It takes great courage to envision a new life & to bring it to fruition as you have in the past year, Jeffrey. Thank you for both your commitment to excellence and in the generosity of spirit you display in cultivating an audience-focused vision through your community building on Substack as both an author and an invested supporter of other writers. From what you have shared about your father, I think he would truly respect your balance & your desire to share outstanding work with a wide range of readers. I hope this new stage proves to be even more fulfilling & enjoyable to you than your first year on Substack!
Thank you so much, Alisa! Your generous and highly nuanced readings of my essays are a source of nourishment and delight to me. I'm truly grateful!
As for my father, his shade might still be kindly waiting for me to get a "real" job (i.e., one that doesn't involve sitting at a desk or a computer). 🙂
Best of luck with your Supporter Sidebar, Jeffrey.
I write on Substack because it helps me to feel sane in a precarious world. I went to paid (although almost all of my posts are free -- I use the paid function more as a privacy filter), after someone pledged to pay as soon as I had that function set up.
So I set it up, not really knowing what I was doing since I was new to Substack.
And I feel so thrilled every time someone decides that they want a paid subscription to my site. It's validating that someone likes my writing enough to pay me, even though I'd be doing it anyways.
Thank you, Diane! I truly appreciate your support. My first impression is that it's very humbling to have paid subscribers, or Supporters, as I call them. And yes, the thrill and validation—I recognise those feelings!
"I wanted to write, intransitively as it were" - You put me in stitches here. A good name for a writers' club would be The Intransitives.
When someone gets a calling to write something in particular and only that something, they would graduate to The Transitives, a club that almost no one attends because they're too busy accomplishing what they set out to do. The Intransitives, on the other hand, need plentiful conversation, since none of them know a fig about what they're doing. I like it.
As for the rest, I don't think I've seen the subject of paid subscriptions treated more delightfully. I look forward to enjoying your posts in the year ahead!
Thank you so much, Tara, for your support and for your kind words. I love your (Swiftian-sounding) idea of the the Intransitives as the name as a club. I don't usually join clubs, but put me down for that one! 😅
Thank you, David, for your kindness! Yes, perhaps we are blockheads. But we carry on anyway, and I'm very glad that I get the chance to read your thoughts in your wonderful newsletter.
Congratulations Jeffrey. I am yet to commit to turning paid subscriptions on myself (mostly for silly self-doubt driven reasons), but you make a very good point for its validity.
I hope you get as many paid descriptions as your writing deserves — which is a lot!
Congratulations on taking the leap. I'll be watching you since I really feel at a loss over these things, but I believe you've struck upon a simply good idea. And you've managed to do it by sharing more about you, your father and Britain's favorite past time--cricket!
I have a dream of having more paid subscribers than I have subscriptions, but I couldn’t have written it as eloquently as you just did! I had no idea about the culture of not getting paid. Is that where the notion we seem to have here in the states that you “should do it for live not money” came from? And of course, the hypocrisy of those with money making it a virtue to not have to do something for money is just mind-boggling.
Thank you so much for your kind words and your support, Karen! I truly appreciate it. And as for the gentlemen making it a virtue to not have to do something for the money—well, in the passage I quote from Hazlitt, you can hear him grinding his teeth in anguish about that even through the elegant sound of his prose!
And thank you for the truly amazing photos you take and share—they are one of Substack's unmissable delights.
An excellent article - I always thought that the snobbery around ‘amateur’ sportsmen and women was ridiculous. Especially when it had such an impact on the Olympics.
I didn't know that you were writing full-time, Jeffrey, though with the amount of work you put in on each ERL post, that makes more sense ;) Good luck on this new chapter, and thanks again. 🤗
O, Mary, I'm so grateful for your support and kind words, as I am for your writing. You are one of the reasons I have stayed on Substack.
I wince to think of how invidious lists are. 🫶
Congratulations! I'm very excited about this, and I'm looking forward to many more (sustainably funded) letters.
Thank you so much, Katherine. I'm thrilled to have your support! It means a lot to me.
It takes great courage to envision a new life & to bring it to fruition as you have in the past year, Jeffrey. Thank you for both your commitment to excellence and in the generosity of spirit you display in cultivating an audience-focused vision through your community building on Substack as both an author and an invested supporter of other writers. From what you have shared about your father, I think he would truly respect your balance & your desire to share outstanding work with a wide range of readers. I hope this new stage proves to be even more fulfilling & enjoyable to you than your first year on Substack!
Thank you so much, Alisa! Your generous and highly nuanced readings of my essays are a source of nourishment and delight to me. I'm truly grateful!
As for my father, his shade might still be kindly waiting for me to get a "real" job (i.e., one that doesn't involve sitting at a desk or a computer). 🙂
Best of luck with your Supporter Sidebar, Jeffrey.
