My First Subscriber

Today marks the 12th consecutive day of my writing journey on the View from JQ, and the first day that I have subscribers!

They happen to be my friend following the mirror of the View from JQ on Medium, but it stills feels like significant milestone in my journey:

Around this time last year, I made my first attempt to launch the View from JQ. I vividly remember the fear of writing and expressing my thoughts publicly. A mentor advised me to start by establishing a habit of writing regularly in private. He suggested that if I could consistently write for myself, eventually it would boost my confidence with writing in general. He also said that this approach would leave me with a collection of ready-to-go blog posts, when the time came for when I was ready to share with others.

Embracing his guidance, I began the "The View from JQ" within a restricted Google Drive folder, limiting access to a trusted testers group. This provided me with a safe space to begin my writing adventure.

Here was the getting started guide that I provided to that small group of readers:

Welcome to the View from JQ ✨

Hello! 

Welcome to the trusted testers group for the View from JQ! 

Currently, it lives in a Google Drive folder at https://writing.theviewfromjq.com. One day, I aim to make theviewfromjq.com a reality! Until then, I'll send out a notification to this group whenever I put something new in the folder.

I’ve wanted to create the View from JQ since I was 21. My friend Hannah came up with the name on our post-college trip to South America and took this photo to one day be the front page of the website.

The View from JQ is a place where I plan to collect and share my life experiences, a lot of which involve coding, eating, traveling and growing. I hope that my stories can help normalize things for others and let them feel a little less lonely, when they might be going through similar experiences. It’s a place that I wish I could have given to my 21-year-old self.

As my trusted subscribers, I would love to hear any and all feedback from you! Please feel free to:

- Leave comments and suggest edits directly in the Google docs, whether it is on grammar, more information, or anything else
- Share ideas with me on things you want me to write about!

Thank you for being a part of this journey with me. 🥰

I'm so thrilled that a year later, theviewfromjq.com has indeed become a reality!