Happy DW-versary!
One year ago today...
Dear Writer,
When I wrote my first book, Time Off for Good Behavior, during Nanowrimo of 2002, I had no idea what I was doing. I was just hanging out with a bunch of other writers from a group I was casually part of online, because I wanted to write. I had no idea where it would lead, how fundamentally that one whimsical decision on October 31, 2002 would change my life, but it did.
And that’s the thing about me. I’m whimsical. I try on new things and new situations and dance around in them a bit to see if I like how they twirl, and then I either stick with it, or let it go. I did that with writing in 2002. I did it with podcasting in 2007. And in 2021, one year ago this very day, I did it with Substack.
My anniversary verdict: I like how Substack twirls.
I liked knowing y’all were out there, and that I had to write every week in order to keep my commitment to you. I like that you motivated me to write something when I wasn’t writing fiction. I liked that I could talk about writing stuff, and other stuff. And now that I have three fiction projects in various stages of writing and development, I like that I can talk to you all about it.
There’s only one thing I don’t like: the paywall. I get why it’s there and I get why it works for other writers, but it just doesn’t work for me. I don’t like putting a paywall line in my posts; I don’t like holding content back from people who are signing up to hear from me, and I don’t like charging for stuff when I’m not doing anything really organized.
I’m just chatting with you here, and I like that. I don’t want to be particularly organized here. And sometimes, I’m going to have to take a bit of a break… for instance, later this month I’m going to be in Columbus getting my kid into their new apartment, so Dear Writer will be on a short hiatus in the second half of July.
Dear Writer is going all free, all the time
As of today, I am pausing billing on Dear Writer, and all historical posts will be made publicly available.
The podcast of readings from the first year of posts is still private—as in, you won’t find it in your podcast app of choice via search—but anyone who wants to sign up for it can, regardless of your level of financial support.
I don’t know if there will be new readings for things going forward. Maybe? If I do, though, Substack has a very cool audio option that just embeds the reading into the posts so I’ll probably just do that.
Right now, I’ve got a number of new podcasts on the burner for Chipperish, three writing projects in progress and videos to make for TikTok and YouTube. I want Dear Writer to be a space where we can just hang out, have fun, and talk about writing.
If you’d still like to support me…
That said, I’m living entirely on book sales and Patreon right now, so your support is everything in keeping me up and running during this transition.
As such, I’ve set up a $7/month Dear Writer tier on the Chipperish Patreon. If you join my Patreon, you get access to the occasional exclusive Patreon bonuses (the first episode of my new comics podcast, In The Gutter, is up there). You also gain access to the Discord community, and we have a #DearWriter channel there where we can chat in more depth about things we talk about here. If you are currently a patron, you already have access to that, but if you’re below the Dear Writer level and would like to bump, that will definitely help.
If you don’t have the funds to be a regular Patreon supporter, there are other ways you can show your support:
Buy a copy of How Story Works
Review How Story Works or the Chipperish podcasts or recommend Dear Writer
Recommend me as a workshop leader to writers groups you’re a part of
Send writers you know to my website for private consultations
But in the end, whether you can support me financially or not, I just want to be here talking about writing with y’all.
The plan going forward
Dear Writer will be once a week from here on out, on Saturdays. You’ll get a mix of letters and discussions (like the Rom Com Review I’m doing now) and Patreon supporters at any level can join in further discussion on the Chipperish Discord channel, but of course, comments and community are welcomed here. I’d love to get to know you all and hear your thoughts in the comments here as well.
And that’s it! Thanks so much for taking this ride with me.
Everything,
L