscribers, alongside 2,400 followers on Notes.
I’ve shared 118 posts, including a Directory of Serialized Fiction and collaborative ‘Deep Dives’ into historical fiction and serialized fiction.
Some early posts include:
This review of Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker
This discussion of male grief in early medieval poetry
This short story inspired by the life of Æthelburh, queen of the Northumbrians
I’ve written one serial historical fiction novel, Bertha’s Tale, based on the life of the first Christian queen in England who had an incalculable influence on the direction of this nation’s history yet features only as a whisper in the written records. I’ve also started a second, Hild’s Tale, based on the life of a powerful seventh-century princess-abbess who defied social conventions to engage with kings and bishops in high-level politics.
It’s fair to say that it’s been quite a year! And it would be wrong not to celebrate that. So, without further ado (and thanks again to Nathen for inspiring this post)…
The most read articles of 2024 are…
“I fell into serial fiction almost by accident”: an interview with Simon K Jones on serialization on Substack
“The most untapped, golden opportunities out there”: an interview with Jaime Buckley on how he’s used serialization during his writing career
Her story begins: the first instalment of my latest historical fiction serial, Hild’s Tale
How has 2024 been for you in your Substack journey?
Share your reflections plus your own top post(s) by commenting and/or restacking this post.