8 Questions for... Tom Fish

Spotlight on Tom Fish Is Away

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Tom Fish

writes Tom Fish Is Away, a travel blog about London and afar that doesn’t actually give you many recommendations. Think travel diaries; less navel-gazing and more awkward urinal encounters, plus interviews with fellow writers about their travel habits.

1. Why Substack?

I could make something up here like that I believe that Substack is challenging the traditional media model, that it is empowering writers to write what they want, when they want it, and that it’s helping to break down the role of gatekeepers between readers and writers. And I think that all of these points are true to some extent. But the truth is I was at a writing group and a very enthusiastic, slightly drunk fellow writer told me about this platform called Substack. He said that despite usually getting no views on his regular blog, on Substack he somehow got 30 views in just a couple of days. At the time 30 views over two days was my version of going viral and so when I wanted to start a new writing project I just came straight to Substack.

2. How long did it take you to find your groove?

A year. For the first year I didn’t take it seriously enough, posting sporadically and without a clear idea of what I wanted Tom Fish Is Away to be. In fact, until very recently it was called Not That You Asked because I felt like I had created yet another blog that nobody had asked for. It was only really in 2023 where I set myself more regular deadlines. Alongside that, I went fully down the road of travel writing, but the kind of travel writing that centres the writer and is meant as entertainment. Often I’m asked about recommendations I have for certain places, and I have to explain that Tom Fish Is Away is more likely to give a window into the endless and exhausting stream of consciousness that is my brain while abroad, rather than tell you where to eat in Rome. 

3. How has it changed you?

I think these last couple of years have really built my confidence and that now I don’t cringe or hedge when calling myself a writer. I used the phrase ‘aspiring writer’ to describe myself for far too long considering I spend a large chunk of my week committing my thoughts to a virtual piece of paper. Now that over 800 people subscribe to read these thoughts on a regular basis, I feel less like a fraud, or like someone writing fan fiction in my mother’s basement.

4. What mistakes have you made?

Oh, loads. Lots of people have talked about how Substack Notes has completely changed the game for them, that they have gained thousands of followers. So rather than really leaning into that I’ve for some reason tended to dip in and out and haven’t put as much effort as I should to connecting with others on Substack. And then on the writing front there’s all the typos and poorly worded sentences that if I read them back would make me want to throw my laptop down the nearest drain. I never re-read my posts after they’ve gone out into the world, if I ever have to it makes me consider selling all of my possessions and moving to a cabin in the desert that doesn’t have Wi-Fi.

5. To pay or not to pay?

It took me a while to gather the confidence to turn on paid subscriptions, but when I did it was extremely gratifying to discover people would part with their money to read my writing. I only have a few paid subscribers but I’m very grateful for them. I firmly believe in the idea of paying for the art you love, and from a selfish perspective, one day I would like writing to be my only job, not just one of my jobs, so it’s important to me to have this as a feature of my Substack. Plus I do just love having cash and though you can’t buy happiness you can buy Coke Zero and cheesecake to eat in the bath and that’s pretty close.

6. What artistic and technical choices have you made?

God, I wouldn’t give myself the credit or kudos of saying I’ve made conscious artistic or technical choices. In a regular post I’m essentially trying to describe a place and do that in a funny way. I suppose the only rule I have made for myself is that because I’m trying to be funny, the butt of the joke should usually be me. I’m really not into the kind of travel writing that visits a place and says, “Jesus, aren’t these people weird.” I’m the one frantically noting things down so that I can tell strangers on the internet about it. The people I meet on my travels are just living their lives.

7. What’s been the effect on your writing?

I like to think it’s got better. I started my Substack because I realised that despite wanting to be a writer, I wasn’t writing regularly. Which seems silly when I look back, but it had become normal for me. I find it easier to write now, but I do find it hard not to get sidetracked and start a whole new Substack on books or road cycling or Law and Order. In fact, I have become sidetracked and started a Substack about road cycling. So, I guess I could spin that in a positive way to say it’s made me more enthusiastic about writing about even more subjects. Rather than just say, I’d like to procrastinate writing my travel Substack by dreaming up whole new Substacks.

8. In it for the long haul?

Definitely. I love it here. I’ve met some great people, and it genuinely boggles my mind that over 1000 people subscribe to read my writing. I’m very grateful to Substack for providing this space for me to grow and for me to discover that I could actually do this writing thing for a living one day. I’m so glad they didn’t sell it to Elon.

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Tom Fish