So, here's where we are.
Well, today is the last day of the I Knew You When sale, the introductory offer to my newsletter.
It's not really possible to overstate how successful this subscription drive has been, nor the whole experiment of moving so much of my output and income over to Substack. It's not a perfect solution. I keep being struck by how fewer people overall are reading the things I put up here compared to when I tweet... but honestly, that's kind of refreshing. I'd forgotten how freeing it can be to write for an audience of hundreds rather than tens of thousands (with a chance of blowing up to millions).
I want to thank everybody who has been reading and spreading the word, whether you're a paid subscriber or not. As several conversations I had at Capclave over the weekend reminded me, nothing is more important when it comes to promotion than people telling other people who know and trust their word "this thing exists and you should check it out."
I am not going to launch my first paid post today, but I'm also not going to extend the sale again. I thought today would be a good day to do something big and semi-ambitious because I am back from a short, low-impact convention that didn't require flying, but I didn't count on a very painful flare-up of my mitochondrial condition. This weekend took a lot out of me.
Usually when my legs start to cramp up I just take it easy for a day. With most of my life online and an ability to do work in my home office, bed, a comfy chair, or even a hot bath, I just ride it out and it's done. But at a convention? When my legs seized up on me Friday, I made the decision to try to power through in order to not miss out, and even with long and frequent breaks things got worse instead of better.
The thing about a chronic fatigue condition is that fatigue is painful and pain is fatiguing, so it's a vicious cycle that just keeps going until something interrupts it.
Right now, the main thing is some stiffness in my lower back and hips that is mainly just a leftover from the weird ways I walked, stood, and sat to alleviate pain in other places, so even though I'm not at 100% I'm still getting a few things done today, albeit cautiously. I have some newsletter pieces already mostly written and ready to go, so there will probably be another Interrobang diary and some personal reflections today and/or in the coming days. I've got something special planned for Halloween, next week.
The first paid post is coming, probably Wednesday. It's a bit experimental (more so than my newsletter generally) and I don't want to be playing catch-up quite this hard when I first run it.