I'm a mooching substack lurker. So many newsletters, so little time and I can't afford to pay for all the ones that strike my fancy briefly. You make me relate and aspire. Your writing has opened up my horizons. Poetry? I don't really "do" poetry, but this is where I'm starting (eons ago, on the bird app your recommendations for Discworld were spot on, I now trust you with these things). That's why I became a paid subscriber today, for the first and only time. If you write it, I will get around to reading it, eventually.
Yours is one of six or seven or eight substacks I want to subscribe to. But I've already paid for two, and can't afford more! If substack won't let you reduce the price of an annual subscription, maybe you could figure out a way for like four or five people to go in on one? We could resolve the commenting issue by putting our initials or names at the top of our comments under the group name!
I’m a lurker. You should write as often as you want. Twice a week seems plenty. I do like your writing. I started following you to learn more about the far right, but that can get depressing. I don’t care about sandwiches—I don’t eat wheat, or treif, and I don’t like mayo. But if you do want to write about them, keep at it. Otherwise it seems like the kind of assignment that becomes a slog! Maybe just write about the sandwiches you love! Wrote about the people you love! Write about hope! I did give to your Mississippi abortion rights fundraiser, and that felt hopeful. I liked to see you slicing the watermelon(s)! And as for payment—I would be more likely to give you a “tip” now and then rather than become a regular subscriber. So maybe think about a tip jar.
Hi Ruth! I can't control you of course but give the sandwich essays a chance -- they are so very rarely about actual sandwiches. The egg sandwich one was about like, creation myths. The prior one was a movie review! I love food writing and that seems less like a chore to me than writing about American necropolitics....
I have read some of them… :) I like food writing generally, so if you want to be a food writer, go for it.
One other thought, even if you wrote three times a week, you don’t have to feel you need to write long all the time. Sometimes you could write something short—maybe that would ease the workload too. (I used to write a blog about our local schools and when I was feeling burnt out, I’d aim for a one or two paragraph blog post. But that’s just me.)
I have no expectations about how often you write. (I’m a paid subscriber) I happily read whatever gets posted whenever they arrive. I read the Tzvetaeva and Mandelstam poems wondering if you read them in the original Russian and just posted them in English or if you enjoy them in both languages.
A little tangential but I always enjoy the art you weave through your writing, the images and written descriptions or influences of the artist as well as your own musings!
I'll read whatever you send out, whenever you feel like. I haven't read (heard?) a bum note yet.
I'd say best if you follow your inclinations. I have no inflexible expectations about timing, subject, quantity.
I could add many poems, but I'm mindful that none were solicited. I will indulge myself by adding one.
"Late Fragment" by Raymond Carver
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
I will happily read anything you care to send, but have no needs/expectations in regards to content or number per week/month/year.
I will keep subscribing (paid) no matter what
I'm a mooching substack lurker. So many newsletters, so little time and I can't afford to pay for all the ones that strike my fancy briefly. You make me relate and aspire. Your writing has opened up my horizons. Poetry? I don't really "do" poetry, but this is where I'm starting (eons ago, on the bird app your recommendations for Discworld were spot on, I now trust you with these things). That's why I became a paid subscriber today, for the first and only time. If you write it, I will get around to reading it, eventually.
I stumbled into your blog, and I love your writing. Do the work however it pleases and fulfills you. And thank you for the gorgeous poetry.
I will still subscribe if you write two newsletters/week. Thoroughly enjoy all three now, however.
Yours is one of six or seven or eight substacks I want to subscribe to. But I've already paid for two, and can't afford more! If substack won't let you reduce the price of an annual subscription, maybe you could figure out a way for like four or five people to go in on one? We could resolve the commenting issue by putting our initials or names at the top of our comments under the group name!
I’m a lurker. You should write as often as you want. Twice a week seems plenty. I do like your writing. I started following you to learn more about the far right, but that can get depressing. I don’t care about sandwiches—I don’t eat wheat, or treif, and I don’t like mayo. But if you do want to write about them, keep at it. Otherwise it seems like the kind of assignment that becomes a slog! Maybe just write about the sandwiches you love! Wrote about the people you love! Write about hope! I did give to your Mississippi abortion rights fundraiser, and that felt hopeful. I liked to see you slicing the watermelon(s)! And as for payment—I would be more likely to give you a “tip” now and then rather than become a regular subscriber. So maybe think about a tip jar.
Hi Ruth! I can't control you of course but give the sandwich essays a chance -- they are so very rarely about actual sandwiches. The egg sandwich one was about like, creation myths. The prior one was a movie review! I love food writing and that seems less like a chore to me than writing about American necropolitics....
I have read some of them… :) I like food writing generally, so if you want to be a food writer, go for it.
One other thought, even if you wrote three times a week, you don’t have to feel you need to write long all the time. Sometimes you could write something short—maybe that would ease the workload too. (I used to write a blog about our local schools and when I was feeling burnt out, I’d aim for a one or two paragraph blog post. But that’s just me.)
Writing short is such a challenge for me but you're so right!!
I have no expectations about how often you write. (I’m a paid subscriber) I happily read whatever gets posted whenever they arrive. I read the Tzvetaeva and Mandelstam poems wondering if you read them in the original Russian and just posted them in English or if you enjoy them in both languages.
Thanks for the poetry. It inspired me to sign up for a poem a day.
A little tangential but I always enjoy the art you weave through your writing, the images and written descriptions or influences of the artist as well as your own musings!