Update on the Direction of the Newsletter

the future of the newsletter to come

You may have noticed that I skipped an update last week. This is because we’ve just come to the end of my year-long weekly posting agreement, wherein I pledged to give my friend Ishita $1000 if I fell behind schedule. The agreement was effective. She was kind enough to grant me an exemption to the weekly policy in two instances: the week of my divorce, and the week I was recently denied a US visa. (Both of those situations are now in the process of being smoothly resolved and I’m doing well.) Otherwise, I produced faultlessly, though the quality varied.

I thought I’d take a week off and decide what I’d like to do with the newsletter from here on out. And here’s what I’ve decided I’ll do.

I’m going to deemphasize the public essay posts for a couple of reasons. First, because I’m going to do a lot of writing in my new role at Berkeley Alembic, including, most probably, a living book/website in the style of David Chapman’s excellent works, which will attempt to be an expansive exploration of the relationship between psychological well-being and spiritual awakening. Second, because I am somewhat tired of my own opinions. (This exhaustion will most likely be temporary.)

Probably we’re going to be looking at one public essay per month for the foreseeable future, although some might come in clumps if I’m feeling particularly voluble.

Because my writing life needs some whimsy in it, and because I have paid subscribers who I’d like to be good to, I’m going to keep the paid updates coming. These will mostly be completely useless, intended for a more intimate audience—shooting from the hip, half-baked theories, nostalgia, etcetera. If that’s an aspect of my writing you enjoy, consider subscribing. If there are any of you for whom $7/mo is an unreasonable expense due to financial hardship, feel free to shoot me an email about that. This button should take care of paid subscription for you if you’re interested:

Thank you so much for being with me. This has been a really exciting year of writing. I’m proud of what I’ve produced, and any artistic vigor I’ve managed to muster is thanks to your encouragement, feedback, and participation. It’s also been an intense time personally, and this has been a necessary outlet, among other things.

Onwards!