Margin Notes from September 🖊️ 💌

a recap of what overflowed from this month’s essays and into the margins

Hello, diva. Welcome to the end of September; you survived the end of the summer and have made it to the blissful, cozy part of the year. Fall lowers the temperature for everything; it’s also a wonderful opportunity to slow down, pause, and reflect on how you want to spend the last quarter of 2025.

As I looked back on the past two months of writing consistently on Substack, I found there’s more I want to say that doesn’t quite fit into my weekly newsletter. News on Julia’s Shelf Discovery, what books I’m reading, where I’m finding inspiration, and connections I’ve made after pressing “send.” That’s where this edition comes in: a monthly recap of everything that overflowed and spilled into the margins of my legal pad and journals. An opportunity for you to get to know this melancholy marketer outside of the 700ish words you read every week, and for me to share more about the person behind the email notification.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Relatively Unfiltered Diary Reflection

I know it’s rather cliché, but September has truly felt like an invitation for a fresh start. Not in a cozy way that a warm cup of coffee entices you, but in the way a cold shower wakes you up first thing in the morning—a cleansing shock to the system.

This month has been so kind to me energetically. Everything I want suddenly feels attainable: the daily move goal, the new skill (sewing), waking up earlier, and writing. I am writing so much. Substack has become the app I gravitate towards the most, and my overall time spent on social media has declined (I honestly spend most of it watching sewing tutorials my friend’s DM me). Every day, I have a new idea for Diary of a Melancholy Marketer, a new dimension I will explore, in time.

I’m writing everything down, not letting any avenue go unrecorded or deeming anything too silly or far-fetched. I’m hoarding all the little “what ifs” like a dragon with her treasures, burying them between the margins of my notebooks for safekeeping. Nothing feels impossible right now. And that feels so magical, addicting.

Writing Rituals I’m Vibing With

I imagine this section will evolve as my writing practice does, but I want to document the micro-changes I’m making as I grow. This way, they don’t become invisible, or worse, disappear altogether. Here’s my current writing ecosystem and how I use each to support putting pen to paper daily.

Legal pad for drafting and spatial planning. The dimensions are perfect for actually sitting down and plotting what I want my newsletters to look like. Where do I want to put photos? Where does text need to be broken up? What’s the best location for the buttons? My legal pad stays my drafting darling.
Hobonichi Weeks Mega for more traditional bullet/junk journaling. It’s where my long-term goal setting happens: new year agreements and themes, number of books I want to read in a year, fitness tracking, my daily square rating, weekly appointments, junk journaling, and diary entries no one else will see. She’s where I go when I need to get something off my chest or want to use an obscene amount of washi tape and stickers.
Travelers Passport for chicken-scratch and micro-moments. This bite-sized baby is the newest diva in my journal ecosystem and was purchased because of Diary of a Melancholy Marketer. I see so much potential in this creative project, and I’m having so much fun that I wanted something that could easily accompany me. She lives in my purse and houses my mini to-do lists, drafts of articles that come to me in flashes, ramblings, and miscellaneous musings.

I’m also loving the fountain pen pictured above that my husband gave me to complement the size of my traveler’s journal. First of all, she’s gorgeous. Secondly, the ink dries quickly (because it’s a fountain pen), so it keeps me from overthinking and keeps my hand moving. Lastly, I’ve been listening to a lot of classical music. I find that I can’t listen to songs with lyrics while I work, lo-fi hip-hop drives me a bit mad after hour two, and silence is a last resort.

Library By Alyssa (because writers are readers too)

Below is everything I’ve read in September:

On Writing (and Writers), by C.S. Lewis: An engaging, quick read with tons of digestible lessons for aspiring writers. I really enjoyed the formatting, which was correspondence from Lewis to students, colleagues, and friends, sorted by topic (such as fiction, sci-fi, religious writing, poetry, and children’s writing).
Love Haters, by Katherine Center: Definitely didn’t want to close out summer-themed reads with a 2-star rating, but here we are! There really wasn’t anything I liked about this book, but if you’re interested in hearing me be a hater, check out my bookstagram.

I’m currently reading:

Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang: Two grad students journey through Hel in an attempt to bring their advisor back to the land of the living. Between the Greek mythology, philosophy, critique of higher education, and Kuang’s dry sense of humor, I’m eating up every word. I’m about 70% done and already know this will be one of my top reads of the year.

I don’t even want to proclaim what I’m planning to read in October, because that changes every other hour, and I try not to lie.

What’s New With Julia’s Shelf Discovery

On top of this weekly newsletter, and working full-time running a marketing department, I’m also a self-published children’s author. My debut book follows a little girl named Julia (after my little sister), as she journeys through different literary genres.

I’m attending my first event for my book later this month, and couldn’t be more ecstatic. I’ll be doing a read-aloud, selling stickers, and signing copies of my book. I’ll be back next month to tell you all about it.

If you’d like to help spread the word, please share this post ❤

Well, diva, this was a long one. Thank you for reading until the end. This corner of the internet has quickly become a favorite of mine, and it’s all because of you! Two months and 56 subscribers later, I feel like a professor giving a rhetoric and writing lecture every week. If you don’t know me in real life, just know that means I’m kinda living my dream.

All my love,

Alyssa

This space is built in the margins of my full-time job. “Buy Me a Coffee” is my virtual tip jar, helping sustain the writing (and the writer) behind it.

Buy me a coffee ☕

Authored By Alyssa