HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!
One Year on Substack: How we've grown + Big News on where were headed in 2023.
Happy First Anniversary to us!
If you’re just discovering Heart’s Content, we are celebrating our one-year anniversary here on Substack! In February of 2022, I launched this little Substack experiment, and look at us now!
I thought we might take a moment to acknowledge how far this little community has come in one year. I know there are many online spaces vying for your attention so the fact that you take the time to show up here and connect with me feels truly special.
First, some stats:
Heart’s Content currently has 456 free subscribers and 18 paid subscribers.
It is read across 34 States and a total of 14 countries worldwide. Say what?
Most of our traffic comes from within the Substack Network, but we also have people popping in from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and my website which is currently being revamped.
No matter how you found your way here, I’m grateful. Whether you’re a regular or an occasional reader, your presence here is what makes this community such a beautiful space to be and I want you to know that I appreciate every single one of you! Thank you!
Why I created this newsletter
My discovery of Substack coincided with a time when I longed for space to write and share my writing online, free of algorithms and word count limits. I wanted to create a more intentional community versus random “likes” from strangers who happened to be scrolling by. I hoped intuitively that the more consistently I wrote, the more I might strengthen my writing. (I wasn’t someone who had studied to be a writer. I studied theatre.) Weekly accountability would help me build a steady practice and keep me writing because I knew there was a larger writing project looming on the horizon. I also knew that if I wrote weekly for a year, themes would begin to emerge in my writing. Voila! Enter Heart’s Content!
But let me back up for a moment.
Before I decided to write this weekly newsletter in 2022, I dedicated a year to exploring, writing, and healing stories from my early childhood. As I wrote in my very first newsletter, I devoted 2021 to the deep healing work of revisiting parts of my life I had long avoided. From that work, I began writing short stories based on memories of those years. Those writings have been just for me and a few trusted confidants. My original intention was to continue to write those stories privately and to use this newsletter as an opportunity to share my current experiences and what I was learning through the curriculum of my daily life.
Cut to March of last year, when I wrote: “Everything I am experiencing right now is saying, TELL YOUR STORY. It shows up in meditation time, my journals, conversations, morning pages, prayers, and collages. There is no avoiding it.”
Except I kind of did. Avoid it, that is.
Just last month I told my Spiritual Director that while I still feel the same strong call to “tell my story,” I hadn’t written any new memoir stories in the last nine months. NINE MONTHS. Wait, what? Why? Well, I could share lots of reasons to do with my Living School studies and other important prior commitments, and well, life. I could tell you that most of my designated writing time was given to the newsletter and to creating and facilitating Project 444 - a new 4-month program supporting women to write, heal and share their stories. And all that would be true. It also sounds a lot like clever resistance in disguise. Perhaps my heart simply needed a break from the intensity of writing some of my own painful stories. Maybe it was both.
I've been sitting with this for about a month, trying to discern how to merge my desire for weekly organic writing here in the newsletter with the need to make room for the evolution of the larger project, a memoir of sorts. While there is a part of me that doesn’t want to change a thing here, I know it's time for the next iteration. So here goes.
Where we are going in 2023: Frequency and Focus:
I will change the frequency of the newsletter delivery going forward. This month, I will begin sending out my newsletter bi-monthly instead of weekly.
I plan to alternate between a week of private focus paying attention to memoir writing and then share the experience of that writing with you in the newsletter twice monthly. This allows me to make room for both kinds of writing and allows each to support the other.
You may also be wondering about the Heart's Content pillars of creativity and contemplation, as well as our focus on healing, recovery, transformation, and exploring the curriculum of life. Don't worry - these will still be integrated into my work. They are essential to who I am and what I focus on.
I’m sure I’ll share other thoughts and experiences as well. Maybe even a few short excerpts from my personal story writing. I don’t want to completely lock down the specifics just yet. I need a smidge of wiggle room to find my way through this transition. Thank you for understanding.
Your next free newsletter/love note will arrive in your inbox on MARCH 21. And so we begin, again.
For our loyal paid subscribers and founding members:
You will be my allies on the journey, my inner circle through this process. I intend to share some of my personal stories in development with you. I’ll also share with you the creative tools and healing processes I use to navigate this creative-spiritual experience. And for those interested, we may even find some opportunities to share some creative practices together virtually, to support you in navigating the curriculum of your life. We’ll decide together what best serves you. As always, when I do move back into teaching again, you’ll receive discounts for any offerings.
Lastly, to everyone: I am elated to be here in this space with you all and I am grateful to each of you for following, sharing, commenting, and reading along with me. Some of you have even gifted a paid subscription to a friend - thank you! This Heart’s Content community with you is one of the best writing experiences I’ve ever had, and I plan to continue for many years to come.
If you have found value and support here in the past year, have you considered becoming a paid subscriber? Thank you for reading!
I’m excited and slightly intimidated to embrace the changes ahead. I know that most of you will likely resonate with the ideas of these changes. For others, perhaps not. As ever, if this newsletter/love note no longer serves you, I completely understand if you choose to move on. I’d love to continue to walk this path with you, but if not, I send you off with my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the time you spent here with us and for your loving witness! It has made a big difference in my life this past year. Thank you!
May you abound in blessings and may your soul’s story sing you home.
Much love,
xo Mary
Since we’re celebrating today, let’s spread some joy and encouragement, and uplift one another in the comments!
WHAT IS ONE THING that we can celebrate with you this week? It doesn’t have to be anything major or profound - or it can be - as long as it’s meaningful to you, it is meaningful to us. I hope you’ll share and spread the joy! Comment below by clicking the button and sharing one thing you want to celebrate!
Happy Anniversary and congratulations, Mary! I’m grateful to be part of this community and look forward to all that will unfold in the next year. Celebrating you, all that you’ve done and all that is yet to come.
I am celebrating your one-year anniversary on Substack--so proud of you and love this journey you are taking!