Welcome to the first official SmallStack Seed Pod!
A Seed Pod is a group of people who agree to publish articles around a common theme and lift each other up through cross-promotion. This Seed Pod is open to anyone who wants to participate. Let’s lift each other up together!
Key details:
This Seed Pod will officially run Sept 2–22. This thread will remain open for the duration of the pod.
The Seed Pod theme is libraries. If you have something fun to write, make, draw, or create that’s library-related, we want you in the pod!
This thread is the Seed Pod HQ. Use this thread to share your post about libraries and find other pod members’ posts to like, comment, and restack.
To participate in this Seed Pod:
1. Create an original post on the theme of libraries.
You can interpret this theme as broadly as you like. As long as your post is even tangentially library-related, it counts!
2. Add the following blurb to the top of your post. You should be able to just copy-paste the text below.
The following post is part of a Seed Pod collaboration about libraries. Seed Pods are a SmallStack community project designed to help smaller publications lift each other up by publishing and cross-promoting around a common theme. We’re helping each other plant the seeds for growth!
3. Add the following blurb and badge to the bottom of your post.
Want to see more posts from this Seed Pod or join in on the fun? Head over to our thread to learn more!
Here is some alt text you can use for the badge: Cartoon of three green happy peas in a pod on a plain yellow background with a dotted orange border. Black text by the peas reads, "Seed Pods; A SmallStack Community Project”
Here’s an example of a completed Seed Pod post with the blurb and badge.
4. Publish the post on your own substack. Then use this thread to share the link and a short comment about the post.
Don’t have time to write something immediately? No worries! This thread will stay open until Sept 22, and you can post right up until the end.
5. Check out others’ Seed Pod posts in this thread.
Engaging in this thread is great and highly encouraged, but don’t stop there. Visit the actual posts and like, comment, and restack your favorites. Maybe you’ll even want to subscribe to a few new creators. That’s how we help each other grow!
Friendly reminder: have fun, make friends, and try new things!
Use this thread as a space to have fun and experiment. If you aren’t sure what to create, ask others to help you brainstorm ideas. If someone has shared something you really love, make sure to let them know!
One last thing
If you have your own idea for a Seed Pod, you don’t have to wait for us. You can use the blurb and badge above to start a pod yourself! We’re working on a downloadable guide to creating, managing, and promoting your own Seed Pod that will be available in early October.
I'm so excited for our first-ever Seed Pod! Here's my post to kick things off: I asked my fellow Substackers what they love about libraries, and I got 17 wonderful responses back! As I began to lay out the post, I realized that I had a collection of love letters to libraries on my hands. An auspicious start if ever there was! In the spirit of lifting each other up, I welcome your likes, shares, comments, and restacks. https://creativeletters.substack.com/p/16-love-letters-to-libraries
Sep 2·edited Sep 2Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G.
Love this idea. This would be extremely random (and very off brand) for my readership, so I don't think I can participate. But I just wanted to offer a comment of support for this idea!
Thanks, Kevin! Luckily you can support the Seed Pod even without writing about libraries by liking, sharing, and commenting on others' posts in this thread. 😊
Sep 2Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G.
I love this great idea and theme, but could I re-post an article I wrote in February for my Substack, adding the blurb and the badge? It is about books, reading, and libraries are mentioned too.
Sep 2Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G.
I love libraries going back to when I was in high school and worked after school and during summer hours in the local public library. Then in college, I worked a few hours during the week to make some extra money working in the library. I have warm and wonderful memories of those days. I have also spent hoursin various libraries working on term papers working on my doctoral dissertation and just wondering around through all the isles perusing all the books. I am very excited about this and I’m looking forward.
Sep 3Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G., Cheshir
Let the books be open! Thank you Robin Cangie and Robin Taylor for this wonderful cooperative opportunity. My love of libraries goes back to my childhood and the house that was converted into The Bennett Public Library in Billerica, Massachusetts. Perhaps that's why I was drawn to the subject and my interpretation:
Yep, and you don’t even need our permission! Seed Pods are a community project. The blurb and the badge are available for anyone to use, and anyone can start their own Seed Pod on any topic that interests them. Next month, we’re actually releasing a guide on how to create and manage your own Seed Pod. I should note that community-created Seed Pods won’t be SmallStack-led and hosted in the way that this one is. The idea is that anyone can follow the Seed Pods model to run their own collaboration.
Sep 3Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G., Cheshir
Serendipity - my featured Square Peg Woman is known as the Mother of English Prose (Chaucer got the Poetry prize) The original manuscripts were found in the British Library, that is LIBRARY- under magic and witchcraft!
