Freedom within The Art of Freedom

And embracing the turtle

Hello dear readers,

Before I say anything else, I want to tell you that your choice to subscribe to The Art of Freedom matters to me.

Not in the laughable on-hold-for-45-minutes “your call matters to us” kind of way, but in the sincere and somewhat pathetic “after years of acting in church basements for 13 friends who are also actors, to have an audience of this size makes me want to cry” kind of way.

It feels like a tremendous privilege to write for such a gracious, whip-smart, conscious, freedom-loving bunch. You guys really are the bomb. (Does that phrase date me? Probably.)

I take seriously the magnitude of the gift of your attention, and never want to waste it, so this will be short.

Two years ago, I promised to publish every Sunday, not only because I work well with deadlines, but also because I started with just two subscribers, both related to me, and I wanted to grow my audience. Everyone told me that pumping out content was the way to achieve that.

Here’s my challenge. Unlike some other writers, who seemingly dash off posts in the time it takes me to brush my teeth, I write slowwwwly. I’ve fought that truth for years, flogging my tortoise-like creative motor to turn over faster, but I think I’m finally coming to grips and accepting it.

Why now?

Because a desire has crept in, more and more strongly, to tackle bigger projects. I’m still a playwright, though I haven’t written new stuff in… well, the two years of writing my Substack. I have a project that is desperately calling for a rewrite, a full-length play about Aemilia Bassano Lanier, the possible writer of Shakespeare’s canon.

There are other plays brewing inside, too. One is coalescing inside my mind as I live my daily life, as I’ve lived through the last four years. It will, of course, have to be Theatre of the Absurd.

There’s also the come-from-behind book I’ve started writing with my daughter about her miraculous journey from bedridden-with-Lyme to professional volleyball player, and a book of poems I’d like to put together.

Clearly, I’m not going to tackle them all at once. But just as clearly: this turtle needs more space during the week to move in other directions simultaneously. So I’m still going to publish on Sunday mornings… just not every Sunday.

I’m also considering adding in a podcast interview now and again, because I’m coming to grips with something else: I’ve never been the Brontë sister type, scratching away in a lonely garret day after day.

I really like people. I find them endlessly fascinating. As a kid, when I wasn’t devouring a book or dancing to Broadway musical LPs, I was sitting under a maple tree, interviewing my friends with a cassette recorder.

That’s one reason why I love the comment section of The Art of Freedom — it’s a social hive of sorts, where I get to mix and mingle with you all, and witness you all mixing and mingle with each other.

If you know someone you’d like me to interview, reach out in the comments or in the handy-dandy direct message option, below.

So that’s my plan, going forward. I hope you’ll stay for the slower ride.

To my paid subscribers: thank you from the depths of my ever-loving heart for choosing to support me that way. If at any point you feel like you’re not getting your money’s worth, I’ll prorate a refund, no questions asked.

And if you’re not a paid subscriber but you’d like to be, you know what to do.

Thoughts? Questions? You also know what to do.

Thank you all.

As always, keep your light shining bright.

xox
M