Mea maxima culpa

It's about time you heard from me.

I am so, so, sorry.

You are my paid subscribers. You are the ones who support my work. Who value my work enough to pay for it. You have given me the honor of being able, for the first time in my life, to call myself a paid writer. I am so humbled by this.

And I’m an idiot.

I have been thoughtless, and I’m sorry.

It’s a miracle that I’m writing this Substack. You don’t need to know all the details of why or how my writing was interrupted. I share the stories that matter most, that I believe will speak to people.

I first learned about Substack in November, 2022, when an email from George Saunders showed up in my inbox. You know, George effing Saunders. And I read some of his posts — free at first — and thought I’d died and gone to heaven. When I hit the paywall, there was no way I could say no. I could read his brilliant posts, comment on them, read the comments of other readers. What an experience. It was a “Why on earth did I get that MFA?” moment.

My husband was diagnosed with Stage 4 lun…