Hello and welcome to The Inevitable Substack!

Hello and welcome to The Inevitable Substack!
Why ‘inevitable?’

Perhaps you’ve been around long enough to remember the aughts, when I was in my thirties, a new mother and a new-ish author. Back then, writers had blogs. 

In the 2010’s, when I was in my forties, and my kids were growing up and my career was more established, writers had Twitter feeds. 

Today? I’m 54, as I’m writing this. I have one daughter in high school and one in college (how? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?) And as a mid-career author, I know I’ve got more stories to tell, but I’m also thinking about how to give back, how to open the door for the next generation of writers, and how to leave the industry better than how I found it. 

Part of that project involves money. I’ll be partnering with a local nonprofit, Blue Stoop, here in Philadelphia, and funding nation-wide fellowships to support emerging writers’ work. Stay tuned for an official announcement and all the details how that’s going to work and who is eligible…but I am very excited to literally pay it forward and support rising talent, especially women who don’t have the advantages and the privileges I did when I was writing my first book. 

And part of it involves this, The Inevitable Substack. Because even though the blogosphere’s a ghost town, and social media is a mess, I’ve still got things I want to say, and some lessons about the craft of writing and the business of publishing that I can share. 

And so, here we are. 

I’m not entirely sure what form this might eventually take, and what subjects it might take on. Politics? Feminism? Family? All of the above? 

But, for now, for starters, this is where I’ll talk about craft. I’ll take a piece of writing – from a memoir or a novel or a politician’s press release or my own work in progress – and do a close reading, walking you through it, showing you what I can about what’s working and what’s not, and why.

In the beginning, the majority of what I’ll post will be free. Certain posts and the chat feature will be paywalled. Eventually, my hope is to have you, the readers, submit a piece of writing. I’ll occasionally select a few and go through them, showing you what’s working and what isn’t, and what I’d change, and how. That’s where the paid subscriptions will come in.

There will also be some essays about the publishing industry…and some body stuff, and some family stuff, and some stories about reinvention, and trying new things as a middle-aged lady. You will probably get to hear about my piano lessons and my volunteer work, and see lots of pictures of my dog.

But, for the most part, we will talk about writing. Whether you’re an aspiring writer halfway through writing your first novel, a reader who likes to peek under the hood and see how things happen, or someone who cares about the craft of writing, about words and language, I hope you’ll find something here you like.

So, welcome. I’m glad you’re here. Let’s dive on in! 

To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.