I write on Substack because it helps me to feel sane in a precarious world. I went to paid (although almost all of my posts are free -- I use the paid function more as a privacy filter), after someone pledged to pay as soon as I had that function set up.
So I set it up, not really knowing what I was doing since I was new to Substack.
And I feel so thrilled every time someone decides that they want a paid subscription to my site. It's validating that someone likes my writing enough to pay me, even though I'd be doing it anyways.
Wishing you that same thrill many times over.
Thank you, Diane! I truly appreciate your support. My first impression is that it's very humbling to have paid subscribers, or Supporters, as I call them. And yes, the thrill and validation—I recognise those feelings!
Congratulations on this milestone, Jeffrey! It’s well-earned, literally and figuratively. I look forward to exploring the sidebar!
I'm truly grateful for your support, Victoria. It means a lot to me. And I'm looking forward to exploring teh sidebar with you!
"I wanted to write, intransitively as it were" - You put me in stitches here. A good name for a writers' club would be The Intransitives.
When someone gets a calling to write something in particular and only that something, they would graduate to The Transitives, a club that almost no one attends because they're too busy accomplishing what they set out to do. The Intransitives, on the other hand, need plentiful conversation, since none of them know a fig about what they're doing. I like it.
As for the rest, I don't think I've seen the subject of paid subscriptions treated more delightfully. I look forward to enjoying your posts in the year ahead!
Thank you so much, Tara, for your support and for your kind words. I love your (Swiftian-sounding) idea of the the Intransitives as the name as a club. I don't usually join clubs, but put me down for that one! 😅
I think this will have to be a no-dues club, Intransitives being so hard to pin down to anything reliable.
😂
May your second year be as rewarding as your first, Jeffrey. I look forward to your posts arriving in my inbox, Nicola
Jeffrey,
I'm glad you turned on paid! Perhaps we writers are "amateur blockheads."
Thank you, David, for your kindness! Yes, perhaps we are blockheads. But we carry on anyway, and I'm very glad that I get the chance to read your thoughts in your wonderful newsletter.
Congratulations Jeffrey. I am yet to commit to turning paid subscriptions on myself (mostly for silly self-doubt driven reasons), but you make a very good point for its validity.
I hope you get as many paid descriptions as your writing deserves — which is a lot!
:)
Thank you, Michael. And likewise, if and when you turn on paid subscriptions yourself!
“how is one to remain sensible?“ fabulous question. And the answer is, so many of us do not !
Indeed! But I guess it's not a bad problem to have.
It’s a habit I’m proud to have. (That is to not be sensible regarding my Substack reading)
😊
Congratulations on taking the leap. I'll be watching you since I really feel at a loss over these things, but I believe you've struck upon a simply good idea. And you've managed to do it by sharing more about you, your father and Britain's favorite past time--cricket!
Thank you, Lani. I've been equally unsure what to do for some time. But now felt like the right time to make the change and see what happens.
What a bargain! Look forward to reading more Jeffrey, always a great pleasure
Honoured to have your support, Jeff. Let's keep you in gloves.
Thank you so much, Eleanor! I really appreciate it. Jenny Joseph also suggests a red hat, so I may go all out and get one of those, too. 🙂
It’s an excellent plan. I applaud.
🙂
I have a dream of having more paid subscribers than I have subscriptions, but I couldn’t have written it as eloquently as you just did! I had no idea about the culture of not getting paid. Is that where the notion we seem to have here in the states that you “should do it for live not money” came from? And of course, the hypocrisy of those with money making it a virtue to not have to do something for money is just mind-boggling.
Thank you so much for your kind words and your support, Karen! I truly appreciate it. And as for the gentlemen making it a virtue to not have to do something for the money—well, in the passage I quote from Hazlitt, you can hear him grinding his teeth in anguish about that even through the elegant sound of his prose!
And thank you for the truly amazing photos you take and share—they are one of Substack's unmissable delights.
An excellent article - I always thought that the snobbery around ‘amateur’ sportsmen and women was ridiculous. Especially when it had such an impact on the Olympics.
Good luck with your Supporter Sidebar.
Thank you, Kate! I hope things are settling down after the move.
Still not found my best kitchen knife!
I know how that feels—how often things go astray in our moves. I hope it turns up.
I didn't know that you were writing full-time, Jeffrey, though with the amount of work you put in on each ERL post, that makes more sense ;) Good luck on this new chapter, and thanks again. 🤗
Thank YOU, Troy! Your support has been immense ever since I joined, and it's really meant a lot to me.
I'm very much part time on Substack, as my other writing keeps me pretty busy. Luckily, I enjoy both.