Subscriber Chat: Christmas support, plus your hopes for the New Year
A monthly subscriber chat. Plus, lots of surveys about how I can offer you even better content.
Welcome to this month’s Subscriber Chat! My monthly subscriber chat is unique because it’s the only time I allow comments from anyone. And these comments won’t show up in your social media feeds, which means you can safely say whatever you want without your husband, mother-in-law, or boss seeing it. Feel free to comment anonymously.
This is the space to discuss whatever is on your mind, to ask for advice from the community, and to ask me anything. Consider this an AMA, where no questions are off limits.
For those of you who celebrate, consider this your Christmas/general holiday support thread! Tell us what’s happening! How is it going? What’s the most ridiculous bullshit your family has pulled today? Will your partner survive to celebrate another year?
Because this is the last subscriber chat of the year, I’m also curious about your New Year’s plans. What are your hopes for next year?
And because you are my community, and I am accountable only to you—not editors or advertisers—I want to know how I can best serve you in the new year. Below, I’ve posted a number of surveys to help me give you more of what you want and need from me.
I’m running my final membership drive of the year right now. From now until New Year’s Eve, you can get a 20% discount on a new subscription (that means if you’re currently a paid subscriber, you’re not eligible for the discount). You can buy as many subs as you want, so can give them as gifts. On January 1, the price of monthly membership will go up to $7, so if you’ve been on the fence, consider taking advantage! If you are a paid subscriber before the date change, your rate will not increase, making this a great time to lock in the lower rate.
Substack requires each poll to have only a very short question, so please read the description above each poll for the full question and context:
I write a number of special features. Don’t worry! None of them are going away! But I would like to know where to focus my efforts. If you had to choose only one, which is most important to you?
I spend a lot of time interacting with lots of different people. It’s opened my eyes to the wide variety of life skills we each have and do not have. For example, as a writer, I’m good at being succinct, but lots of people struggle with editing their thoughts. As the wife of a lawyer, I have a rough idea of how the legal system works, and when something might be illegal.
I’ve been bouncing around a new idea for a feature that’s not directly related to feminism. In this feature, I would interview professionals in their field (therapists, lawyers, etc.) and ask them five key skills or lessons they’d like to share. For example, a therapist might give tips on how to detect bad or abusive therapy. Because this is a step outside of my usual work, I’m not sure if this is a good fit for my audience, and I never want to spam you with content you don’t want!
As most of you know, I heavily moderate my group, my page, and my Substack. I do not allow people to be mean-spirited or post any oppressive bullshit. I hold men to an especially high standard because I want these to be safe places. But I also want people to be able to learn. How do you feel about the level of content moderation?
Finally, I want to know how happy you are with your subscription if you are a paid subscriber. Do you feel you are getting good value for the content? Is pricing fair? Please keep these things in mind when you answer this survey. And please provide additional details/context in the comments!
I love how succinct you are and how well you cut through the BS! I do it in one realm of my life but had generally taken things at face value in relationships. Because of you I’m better at applying critical thinking to everyday life and not just at work.
I am not in a celebrating mood this year. I didn't decorate my home nor did I dress up. The state of the world is so horrific, it's debilitating. I'm alone away from home and I just feel the weight of loneliness in a way I haven't in a while. At the moment, I feel like I am in some sort of completion stage. It's hard to explain, but it feels as though a whole chapter of my life is complete. It feels over and I don't know what will happen next. I am doing ok in general, but I feel like I need to figure out what to do next with my life. I'm letting current friendships fade away because they also feel like they should just fall away. My company is planning a restructuring soon so I'll be out, too. I've been working so hard all these years and had made some progress getting my life in order. I'm thankful for that but I am now uncertain as to how or what I'm supposed to create for myself. I don't know exactly what I'd like to say nor if this is relevant at all, but I thought I'd try and type. Next year is rather uncertain for me. Not sure what plans I should and can make. All I know is I'd love to see my family and I'd like to go back to a vacation spot that stirred a lot of interesting feelings for me this summer.