The imagined interview will be available for your delectation from 9pm UK time on 4th September Wednesday and will proudly display the Small Stack blurb.
What a wonderful poem, Ryn! This resonates so much: "The idea of cultivating an Abundance Mindset in a world that manufactures scarcity is a challenge for me. And I can’t deny the power of accepting abundance where it exists freely." Same, same, same.
Sep 3Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Erin Michaela Sweeney, Rose G., Cheshir
I hadn't even heard of this Seed Pod, but it popped up in my feed, and my post today happened to be about libraries. Serendipity! My post is on opening a bookshop with no experience other than basically living at my local library growing up. I'm looking forward to diving into all your wonderful posts about libraries.
Sep 3Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G., Cheshir
Hey Small Stack folks! :) Sharing here my little contribution. Thanks for picking out a great theme - I was able to integrate it into my original plan for my weekly post. And I think doing so made it even better! So excited to read everyone's work, too.
Sep 5Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G.
is it bad behavior if we don't label it exactly? the badge and the wording doesn't fit the vibe of my page, but I'd love to make it my own (and i wrote something already!)
Sep 5Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G., Cheshir
I have loved thinking about what to share about a library and how magical it can be. This is my second contribution and maybe not my last. It’s just too fun to stop. I have loved reading all of yours as well!
Hello, here is my Seed Pod post featuring libraries. Reading through all the nostalgic posts in this thread was a treat, but it made me realize that mine was a little different. I think I took the idea of libraries as inspiration rather than a central topic, so it's more of a featured guest in my post.
Let's keep on writing about libraries! This Seed Pod will be running until Sept 22!
Sep 5Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G., Cheshir
This was fun. Now that I wrote this I should work on the original project - a press release. Never underestimate what people can offer. It isn't always about the coins in the donation box.
Sep 5Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G., Cheshir
I love this Seed Pod idea, just got finished with my contribution. I just used the library prompt as a sort of free write, but I kinda like how it turned out. It's a short piece, but I think it hits what libraries mean to me. Can't wait to read and share all of your contributions as well! https://petersmetanick.substack.com/p/your-life-as-a-writer
Sep 5Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G.
Thanks for reading Robin and I loved your post as well! Hearing the different memories and feelings around libraries really brought me back to my earliest library experiences. This has been fun and I'll be checking back as more pods come in!
Sep 6Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G.
I literally grew up in libraries because my mum worked as a librarian - will try and see if I can find a way to connect my newsletter themes with this topic! Looking forward to browsing.
Sep 6Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G., Cheshir
What a great way of sharing stories! Here's my contribution - something that's been gathering dust in my Google Drive for a while now, just waiting for the right opportunity to come along!
Sep 6Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Rose G.
HAUNTING the LIBRARY...Your photos remind me of potent images from "Wings of Desire," the Wim Wenders film shot in Berlin. Many scenes of angels hanging out in the library!
Sep 6Liked by Robin Cangie (she/her), Robin Taylor (he/him), Erin Michaela Sweeney, Rose G.
Thank you 🙏🏼 This has likely been said many times, but it felt like a revelation to me: "Libraries are a home for Imagination." Also a haven, a palace, a motherland, a refuge...
I'm so excited for our first-ever Seed Pod! Here's my post to kick things off: I asked my fellow Substackers what they love about libraries, and I got 17 wonderful responses back! As I began to lay out the post, I realized that I had a collection of love letters to libraries on my hands. An auspicious start if ever there was! In the spirit of lifting each other up, I welcome your likes, shares, comments, and restacks. https://creativeletters.substack.com/p/16-love-letters-to-libraries
This was a wonderful post, perfect for an introduction!
and to books as a collective noun- worlds of possibilities of learning joy, tears life- a space to lose yourself to find yourself - bliss of blissness
That is soooo cool !!!!
I love this idea Robins et al! I am excited to see what people come up with!
love the Robin et al - bibliography - you are right on trend here!
Great theme!
Just started working on my contribution! Thank you so much for taking the time to bring this community together.
Yay! I can't wait to read it, Lizzy!
Love this!
Here’s my small contribution!😊
https://open.substack.com/pub/labonnevie/p/summer-reading?r=2h0ppk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Wonderful, Rachel! Now I want to have a "reading meal" too!
Loved it Rachel! 💜
I love the idea of reading meals and we seem to have the same taste in books.
Love this idea. This would be extremely random (and very off brand) for my readership, so I don't think I can participate. But I just wanted to offer a comment of support for this idea!
