So I wasn’t planning on doing this. No, honestly. I’ve put so much on my plate this year: starting two separate Substacks and a podcast, refining my business offerings in my photography business, creating an entire course curriculum for the writing course I’m launching in January, all while trying to keep my dog alive (which, if you’ve been here a while, you’ll know has been a personal challenge set by the Almighty Himself, apparently).
But here’s the thing (well, two things, actually):
First, the heart behind my new private podcast, The Waffler
The Battle Cry, while raw and real and honest and so close to my heart, is also really heavy. Its explores the intersection between suffering and joy. No big deal, right? And that kind of content POURS out of me (sometimes even I feel like “too much” for myself). I know it needs to be written. I know in my soul that God has given me words that need to be shared. BUT I also feel deeply convicted that heaviness and sorrow cannot become my brand. Not ever. Because if I only know how to connect with you over finding hope in the darkness, and I never know how to connect with you over the shared joy of simplicity, fun, and living in the light, well… that gets dangerous. I do not ever want to reach a point where I don’t know who I am as an artist, a writer, a business-owner, or a person without being heavy and sad.
So The Waffler is the absolute antithesis of that. While my writing for The Battle Cry may remain heavy (for the most part), my chats here on The Waffler will not! My goal is to explore all of the other beautiful pockets of joy which God reveals to me through His Word, through fun things like art and books and cooking and travelling, and through sharing a bit more of my story with you. I want you to get to know me and why I’m here doing this stuff on Substack – why I want to run a writing course and why I consider it a privilege to speak into your life as a teacher, creative, and fellow believer. Which brings me to my next point…
Second, my heart behind being here on Substack at all
I’d be lying if I pretended like the work I’m doing here is just a hobby. I’ll be perfectly clear here: it’s not. I am on Substack writing, behind a mic doing the Magic Like This podcast, and tapping away at a keyboard building a course curriculum because this is my all-in. I left my job working for a non-profit last year with very different plans for how I was going to build and sustain an income. And within 2 months of leaving that job, God had turned every. single. plan that I had on its head. He took every security blanket away from me and asked of me only one thing: “Trust me.” (I’ll share more about this story in The Waffler, btw.)
This last year has not turned out at all how I would have expected. I never expected to develop new health issues or to end up with such a sick dog who needs so much intense care. I never expected to feel so isolated and heartbroken that I wanted to disappear into a hole and never come out again. I never expected to be an entrepreneur who felt like nothing but an airy fairy creative failure with a pipe dream and no grasp on reality.
I also never expected that God would facilitate the growth and development of my writing practice through all of those aforementioned struggles. I never expected that I could take a business trip to Seattle when I am earning a grand total of £50 a month. I never expected to meet my exact, ideal clients who would inform and shape a course curriculum I’ve been dreaming up for years. I never expected to write an entire devotional booklet. I never expected to have a family who, far from discouraging me from making a career of my writing, have instead been behind me every step of the way. But here I am.
And I want you to know that I am here, working with every fibre of light inside me, to bring the hope of Jesus to you wherever you are – and also I’m here to pay my bills.
This Substack gig? I am working my little tush off to make it a serious pillar in my business. This is my job, and it has been such a gift, but also I need it to sustain me and my family.
That said, this isn’t a sob story. By no means. I feel BEYOND blessed that I can confidently say, when someone asks me what I do for work, that I am a writer. And I am not sharing my story to emotionally manipulate you into becoming a paid subscriber to my work (also, you’re too smart to play into that kind of ick).
What I AM saying is that I fully intend on carrying on with this work that I’m doing until I can confidently say that Substack pays my utility bills, and then my car payment, and then my student loans. Because I believe in a wild, beautiful, big, vision, and by God’s grace, I’m being given the breathing room to chase it.
So to chase it well, I want to make sure that I am offering the kind of value that is worth your paid subscription. I do not, in any way, feel entitled to your time, your inbox, let alone your money. But I do hope that I can be worthy of it by providing you with content that fills you with hope, makes you feel seen, inspires your creativity, and ultimately brings you closer to your Creator. And so after 6 beautiful months here on Substack, I am developing (over the next few months) an ecosystem of offerings that will be exclusive to my paid subscribers.
New offerings for paid subscribers:
Access to my private podcast, The Waffler.
A regularly updated list of exclusive Spotify playlists for writers, creators, and dreamy folk.
The option to enter a monthly prize draw to receive a free, 90-minute writing audit/mentorship call with me.
The option to enter a prize draw to receive 50% off of my writing course, Pick Up Your Sword, which launches in January.
Access to my devotional, Inspired by Joy, which, come December 1st, will be available to purchase for £15 unless you’re a paying subscriber of The Battle Cry (at the moment, you can still grab it by joining the waitlist for my writing course here).
Occasional bonus posts with specific practical and creative writing tips.
Quarterly desktop and mobile wallpapers with quotes from Scripture & C.S. Lewis.
These offerings aren’t launching all at once because WHOA that would be a lot for my little brain. But we are starting off by launching The Waffler, which I am over-the-top-this-girl-was-clearly-born-in-America-level excited about.
This first episode, and ONLY this first episode, I am making freely available to everyone because honestly, I just want to give you a fair idea of whether this is content that you’ll enjoy and that will be worth a paid subscription for you. But every episode after this will be behind a paywall.
It’s my goal, in this first episode, to just share my story a little more candidly with you. If you’re wondering who the heck I am and why I’m even qualified to be running writing classes and mentorships and all of the things, well, this first peek into my story might answer some questions for you.
What does this mean for free subscribers?
Absolutely nothing will change for free subscribers. I still intend on getting out weekly essays; however, it is my intention that my mammoth-length pieces become less frequent in exchange for some shorter posts instead (which, to be honest, is probably just as much a relief for my readers as it is for me).
In the meantime, I humbly ask you to consider becoming a paid subscriber if my work has continuously met you where you’re at and encouraged you to hold fast to your faith in Jesus, pursue your creativity, pick up your pen, and seek out the pockets of joy that God places for us in everyday life.
That’s all I’ve got for now, friends. Praying every blessing over you as we finish out this year.
All my love,
P.S. Even if you’re not in a place to become a paid subscriber right now, could you do me a favour and share this post, either on your Substack feed or directly with someone who you think it would bless? That would just mean the world to me because I can’t tell you how much I just want to get my work out there to encourage others with the hope of Jesus. Thank you in advance!
P.P.S. In case you’re interested, you can join the waitlist to find out more about my writing course at the button below. (And I promise you won’t get spammed with emails. No, really.)
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