Work Notes 

THIS WEEKEND : SUNDAY JULY 19 : D A Y  Q U I L T : A 4 hour class to create an improvisational quilt live on zoom (recorded) Payment plans and scholarships available 

PROMPTS : Subscribe to my analog newsletter that includes a letter and ten writing prompts. Subscribe by the end of July to receive August's issue on Edges

The short version : 

Starting next week Monday July 20 : 

Free subscribers : You will once again receive Monday Monday for free every Monday 

Paid subscribers : You will receive weekly emails on Mondays and 2-3 bonus essays a month, including the return of Yes Yes my advice column

Buy a classified ad for next week and beyond 

The long version : 

Dear reader, 

I did an experiment with this newsletter and I did not like the results. I wanted to spend some time today walking you through what happened and why I gave it such a short trial period, rather than sticking it out to see how it did in the long term. 

When I started Monday Monday in 2017 I always thought I would keep every Monday free forever. It was my way of having something that wasn’t social media beaming out into the world. A way to have my little essays reach the people and gave me a place to practice the art of writing.

I added a paid component to the newsletter in 2021 when I moved to Substack. Once Substack started to resemble social media I moved to Buttondown. Once I felt irrelevant and alone I went back to Substack only to find things felt the same but worse and I deleted my paid subscriber list thinking I would move to Patreon. I did that for three days and then moved back to Buttondown, where I plan to stay. 

Experiencing mania privately is hard enough, but having everyone witness you as you make swift moves is even more uncomfortable. Since then I have been rebuilding my paid subscriber list slowly but surely, a list that meant the world to me spiritually and financially and was a huge hit to lose. 

Through many avenues of brainstorming ways to grow the paid list I decided to give it a try to shift the majority of my newsletters to being for paid subscribers only. In announcing this I thought I would see a significant bump in subscriptions.