Thanks, Kevin! Luckily you can support the Seed Pod even without writing about libraries by liking, sharing, and commenting on others' posts in this thread. 😊
Nice! Will do
I love this great idea and theme, but could I re-post an article I wrote in February for my Substack, adding the blurb and the badge? It is about books, reading, and libraries are mentioned too.
Hi Portia, go for it! Reposting is a great way to repurpose existing content and expand your reach as a creator.
Thanks, Robin!
Here it is: https://bppersio.substack.com/p/a-library-mouse
Loved your post, Portia! a fellow library mouse
Great idea!
Being part of a community is so fun. I love this idea. Here is my tangent connected to a library. IYKYK
https://open.substack.com/pub/applesinaseed/p/bigger-on-the-inside?r=43ceb8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Love it! What a great analogy for libraries.
I love this idea so much! <3
I have no idea what is meant by "Then use this thread to share the link and a short comment about the post." but here goes. https://chrisgartland.substack.com/p/go-back-to-the-beginning-09282018-782
You did it perfectly, Chris!
Gotta say as a school librarian, I love this topic! ;)
Here's my post: https://jessiemay.substack.com/p/libraries-are-the-second-defense
Jessie, you are my childhood hero!
I’m glad you had a great school librarian! It’s a job I’m lucky to have, being able to very directly encourage kids to learn about what they love!
Great idea. Hmmmm. I'll have to break out another prompt book and pull something together that will fit. Looking forward to sharing.
I’m excited for you to share it, Vince!
Really cool idea and I'm excited to see the different themes. Here is my small edition. https://open.substack.com/pub/dontdieafool/p/libraries-are-awesome?r=gnlur&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Thanks Jesse! Libraries ARE awesome!
My very first Substack post was a tip encouraging my readers to get library cards https://open.substack.com/pub/jotjustonething/p/jot-unlock-a-world-of-free-learning?r=ae2fb&utm_medium=ios
Awesome, Teri! I can see we're of like minds. 😁
This is such a great idea - looking forward to reading everyone's contributions. Here is my own take on it: https://open.substack.com/pub/wordsandstories/p/dont-it-always-seem-to-go?r=2j3m2w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Thanks for joining the pod, Linda! I, too, am a huge fan of my digital library card.
This is very exciting.
I love libraries going back to when I was in high school and worked after school and during summer hours in the local public library. Then in college, I worked a few hours during the week to make some extra money working in the library. I have warm and wonderful memories of those days. I have also spent hoursin various libraries working on term papers working on my doctoral dissertation and just wondering around through all the isles perusing all the books. I am very excited about this and I’m looking forward.
Thank you! Are you planning to contribute? 😁
No promises but I will try
Let the books be open! Thank you Robin Cangie and Robin Taylor for this wonderful cooperative opportunity. My love of libraries goes back to my childhood and the house that was converted into The Bennett Public Library in Billerica, Massachusetts. Perhaps that's why I was drawn to the subject and my interpretation:
https://amymcgrathhughes.substack.com/p/angels-demons-and-first-editions
Great post and photos, Amy! Did you actually get to visit the Good Omens set?
For this article, sadly no. Yet, there are many more avenues to travel. I hope to be there one day.
Can I start a seed pod on 9/11 with my own topic?
Yep, and you don’t even need our permission! Seed Pods are a community project. The blurb and the badge are available for anyone to use, and anyone can start their own Seed Pod on any topic that interests them. Next month, we’re actually releasing a guide on how to create and manage your own Seed Pod. I should note that community-created Seed Pods won’t be SmallStack-led and hosted in the way that this one is. The idea is that anyone can follow the Seed Pods model to run their own collaboration.
Serendipity - my featured Square Peg Woman is known as the Mother of English Prose (Chaucer got the Poetry prize) The original manuscripts were found in the British Library, that is LIBRARY- under magic and witchcraft!
The imagined interview will be available for your delectation from 9pm UK time on 4th September Wednesday and will proudly display the Small Stack blurb.
https://drlucymmorleywilliams.substack.com
So excited to see it!
This is a fun prompt! I can't wait to read what all of you offer. Here's mine:
https://open.substack.com/pub/maryaustin/p/rediscovering-the-magic-of-childrens?r=3ghbv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
What a wonderful post, Mary! I really want to read Jungle Cat now. 😸
You will not be disappointed, Robin!
Terrific post, Mary. Wonderful recommendations. And I very much love the idea of libraries ensuring you're never lonely. Rings true for me too.
