The only constant is change

Approaching the Dear Writer anniversary, and considering what's next

Dear Writer,

On June 29, 2021, I started Dear Writer because I wanted to get back to writing, and I knew my life wasn’t going to accommodate my getting back to actual writing for a while. I started making changes, making plans, figuring out how I was going to get my life to that place and Writer… I did it. I moved to Colorado. I sold my house. I quit my job. And now…

…well, now I’m doing a newsletter every week that I think has value, but honestly? I’m a little bored by it.

I’m gonna tell you the absolute truth; I hate email. I mean… I hate it. Most of it is harassment from companies I purchased one thing from in 2004 and they just can’t get over me. A chunk is reminders about bills I need to pay or documents I need to sign. Every now and again, I’ll get a notification that some residual money is coming in (I like those) but mostly, email feels like I’m just being shouted at about deadlines and bills and HEY YOU BOUGHT SOMETHING FROM ME ONCE I REALLY LIKE THAT WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN?

Email used to be personal. I used to use it to keep in touch with friends. Now, I text or Slack chat with friends, and only email them when I need to send them an attachment. Email is no longer personal, and as such, I have an innate ugh response to it that I have to actively get over in order to enjoy reading anything in it.

But because I started a Substack and I wanted to learn about the medium, I also subscribed to just a ton of Substacks. A lot of them are great, and I’ve met a lot of amazing writers and they’re creating really interesting work… but there are only two I subscribe to that get me past my absolute hatred of email to actually read them¹: The Ladybird Purse by Keris Stainton and Story Club by George Saunders.

I’ve known Keris for years, sort of casually through writer networks, and I’ve always really liked her, so when I saw she had a Substack, I signed up. But knowing and liking Keris isn’t why I kept reading. I kept reading because she’s writing from a real, honest, vulnerable space as she tries to heal her broken relationship with money. Like I said, I hate email, but when that one comes in, I read it.

I reached out to George Saunders briefly via email because we’re both writers and we were both recommended in the same Substack newsletter and we both taught at Syracuse University and he was just lovely. I think if I realized what a big deal he was, I wouldn’t have reached out, but I don’t really read the kind of fiction he writes, any more than he probably reads the kind of fiction I write. But it’s specifically because I don’t read the kind of fiction that he writes and talks about that I was drawn to Story Club. So much instruction. So much new material. I love learning new things. I signed up for the paid subscription and have had no time to keep up with it, but now I’m going back through and reading the short stories and responses, and really enjoying it.

So, as someone who hates email and has no energy for newsletters, I looked at these two that got me past my hatred of email and decided I should write what I like to read.

And that’s why I’m changing things up a bit.

Here on the Wednesday letter, I want to be real and connected. When I write to you, I want you to feel like a friend is reaching out, and I want to feel like I’m writing to a friend. I want us to go through this together. Some weeks, I’ll be writing to you about writing. Some weeks, it’ll be just random thoughts about life. Some weeks, it might be funny stories about how I took a header while running at Red Rocks Amphitheater…

Before…

…and after.

…and other days I might talk about how I just watched an entire season of Married at First Sight and am Having Thoughts about both reality television and marriage, neither of which is served well by this show.

But I’m going to be writing those letters to you, every Wednesday, and the history of those paid letters from the archive will be going free as of June 29, 2022. The accompanying podcast will also be going public and free as of that date as well.

For the Saturday paid tier, we’re going to be more interactive. The Saturday paid tier is for discussion and participation. Our first paid-tier adventure, the Dear Writer Book Group, is launching this weekend with The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin and I’m really excited about all of this, so if you are, too, now’s the time to subscribe.

Every few weeks, we’ll morph. Maybe we’ll watch a movie and talk about that next. Or a season of a TV show. Read a comic book or graphic novel. Sometimes, we’ll do writing workshop stuff; I’ll critique scenes if a member wants to submit something to me to share with the group, and I’ll submit a scene of mine from time to time for y’all to read and give feedback on.

Wednesday is when I reach out to y’all; Saturday is when you reach back.

Anyway, that’s the plan. I hope it sounds like fun to you. I’m really looking forward to it.

Everything,

L

1. I will say, the Substack app has helped me a bit to read more great newsletters. This isn’t about the quality of those newsletters, it’s really just about me vs. email.