I am writing every day in December. Also, this newsletter has moved (to substack!)

Hi.
I hope the external pressure of the season (you know, the constant messaging to GO, BUY, DO, BE FESTIVE) is not getting to you too much. If it is, I invite you to take a minute with me to just breathe and remember that you don't actually have to. 

Seriously. Let's do that right now. You can scroll down when you're ready.









Ok. Whew. I feel better. I hope you do, too.

Recently, as many folks do, I've been taking some time to review my year, to try to slow down, and to figure out what might be coming next. I realized that my year had been so full, so much, that I'd lost touch with the regular habit of writing and playing. I would rehearse for a show, I would prepare for an event, but I wasn't just sitting down at the page or with my guitar for myself. So, I decided to give myself a challenge for the month of December (thanks to Austin Kleon for his very cute and satisfying 30-Day Challenge pdf) and write every day for 30 minutes.

That's it. That's the whole challenge. I didn't put parameters on what to write, or in what format, or pressure myself to share each day's work. All I had to do was show up to the page for thirty minutes a day. 

I regret to inform you (and myself) that this has worked. I've started several new songs in the past week and generally feel more clarity and more centered, entirely because I've given myself and my work the kind of attention it wants from me. It turns out that for me, starting is the hard part, and writing is actually something I love. I'm sure I knew this at some point in the past but it's easy to forget. Thanks to Kleon's encouragement to "not break the chain" of delightful big sharpie Xs marking off the completion of each day, I'm currently on Day 11 - writing this newsletter.

Speaking of this newsletter - I have absolutely adored emailing you this year from Tinyletter. I love the plain text, I love how easy it is for you to reply to me and for me to write you back, I have enjoyed the break from the pressure to have some high-gloss, graphic-heavy marketing email to send you. That's not my style and won't ever be. Unfortunately, I've just found out that Tinyletter is being discontinued [cue the sad trombones]. New subscriptions were disabled at the end of November, and in February, the archive will be going away as well.

With that in mind, I am moving this newsletter over to Substack.

Many of you may already be familiar with it, but if you aren't, substack is a publication platform (kind of like old school blogs) where the newsletter can live on its own website. It's primarily geared toward fiction writers and essayists rather than musicians, but, as Manager Morgan so deftly reminded me as I fretted over this change, "also, you are a writer" (thank you Morgan). There is a comment section open only to subscribers, and a few other options I can enable for different levels of subscriptions. I plan to continue the format of this newsletter over there under the free option, and there will always be a free option over there. You don't need to change anything to subscribe, as I'll be importing your info over there and you should still get the newsletters in your inbox as usual. In practice, it won't be much different than what we're doing now.

The primary change is that there will also be a paid subscriber option that you can choose if that's something that feels right for you. Paid subscribers will get access to more posts and writing, more often (including new poems and songs), and some community-only events and posts. "Founding Members" also get a free album download from my bandcamp store, just as a thank you for your belief in what I'm doing here. As Patreon continues to be *not quite* what I need or want in terms of community-building and communication, and touring/shows/merch only fill out a small part of my income (touring mostly costs money for indie artists), I'm hopeful that substack will be a nice way for me to stay in touch with you and also build a community where you can interact not just with me, but with one another if you like. My fans and friends are a diverse, interesting, and compassionate group of humans and I would love to help connect you to one another. As of today, there are over 600 of you! 

The economy of being an artist is a strange one and relies so much on community. I am so grateful for your support in whatever form that takes - whether that's becoming a paid subscriber over there, or telling a friend about it, or just leaving me a note (I read every reply, as ever.) 

To reiterate, you don't need to do anything to be added to the free Substack version of this newsletter. I'm porting you all over and you will receive your first note from me there soon. If you choose to upgrade to paid, you can do so from https://writeplayrepeat.substack.com/ but there's no pressure at all. I love that you're here, I love writing you notes, and that's not changing.

I'll leave you with yesterday's writing, a little poem about how dang hard it is to deal with the seasonal shift sometimes.
***
It is yet Autumn.
Yet Autumn, I remind myself, and look toward the long stretch of the solstice still coming.

Winter can feel like the end but I see now -
It marks the start of light returning.
The longest night ushers us into the season and we survive, we survive,
we tell stories about all the ways Autumn tried to end us.

In the snowed hush, a voice insists
still here, still.
It is so small.
It is an ember that wants protecting.
It is a start.

***

love,
Juliana