Thank you, Holly!
When I saw the theme was libraries, I was excited for the fresh motivation to finally finish this poem that’s been lingering in my drafts:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thecreativecourageproject/p/cant-believe-my-luck?r=sqait&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
What a wonderful poem, Ryn! This resonates so much: "The idea of cultivating an Abundance Mindset in a world that manufactures scarcity is a challenge for me. And I can’t deny the power of accepting abundance where it exists freely." Same, same, same.
Loved the poem and the notion of libraries as the embodiment of abundance.
This is so inspiring I sat down and wrote about a favourite library straight away. I could write a love letter to the particular library in this piece—but it kind of is a love letter. https://open.substack.com/pub/lisanbolin/p/solace-between-the-pages?r=37rlo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Dang, that is one magnificent library! And such a great story, too. Thank you for sharing, Lisa!
It is stunning! 🤩 thanks for the lovely topic
I hadn't even heard of this Seed Pod, but it popped up in my feed, and my post today happened to be about libraries. Serendipity! My post is on opening a bookshop with no experience other than basically living at my local library growing up. I'm looking forward to diving into all your wonderful posts about libraries.
https://escapetothebookshop.substack.com/p/how-much-experience-do-you-need-to
How fortuitous! I'm so glad you found us. 😊
Love the serendipity!
Hey Small Stack folks! :) Sharing here my little contribution. Thanks for picking out a great theme - I was able to integrate it into my original plan for my weekly post. And I think doing so made it even better! So excited to read everyone's work, too.
https://open.substack.com/pub/buhaycopywriter/p/the-libraries-that-made-us-the-writers?r=aowli&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
That's so cool, Regina! I also read and loved many of the same books you named in your post. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks as well, Robin & Robin, for making this pod possible. :) I enjoyed the exercise!
Scheduled my contribution for later this week, so excited!
https://www.thelizzycoshow.com/p/smallstack-seed-pod-libraries-edition
Can’t wait to read it, Lizzy!
Was fun - 1 to expand on an old post; 2 not cringe while rereading that old post 😅 and 3 great to support the community here!
https://open.substack.com/pub/wirepine/p/libraries-and-ai?r=2fcl4a&utm_medium=ios
Great post, Andrew! You brought me back to my college days and the hours I used to spend reading newspapers on microfilm. Oh, the eye strain!
lol not sure that’s a good thing! My other not-so-found memories of university libraries was wandering through endless stacks in the basement 🙀
I already had the perfect story to add to the prompt! It's about the time I got locked in the library as a freshman in high school! This was before anyone had a cell phone. https://open.substack.com/pub/thebananashow/p/library-memories-that-time-i-got-212?r=1vh42t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Whoa, what a story! Thanks for sharing, Annie! You kinda sound like you were a teenage badass. 😉
Haha thanks
Also, thank you for doing this! It's a great idea!
My contribution to Seed Pod 1: How I Rediscovered Libraries as a Parent https://dadtechrescue.substack.com/p/rediscovering-libraries-as-a-parent
Woohoo! Great to have you. P.S. Awesome substack name! 😁
is it bad behavior if we don't label it exactly? the badge and the wording doesn't fit the vibe of my page, but I'd love to make it my own (and i wrote something already!)
If you want to modify the wording a bit, go ahead! Please don't make any changes to the badge, but feel free to omit it.
thanks!
I have loved thinking about what to share about a library and how magical it can be. This is my second contribution and maybe not my last. It’s just too fun to stop. I have loved reading all of yours as well!
https://open.substack.com/pub/applesinaseed/p/silence-in-the-library?r=43ceb8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
I am so delighted to read this!
This was fun https://open.substack.com/pub/tamchennell/p/something-a-little-different-smallstacks?r=2mh4vu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true words are not my friend so photography it is.
Tam, this is definitely the most adorable Seed Pod post I've seen so far! 😍
What a great idea!
Thank you for the inspiration and the community collaboration. Here is my contribution: https://open.substack.com/pub/nerdyqagirl/p/libraries-are-my-gateway-drug?r=3cupkn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Library acrostics goes firmly into the category of, "Why didn't I think of that???" Brilliant!
Hello, here is my Seed Pod post featuring libraries. Reading through all the nostalgic posts in this thread was a treat, but it made me realize that mine was a little different. I think I took the idea of libraries as inspiration rather than a central topic, so it's more of a featured guest in my post.
