Housekeeping + Some Thank Yous
The Understory is a winner! January Book Club! Monthly Zooms are starting back up!
First a note to paid subscribers: I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your patience over the past six+ months. I have a pretty good idea and plan for how I want this Substack to be for paying subscribers and in the midst of the move and some health stuff, I let it all fall by the wayside. The fact that you are still here and saying you have no plans of going anywhere is not just a comfort to me, it’s an incredible expression of your trust in me. I don’t receive it lightly.
Next, I want to thank you for voting The Understory your top read of 2024 over at The Englewood Review of Books! I just got word that The Understory was the winner! I also just found out that
has The Understory on her top reads of 2024 as well, so if you’ve been dragging your feet about getting a copy (or buying a copy for a friend), maybe this will be the little bump you need to go purchase it. Right now is a great time of year to support local businesses and our friends at will drop you a copy in the mail just as soon as you email them to say you want it! Just drop them a line at hello@nooks.gallery and say, “I’d like to order a copy of The Understory.” Done and dusted!If you follow me over on Instagram, you know that despite all the things I love about our new city, street, and home, the one thing that is very difficult for me is the lack of sunlight in our house. It’s a north-facing rowhome and the only south facing windows are on the third floor. My office had been in what is now the guest room (a better guest room now anyway, as it has an attached bathroom and an exterior door), but over the past few weeks, we moved me up to the third floor—where the the light is abundant (even on a gray day like today). Sunlight is everything.
So let’s get back to work!
Monthly Zooms Resume
Beginning in January, we will be starting back up monthly Zooms for paid subscribers. As always, we will meet every second Tuesday on Zoom, but the time will vary so we can give different people different options in midday or evening. I don’t have the topic schedule worked out for that yet, and I’m actually curious what you would like to chat about, so leave a comment below with topics you’d like to see us tackle. We’ve talked about anger, ending friendships, miscarriage and infertility, midlife faith, boundaries, and so much more. No subject is off topic, comment a topic, any topic 👇🏼
Seasonal Book Club
Also beginning in January, we’re going to do another book club (we’ve done two so far: The Understory last May and Glittering Images over the summer). I wanted to do a non-fiction book for this iteration and debated about a lot of different options. Ultimately, though, I chose The Critical Journey by Hagberg and Guelich.
It’s a bit of an obscure book but I can honestly say it’s been one of the best and most helpful books I’ve read over the past decade. I keep it on my desk and refer back to it regularly for my own spiritual formation but also in my interpersonal relationships with others. I highly recommend the book not because it’s a great literary feat or even excellent quality of production, but because it offers some really helpful structure to what many of us experience as we journey in our faith and don’t have words for exactly. It has helped me to name my own experience and have grace for the experiences of others in a way few other books have.
We always have such good conversations in these book clubs and I’m always so grateful for the vulnerability and insights that you all bring. Truly, if I didn’t do a single other podcast or interview or speaking engagement, and just got to be in rooms with you all for the rest of my writing career, I’d be happy. I hope you can join us.
It will run seven weeks, beginning the week of January 5th through the week of February 16th. We will meet via Zoom on five of those Thursday evenings at 7pm eastern time, January 9, 16, & 30, and February 13 & 20). You will get a weekly email from me with personal reflection questions and thoughts on the book. This would be a great book to read with a friend or two in your immediate life, so please invite them to join (they will need to be a paid subscriber of Sayable though). The link to register is below the paywall: