Right now I am sitting at my dining table, one of my cats on my lap, a rapidly cooling cup of coffee to my left. I'm writing on a device called a Neo2 that's basically a pseudo-futuristic typewriter that one of Daisygreen's writing partners turned her on to a while back.
I like this thing because it forces me to focus. Its tiny screen is only designed to fit a few lines of text at a time. I can't connect to the internet, I can't endlessly scroll. If I get distracted by my phone or something in the house, I am making a conscious and obvious choice to pull myself away from the work. It becomes easier to gently remind myself to come back.
Speaking of coming back: I’d like to give you faithful readers a tiny update about where I would like to go with this newsletter moving forward.
I do strongly feel like my "beat" – as it were – is not in just reflecting what I see in and around the world of comedy, like I thought I was going to do when I began my Substack. What makes more sense to me now is that this is really about the overlap between comedy and recovery, the center of a Venn diagram I am highly familiar with, and become more familiar with one day at a time. (IYKYK.)
And as my time is becoming increasingly more precious, I have decided to do something obvious: set a schedule for this thing. I tend to work better with some guardrails in place. Ask anyone who’s ever watched me bowl.
Today I officially open the books to paid subscribers. That's right: if you like what I have to say here, you'll be able to keep up to date more specifically with what I'm doing, and help keep me afloat by doing so.
The new plan will basically be as follows:
I will commit to publishing a post available to ALL subscribers twice a month. These will look like what I've been doing already here – reflection on what I'm seeing and doing, some occasional commentary, all that jazz. Maybe I’ll get a little more experimental here and there. Regardless, there will be consistency and focus in the publishing schedule.
If you are a paying subscriber, you will get access to a weekly diary-style post. This will be much more unpolished, with a focus on comedy specifically, akin to what I did way back in the day with what eventually became The Shallow End. I like doing diary-style writing! I also know that it's an important part of my recovery to do a nightly 10th step... which is something that, 8 years and change in to being sober, I have had an immensely difficult time keeping up with consistently. So what better excuse to kickstart than by LITERALLY tying it to something else that I am committing to?
So! Here's the plan: 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, a free post. (Did I arbitrarily choose 2nd and 4th Tuesdays right in this very moment after realizing that it makes a lot of sense, since I’m publishing this on a 2nd Tuesday? You betcha!) Every Sunday – because that's when the week ends for me – you'll get a diary post if you are a paid subscriber.
So if you've ever wanted to get some real true insight into the life of a comedian/entertainer/writer/person in recovery, good news! Now’s your chance! I'll keep it all pretty low-cost: just $5 a month, or $50 a year if you subscribe annually. That's what people have already pledged, and it seems like a fair price. Enough to move the needle towards action.
And even if you’d like to keep things free, if you know someone who might like what I write, please share your favorite pieces whenever they roll into your inbox. It’ll mean a lot to me.
Thank you for your time and laissez les bons temps roulet. I hope you all catch some beads today.