2024 updates for The Good Enough Weekly

Still weekly, alternating essays and a new post format

This time last year, I was anxious but determined. After months spent planning this newsletter, and after helpful advice from friends, I knew I needed to just freakin’ start and then write weekly. I had no expectations beyond publishing consistently. January through April I published the newsletter on Buttondown, a service I still love. At the end of April, I submitted to the siren call of Substack, where so, so many of my favorite writers are publishing. I say “submitted” but really, it was a decision to streamline my online writing and reading life. It’s been the best choice and I’ve been so surprised and encouraged by everyone who’s liked, commented, subscribed, and in any way interacted with me and my work. Thank you so much! 

Every week I’ve left it all on the field. And I have so much more to say. This good challenge of having more to say, yet being committed to publishing weekly, has been something I’ve thought about a lot this year. I briefly flirted with developing a paid offering and working on growing the newsletter, but after much thought, I’m happy to keep it free, and make it easier to maintain (it will never be easy lol.)

In the new year, my goals with The Good Enough Weekly remain to publish consistently, both to establish a visible body of work and to continue to build conversations. And I have goals outside of the newsletter that I want to give more time to. The following updates are how I’m shifting my time.

The Good Enough Weekly in 2024:

• I’m continuing to publish weekly on Fridays, and will take off the month of July.

• Instead of weekly essays, it will be an essay every other week. When not publishing an essay, I’ll be sharing Of the Week – a shorter post style with updates about my writing, reading, and cooking, and a question for us all to answer in the comments. (The comments you all leave absolutely make my day and are a place I’ve learned so much this year. Let’s keep chatting.) 

• The new schedule starts Jan. 5th, when you’ll receive an essay, then Jan. 12th you’ll receive the first Of the Week, next an essay on Jan. 19th, and so on.

Why? It’s all about time. More time to:

• Write and place essays elsewhere

• Participate in my local food systems

• Research and conduct interviews

• Work on other projects (I’m going to be publishing a new zine in 2024! More to come on that later)

What to expect the rest of December:

• Next week (Dec. 15) I’m sharing an essay about the history of Scottish shortbread, and personal connections to dessert in the winter and around Christmas.

• On Dec. 22, I’m sharing an essay reflecting on the evolution of this newsletter in 2023 and where I see it going in the new year.

• Dec. 29 I’ll be taking off. 

This newsletter is written and edited by me. It is a place where I am as professional as I can be without letting the fear of publishing something imperfect shut me up. I’m supported in this effort by my family, who all know how important this is to me and help me in different ways to stick with it. I don’t write much about parenting, but I definitely am parenting my four young children every day. This newsletter is constructed in a way that takes all of who I am into account. And even so, posting weekly is a challenge to be met – every time. But I love it because it’s a rousing force in my life and a way to get to know you, and for you to get to know me. 

I have percolating essays and writing projects that I want to give more dedicated time to in 2024. The work of this newsletter is inseparable from those projects, and also, the newsletter could expand to take up all my writing time. I can’t do everything all at once, but I have a lot of agency and as I sometimes need to remind myself – I’m making all of this up! I can do what I want! The downsides of freelance life can also be a superpower. Thank you for being along with me on this experiment.

Since starting The Good Enough Weekly, a top priority remains keeping the labor that goes into this newsletter manageable so that it’s a place I want to be, because that probably means others will want to be here with me, too. Like you are. Thank you so much for reading, for your insightful comments, and for showing up to be part of this conversation. I know there are so many other things in all of our lives that pull at the time available for chatting on Substack. I’m so grateful for each and every one of you.