if a substack deadline falls in the woods…

Spook Lit · An audiobook club by Dreary Dendrophile · Created by humans for humans

All photos in this post were taken by yours truly

I open my laptop on my janky hospital bed in the asylum where I now live. Every morning I wake up and take inventory of the dozens of other patients strapped to their beds, lined up in row after row throughout the psych ward.

I work a full day in the basement morgue, lifting bodies, shoveling bones, grinding them into a fine silky powder. Tendrils of dust curling around my face like macabre incense.

After work, I visit the community showers next to the fine dining canteen in the catacombs. Black suits and satin gowns shuffle by, raising eyebrows at the white smudges on my scrubs, the dust caked along my arms, the sweat glistening on my forehead.

I shower in a rusty stall and settle on my thin mattress, open my laptop and begin to write. I'm rushing, overwhelmed, trying to publish as quickly as possible. I start and stop a dozen times, not satisfied with the quality, continuing to push..

Finally, exasperated, I slam the laptop shut. I look around the room, close my eyes, and wonder what I'm actually trying to accomplish here.

Out of nowhere, I hear a lone, solemn wolf howl, and I whip my head around to look at a woman sleeping in a hospital bed next to me. She's howling in her sleep. Tentatively, the rest of the room slowly, morosely begin to howl back at her sleepily in response.

I crack open my laptop again, excitedly, intrigued. That's the hook, I think to myself, right before I wake up.

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Hello, and welcome to Spook Lit, your weekend haunt by dreary dendrophile.

I fell a little behind this week with a hiking / ghost hunting day-trip to British Columbia, plus an impromptu Soberversary post. I still have hours of recordings to sift through before I'm ready for my next Spook Lit episode. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a bit delayed.

Like many of you, I struggle with perfectionism and honoring my commitments, while also battling the urge to give myself grace and soften into peace. Choosing rest and reflection over obligation and deliverables can seem like an act of rebellion.

Sometimes I wonder if my self imposed deadlines are just that - me holding myself to the fire to meet some arbitrary date, which for anyone else would go by unnoticed. If a Substack deadline falls in the woods and nobody gives a shit, is it really a missed deadline? As usual, I’m probably overthinking it.

But I’m only human, after all.

So please allow me to turn the tables and ask you a few questions. We’ll be wrapping up our first Spook Lit book in the next few weeks. How is it going, and where do we go from here? This post is open to all subscribers because I’d love to get as much feedback as possible. Even if you’ve never engaged with Spook Lit, I’d still love to hear from you.

If you’d be willing to answer a few brief questions below, I will be eternally grateful. Don’t worry! It’s anonymous. I’d also love to discuss further in the comments. You absolutely will not hurt my feelings. Spook Lit is a new experiment for me, and it’s been a fun challenge. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worthwhile and if so, how to make it better.

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Help a dreary dendrophile out

These questions are just to get a feel for where you’re at. No pressure. No wrong answers. Just vibes.

What do you think about the Spook Lit book club?

• Would you join if it weren’t behind a paywall?

• Did you know you can get access by recommending dreary dendrophile in your Substack feed? (Happy to walk you through that if it helps.)

• Do you want to join but just don’t have the time?

• Are you interested in a book club in theory, but maybe horror isn’t your genre?

How is Spook Lit going so far?

• Do you think it’s fun, but you haven’t had time to catch up? Maybe the episodes are a tad too long?

• Are you mostly here for the dreary dendrophile stories and personal anecdotes?

• Do you (like me) struggle with the older books and the difficult language?

• Would you prefer to participate in a more traditional book club where we read the books together and discuss over Zoom?

How do you feel about group chats? Be honest. I have mixed feelings myself.

• Are they fun and casual? A better way to connect?

• Do they feel performative and overwhelming? Just one more notification feed to scroll?

Please answer in the comments:

• Do you have any ideas or requests for future audiobooks?

• Do you have any other feedback or suggestions to improve Spook Lit or dreary dendrophile in general?

Thank you to the moon and back for taking the time to read and respond. You can answer any of the questions above in the poll or feel free to add additional context in the comments. You can also DM me if you’d like to discuss one on one.

Thank you so much for being my favorite humans of all time. I am so grateful to be here and to be able to share this space with you all. I’m having a blast and I hope you are too.

Hauntingly yours,
dreary dendrophile

You can also make a one-time donation if the spirit moves you.