Dear Ones,

Excuse the dust as I’ve been making changes to this newsletter. I’m upgrading everyone who is an existing subscriber to the new paid tier for free.

Thank you for being OGs!

• The free tier will focus on supporting readers towards a life filled with joys from writing, meditation, and friendship.

• The paid tier will include behind-the-scenes content, the “meta” around constructing a life of writing, meditation, and friendship. Vulnerable, raw, human stuff that gets into the weeds.

I’ll alternate writing posts for free/paid, so each will be published 2-weekly.

Since you as an existing subscriber are added to both, I will continue to appear in your inbox every week on Sundays.

Why am I starting a paid tier for this newsletter?

• Clarity of Intent: As I’m embarking on the Write of Passage mentor journey, I am exposing this newsletter to new folks who don’t have context about this publication. While I started this newsletter as a means of sharing my creator life and building in public, I’m seeing that my posts tend to split between two broad categories of intent: one to educate, and one to share the raw vulnerable stuff. By having free/paid tier, I can separate these intents so folks can choose what they wish to receive.

• Two-Way Permission: New subscribers might be in for an unpleasant shock if say, they receive a vulnerable post when they were expecting something along the lines of writing tips! There’s a need to express permission from both myself and the recipient: The paywall ensures opting in to vulnerable content. It also increases the sense of safety for me, and allow me to share with an intimate group.

• Writing as Vocation: As I dedicate myself to teaching writing, I’d like to be more explicit about constructing livelihood through words (i.e. more avenues of monetary/value exchange, i.e. get paid.) It becomes a welcomed challenge—to justify the paid tier, I am more motivated than ever to improve my craft, in service of the reader.

I wrote new copy for the welcome emails and about page, graduating from the default copy from Substack. I remember being awed by friends who customized their copy, even including a little animated gif of themselves waving with big grins. They ask inquisitive questions and we end up with long email chains. That’s the level of welcoming I hope to provide to all I encounter.

Who are the creators you support monetarily (through Substack, Patreon, etc.) and how do they stand out? Curious minds want to learn!

Warm Wishes,

Christin