Let's keep on writing about libraries! This Seed Pod will be running until Sept 22!
https://bigcheshir.substack.com/p/i-am-a-library
This is one of the freshest and most fascinating explorations of our libraries theme that I have yet seen. Thank you, Cheshir!
This was a cool take on the theme! Thanks for sharing it with us Cheshir!
I loved this so much Cheshir!
Lovely idea, I have written something for 16/9 in line with my regular schedule, hope that's ok! I will post it here
That's awesome, Johanna! Looking forward to reading it.
I won't be participating this time, but this is a fantastic, community-and-sharing-orientated idea and I certainly will in future - thank you!
Thanks John! I look forward to your future participation!
This was fun. Now that I wrote this I should work on the original project - a press release. Never underestimate what people can offer. It isn't always about the coins in the donation box.
https://stacyboone.substack.com/p/cumulative-point-value-10864
Your post is such a great reminder of the libraries and communities and reinforce each other. Thank you, Stacy!
Dig this. And have published my SeedPod post on my stack.
Awesome, Nicolas! Feel free to share the link here, too, so we can all easily read, like, and comment. 😊
Cheers, Robin,
Here you go
https://substack.com/home/post/p-148541120?r=dy6ul&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
LIBRARY LOVE
This SmallStack Seed pod theme of love and libraries opened new doors of discovery 💗
I fell back in love with the transformative, healing powers of imagination.
And the desire to create a collection of imaginative experiences, a repository for others to explore.
Yay! In a few weeks, I'll complete a free library of 52 5-minute practices here on Substack.
Tomorrow's post explores the ancient framework behind this library. Happy to be in this Seed Pod! 🙏🏼
That sounds like so much fun, Christine! Looking forward to both of those things!
Thank you, Robin 🙏🏼 I had fun wandering the 'stacks' of my mostly brave, creative imagination. Excited to invite others (that's the dream, right?)
I love this Seed Pod idea, just got finished with my contribution. I just used the library prompt as a sort of free write, but I kinda like how it turned out. It's a short piece, but I think it hits what libraries mean to me. Can't wait to read and share all of your contributions as well! https://petersmetanick.substack.com/p/your-life-as-a-writer
Thanks for sharing this, Peter! I always enjoy a good free write, and I loved how immersive yours was.
Thanks for reading Robin and I loved your post as well! Hearing the different memories and feelings around libraries really brought me back to my earliest library experiences. This has been fun and I'll be checking back as more pods come in!
restacked, commented, liked!
I've been watching so many of you contribute your stories and thoughts about libraries, and I simply couldn't wait to toss my own in the ring.
https://open.substack.com/pub/transfriend/p/libraries-are-gay?r=1zubfe&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Awwwww... 🥹
How beautifully written! High stakes and sweet, sweet deets. Thank you 🙏🏼
My contribution just posted! It’s a joyful sonnet about wanting to be a book in a library when I’m gone one day.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thelizzycoshow/p/smallstack-seed-pod-libraries-edition?r=2lwzm6&utm_medium=ios
I loved reading this sonnet. I feel like the image of my ashes being written into a book
is going to stick with me.
Wow, thanks, Ryn! That means a lot!
There's such rich imagery in your poem, Lizzy. Thank you for sharing your words with us!
love this! comment + restack
I literally grew up in libraries because my mum worked as a librarian - will try and see if I can find a way to connect my newsletter themes with this topic! Looking forward to browsing.
Growing up in a library sounds like the best childhood ever. I am envious!
Me too! How dreamy to grow up surrounded by all those books...
What a great way of sharing stories! Here's my contribution - something that's been gathering dust in my Google Drive for a while now, just waiting for the right opportunity to come along!
https://open.substack.com/pub/markhobbs/p/glasgow-university-library?r=1xo9ui&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Oh my gosh, I want to visit that library! So glad you shared your memories with us, Mark!
HAUNTING the LIBRARY...Your photos remind me of potent images from "Wings of Desire," the Wim Wenders film shot in Berlin. Many scenes of angels hanging out in the library!
I LOVE YOUR IMAGINATION.
Libraries are a home for Imagination.
I didn't realize I'm growing a FREE LIBRARY of 52 prompts for your imagination here on Substack.
Thanks for this beautiful Seed Pod idea and theme!
https://heartsquest.substack.com/p/let-imagination-rewire-old-stories
A post about imagination AND libraries??? Two of my all-time favorite things! So glad you're part of the Seed Pod, Christine!
Thank you 🙏🏼 This has likely been said many times, but it felt like a revelation to me: "Libraries are a home for Imagination." Also a haven, a palace, a motherland, a refuge...