Spring Cleaning
new hope for a new season
‘Tis the season for spring cleaning, sorting through our lives and looking for places where we can make space and tidy up. And while I’ve been doing that in my own home, I also realize that I need to do that here on Substack, too.
Quick context: around a decade ago I had an account with Patreon. I was young and naive and I wanted to be paid for my writing, but I had zero plan or strategy for how to make that sustainable. Before long I had lapsed in my perks, and the guilt of taking people’s money for nothing ate me alive. I left Patreon shortly after.
When I started a Substack, I went into it with that guilt and anxiety very much in mind. I wanted to make sure that I was giving any paid subscribers more than enough content to please them, which is where my monthly/bimonthly ebooks and devotionals have all come from.
The problem? I’ve been completely overpromising beyond my ability to deliver. I don’t like the discrepancy I’ve created between free and paid writing here, and I’m not comfortable with the pressure I’ve placed on myself to write these ebooks on a deadline. It really isn’t the way I work best; I’m not sure why I thought it was a good idea.
In the process of alleviating my own fears and guilt about compensation, I’ve made everything WAY too complicated. So I’m scaling back, hitting the “reset button”, and I’m hopeful that this will only magnify the quality of my weekly content.
Starting today, The Wildroot Parables is a reader-supported FREE publication and community.
One massive difference between me now and me a decade ago is that, back then, I had a day job, and writing was my passionate hobby. But now, writing is my job. I put my whole heart and soul into words, and every dollar I make—from Substack, from freelancing—goes into our daily living: bills, groceries, etc.
So I want Substack to be the place where I continue to show up with high-quality FREE weekly content, and those who feel that my writing is worthy of it (and are able to do so) can contribute monetarily. This is Substack’s stated mission as a company, and I want to lean into that, without experiencing the guilt I once placed on myself about overloading my subscribers with perks.
Going forward, here are the ways you can support me and The WP:
Paid Subscriptions: your $5/month paid subscriptions help “keep the lights on” here and will be repaid with occasional perks, just fun extras to say thank you (as well as discounts to projects I create in the future)!
Tip Jar: for those who aren’t able to commit to a regular subscription, my PayPal-based Tip Jar is always available at the bottom of most posts for you to send a few bucks my way in a one-time donation. Every dollar counts!
Online Shop: I will be leaning heavier into creating seasonal content to sell in my online shopfront, so watch that space for future ebooks, devotionals, and other projects! (Paid subs will receive these projects either for free or with a hefty discount, depending on the project.)
Likes, Comments, Shares: As always, your engagement in this busy world is the real lifeblood of this newsletter, so even if you can’t contribute monetarily I always appreciate your likes, comments, and shares! This community is the best, and I am always encouraged by your insights and generosity with me and with each other!
On our updated “About” page you’ll find all of the above info included, as well as our new Comment Guidelines for our growing community!
I hope that this makes things simpler and more sustainable. I expect a bit of shuffling, because that’s natural in any change to the status quo, so if you are a paid subscriber and this is not what you signed up for, I completely understand! Feel free to cancel at any time, and no hard feelings at all.
Our weekly rhythm here will remain unchanged: Monday devotionals (yes, we’re going back to “devotionals” and not “meditations”), Wednesday discussions, Thursday essays/wrap-ups, and all for FREE, as usual. My desire is that removing the qualitative barrier between free and paid writing will make my free content all the more fresh and exciting, and prompt even more of you to feel that my writing is worth supporting, with or without the regular schedule of perks.
Also, with any luck, this will be my last “housekeeping” post for a while! :)
Thanks for giving me your time and attention today! Feel free to respond in the comments or reply privately to this via email with any thoughts, feedback, or questions.
Onward into a tidier spring we go!
To close this post out, I thought I would share the Benediction from the latest ebook, since it’s my prayer for ALL of you as we say goodbye to April and welcome May in:
may April’s light follow you as you cross this threshold into Mary’s month, may what you have read here linger near to you, like a sweet fragrance and a scrap of a song you once heard and now love; buzzing around you like the mumbling bees around the blooms, may the truth of God’s grace be ever-near ever-near and warm and green as the sacredness of spring.
Thank you for reading!
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You handled both the glitch yesterday and your reorganization here with clarity and grace. I think you've got the right mindset and spelling out how subscribers can support you is essential. When I come out of my hiatus I'm going to do some spring cleaning of my about page, welcome email, etc, and I think I'll spell out something similar. Maybe set up a tip jar too? Anyway--well done and well written!
I LOVE the Spring Cleaning of it all :-) I also felt a desire to revisit my devotions and my ideas for what Substack is for me and the folks who resonate with Weaving Wisdom. I found myself cleaning up old publishings that felt ready to be infused INTO nee in depth expressions, rethinking what paid subscriptions mean for me and if I desire to create and offer what I said I would offer ... I love the flexibility of change, the reality that we can pivot when we need to, prune when we need to, expand when we need to. Thank you for sharing your process so transparently!