Resetting in England
Devising a new content strategy under cover of Northumberland clouds
Good morning friends! Currently I am sitting at my mother-in-law’s kitchen table in Bedlington, England, the far and friendly North. Mark and the girls are severely jet lagged and sleeping in, so I find myself enjoying a quiet morning to myself, thinking about the last few weeks as birds chirp and sunshine plays over the green before the inevitable northern grey clouds roll in for the day.
In the last two weeks, the girls finished school and Mark and I finished prepping the house for a housesitter while we’re away. I had long to-do lists with forty things on them and of course now I can’t remember what any of those things are. Our pool finished, which ushered in a new era of fretting over it—brushing the new plaster twice-daily in its first week, worrying about the water levels dropping overnight and coordinating from abroad an ensuing bucket test to check for leaks. First world problems I know but fingers crossed all is well. I planted a million things around the poolscape in order to pass the City’s requirement for erosion control, and getting them established that first week with constant watering was a job.
We also had B’s eighth birthday to celebrate which was a unicorn, rainbow, sparkly affair (I was very proud of my rainbow cloud table). Getting clothes packed and into bags so we could tumble through the airport was about the most I could muster in the end.
Usually when we visit family in the UK we are jet setting all over the place, from northern England to southern England, to Luxembourg and back again and changing Airbnbs every two days, so this is the first time we will have a home base in England for more than a week. Mark’s parents and uncle have renovated and decorated a truly cozy & comfortable home here, where we feel so lucky to rest and recuperate. I hope to give my garden-weary toes and fingernails a good rest and rid them of the dirt-lined evidence of their hard work the past few weeks. Soon, Mark’s sisters come into town and we’ve plans to visit Alnwick Castle where they filmed Harry Potter, hit up the free museums in Newcastle, visit the seaside and reconnect with extended family. It is the first time his immediate family has been all together in the same place in almost fifteen years.
A new content strategy
I’ve used this slice of morning to give some thought to this newsletter. I’d like to reset what it's about, drawing back to my original intent to grow my writing practice. I’m weighing up a new content strategy, and have some new ideas for what to offer paid members, with a renewed (and I hope attainable) goal of adding five additional supporters this year along with providing greater value for the subscribers I already have. If you have feedback on any of these thoughts I’d love to hear what you think!
For paid subscribers:
My published pieces in full, carefully designed and straight into your inbox, along with their origin stories. No need to click around the whole of the Internet to get the full story.
A quarterly special edition newsletter with subscriber-only photos and content, including first access and subscriber-only discussion on my works-in-progress in their earliest stages
The occasional longer piece, such as full interviews with editors, agents, recently published writers, etc. and/or full process tear downs of my work. The whole back story.
For unpaid subscribers, I also plan to spruce things up and keep things interesting:
Keep sharing writerly inspiration and other writers I enjoy
Meet my characters and visit some of the settings in my stories
Previews of the longer content I will produce, e.g., interviews with people in the writing world, and/or longer process tear downs
Announce limited-run event series—I have an idea for a new one I’m pretty excited about that I hope some of you will participate in! Stay tuned.
Eventually, I will probably pare down these lists as I figure out what’s working best, but it’s an exciting time to throw fistfuls of spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
Pages from my sketchbook
As I’m technically on vacation right now, I’ll draw this newsletter to a close but I look forward to sharing the new plan-in-action in just a couple of weeks. In the meantime, have a peek at some of the art I’ve been doing since we’ve been here. It’s been a relaxing daily practice with cups of tea (and often, cake) in the quiet bookends of the days.
Sending you all much love and On, On energy.
cassie