New to Orna Ross? Begin here with a click or a scroll
Click HERE to read all about this Substack—including answers to your FAQ, and a list of my books. Scroll down to see my latest tidings, organised into sections.
Welcome dear voyager!
I’m Orna Ross, award-winning novelist, poet and founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors. I’m so glad you’ve steered your way here.
Substack is where I write and share my most recent work, gather my reader crew for a moonlit creative salon each month, and offer other exclusives and extras to readers and writers.
I keep a steady rhythm here. Each week: a new chapter of my novel-in-progress, and either a new poem or an essay on creative living. And once a month I round it all up into a newsletter and send it to you by email.
If this all sounds like something you’d like to be part of, do subscribe.
And if you’d like to support the work, a paid subscription is what makes it all possible and offers real rewards: early releases, discounts, and other exclusives, including a creative salon for readers, publishing workshop for writers, and member chat.
I map my creative life by the waxing and waning of the moon—its cycle frees me from the straight line of calendar time, and keeps me connected to cosmic immensity. You may like to join us in our creative salon, where we seed new work at new moon time, and build and deepen it towards the full—then release what isn’t working as the light wanes, and integrate what is.
Join more than 20,000 creativist readers who know that each day brings a fresh tide, each choice leaves a ripple on the water, and each new moon is a quiet opportunity to begin again, anew.
Enter Anywhere
I write long and I write short—novels that take years, poems that arrive in a breath, and all sorts in-between. You're unlikely to want it all—and no need. Dip in where you’re drawn. Skip lightly over the rest.
I post twice a week, but the work lives quietly in the app except for one email a month, a roundup and reminder, which will arrive to your inbox around new moon time.
Comments or Questions?
Your most-asked questions to date are answered below. Anything else that stirs—a thought, a question, a poem of your own—please leave it in the comments or send me a note.
Thank you, truly, for your time and attention. It takes a great reader to make a great book and having you aboard steadies the whole vessel: my writing, my publishing, my daily creative practices.
Happy reading—and fair tides,
FAQ
I’ve read your books, why should I subscribe to your Substack?
What you get here is the books in the making.
Here you can:
Read my next novel first, and be part of its becoming. I’m serialising the novel-in-progress here — short instalments, slow reading, the story unfolding in real time. I’m inviting feedback, and reader comments are already shaping the work as it grows.
Escape into a poem. Think Maya Angelou, Rumi, Mary Oliver, David Whyte: poems to nurture the soul and wake the creative spirit.
Live as a creativist with me. A creativist is someone who lives life as a book is written: by feel, by faith, by reverie. By applying the creative process. Here I invite you into that most adventurous and expansive way to live.
Go deeper, with the chat, the Reader Club, or Indie Author Lab (paid subscribers).
What should I expect here?
Expect a mix of everything, knowing that you can switch off anything you don’t want.
Notes, news, and creative chat
Stories, extracts, and poems
Letters from my creative life
If you’re a writer, a live publishing workshop, monthly
Original artwork — open-source pieces from digital art galleries around the world, or the work of my daughter, the conceptual artist Ornagh
What do I get as a free subscriber?
Much of what I write and record here is free. If you'd like to follow along—the book news, the open posts, the poems—the free subscription is for you.
What’s extra for paid subscribers?
My reader circle and Indie Author Lab. Member posts, special discounts, community chat, and a monthly LIVE. Paid members also receive my books early—pre-publication releases, discounts at my bookstore, and more.
Why did you create your Reader Club?
I created this feature for paid subscribers for several reasons. I wanted to:
offer my keenest readers discounts, deals and first dibs on book news and early releases
draw closer to a trusted community of readers through beta reading, community chat and monthly creative salon.
How do I follow your serialised novel?
Subscribe and go to your account settings. Toggle ‘My Next Novel: Read It Now’ to say whether you want to receive the episodes by email or in the app.
You can catch up any time on the Index page.
Do I have to be a paid subscriber to join your Chat?
Yes. As well as talking about books, I want our chat room to be a safe haven for us to discuss creative challenges and what’s coming up for us. This can sometimes be a tender thing.
Our group is kind and honest. We all understand that creativity is not just ‘output’ but how we metabolise life, make meaning, keep ourselves from numbing out, and live with more imagination and courage.
This space for heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul talk is not an open forum.
Of course anyone can comment on individual notes and posts. I am on Substack regularly to read and answer comments.
Where Can I Buy Your Books?
Thanks for asking! At OrnaRoss.com
Love how you're fashioning a transparent intersection between creativity, curiosity and care.
Lovely to (virtually) meet you; look forward to reading more!