March 27, 2023, 5:09 p.m.
Ten years of newsletters
The commitment to telling the people the facts of my life, the hopes of my spirit, and the magic that holds my attention
Monday Monday
Ten years ago on 12/22/12 I made a decision to send out a newsletter. At the time I just wanted to tell people that I had a shop in a vintage camper that I was going to park in a parking lot during a holiday shop hop in downtown Grand Rapids. 41 people read that newsletter. For years I kept the lines of communication open and used the digital space to send more and more of my writing and share the hopes of my spirit with the people.
The first 70 people I sent my newsletter to were people I knew and the 41 who opened it were probably my friends. I never used a lead magnet or a cool marketing trick to get people’s emails. I put out a clipboard and told people to write down their email if they wanted the news of my offerings. To this day I think of my friends first and foremost when I write, what do my friends need today? My friends are all artists or creative practitioners, and when I get a text from one of them after I send out a newsletter it is the greatest reward of my life. I have done it again! I think. I have been of service to my people who keep me going.
In the summer of 2017 I started sending the newsletter out weekly with a short essay, what caught my sacred attention, and professionally what I was up to. I have done this most weeks for the past six years. When every other marketing tool, offering, relationship, product launch, public space, business plan, friendship, or big idea has failed me, the container of my newsletter has nourished me and taught me everything I needed to know about myself, my experience, and my inner world.
Today when I send a newsletter out over 20,000 people receive it and over half of those people open it. Sometimes only my Aunt Linda responds with ideas for what to put in my garden or how she painted her first house. Sometimes 50 people respond with blessings abound. Sometimes zero people respond. And still, I always send it out, because it is not just for the people but it is also for me. My newsletter practice both keeps me alive in the spiritual sense, and keeps the lights on as about 30% of my yearly income. While it started as a journey of email marketing, it became a space for creative expansion and experimentation. A place to become myself in front of the world.
This weekend Monday Monday - the newsletter you are reading now, was awarded this little badge for being a Featured Publication. I am reminded of the slogan, time takes time. For the marketing gurus out there 20k subscribers in ten years probably isn’t a lot! But my writing keeps getting better, and the growth suits me just fine. The number of subscribers to my newsletter has more than doubled in the last year and a half. The key has been my consistency and my willingness to keep my attention here in this space, even when I have doubted myself. I come to the page, through all weather reports, and I grow and the readers grow.
I don’t know what it’s like to win a Grammy but it felt like I won in a category I didn’t even know I was nominated for. Like wow, I got a little award for doing the thing I love to do most.
In The Shapes of Our Offerings I have been following my student’s leads and we have been sharing what we are proud of with each other. I shared with all of them that this happened and that I felt proud of myself. They clapped their hands together in the zoom boxes and filled the chat with cheerleading. It meant so much to practice what I teach and be celebrated for it.
Thank you for being a reader, whether you have subscribed for a few hours or for more than ten years. I have witnessed us grow alongside each other, and for that I am grateful.
May your work grow slowly
May you share your truth with the people
May it take the time it takes
I love nothing more than to see people I admire, learn from, and have had the pleasure of 1:1 advising with put their work into the world. You can pre-order book How to Be Alone now!
Friday Thead for paying subscribers is filled with beautiful resources as always!
generous and creative newsletter about the viewfinder in
Northern Michigan plants for sale
I have been listening to Krista Tippet’s book Becoming Wise while I paint and do my little house projects and it is so so beautiful to listen to!
Which brings me to this amazing episode
Cute show in Detroit on April 2
Join me in redistributing to Tiger’s Eye Collective: Queer Security Cultural & Educational Project (TEC Project) whose mission is to build an inter-generational kinship base of BLACK queer, trans, and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people, gays, lesbians and bi (LGBTQ) folks who are connected by shared values across culture, gender, and class for collective safety, community sanctuary, and resource exchange.
Having J Wortham in my life is a gift and a blessing, and getting to read this from them this week brought me so deeply to myself and to my people.
If you don’t believe in god, say ocean.
In case you needed the reminder
A portion of March’s paid subscriptions goes towards the Forest Justice Defense Fund, the broad coalition dedicated to saving the Atlanta Forest
⌇⋰ Website
⌇⋰ Email : info@marleegrace.space
or respond to this email, I love to hear your thoughts
⌇⋰ PO Box 252 Cedar, MI 49621
As a reminder, Newsletter Class is always available if you want to vision your own!