Looking back at your reading year is the same as looking back at photos. It captures the lifetimes you lived through books! Plus, bellyflops under the guise of “life updates”!
Apparently, I read the same amount of books as last year – 19, but about a thousand pages less. Boooo. Well, I moved countries and visited family in the US of A, after the ‘ol lockdown years, so that’s my excuse!
The last book of the year Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese deserves a mention because it is a wonderful book. I love the journeys that Verghese takes his readers on, which is why after The Covenant of Water, I dived (pun?) right into his other well-known novel. Although, these are fictional, he draws upon his real life. He was born in Ethopia to Christian parents from Kerala, India. Medicine plays a huge part of his life and stories, too. So, if you enjoy learning from novels that transport you to another time and place with compassion and detail, have a look!
From this past year’s reads:
// Best super realistic dystopian – Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
// Quirky, insightful, and thought-provoking – Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
// Most creative (absolutely bananas) mystery – The 7-1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
// My new favorite author – Abraham Verghese
Months ago, I received a notice that I needed to move my Mailer Lite newsletter from its current platform to another one. Basically, it was just another app wanting you to upgrade to a paid subscription. I told myself I’d deal with it later since the latter half of 2023 was crazy busy.
Well. I’ve had time to deal with it, only to discover that by migrating from Mailer Lite Classic to the new Mailer Lite, I’d lose all of my content, sans subscribers. Oh sure, I could go through these convoluted steps move it over piecemeal and save it as drafts, etc, but I didn’t see the point in staying with Mailer Lite anymore. See yaaaa!
Then, as I was researching different newsletter options, I discovered that TinyLetter was closing down, the same month (you have until February, mo’fos!) that Mailer Lite was forcing subscribers to move. When i first started my newsletter, five years ago, TinyLetter was what I used, so I am losing all the content there, too.
I get it. I’m using these services for free, but the cost of Mailer Lite isn’t even reasonable for me, and TinyLetter is simply shutting down. In fact, I find many paid apps and subscriptions to be exorbitant (except Netflix, which is why even though I go months of not using it, I still keep it. Learn, people, learn).
Anywayy, I had these choices: I could stop writing the newsletter, or put it on the blog, or give another platform a try (i.e. Email Octopus, ConvertKit, beehiiv), or get on Substack.
The blog is a natural choice, but I’ve definitely felt the decline in readership. For years, I’d read how blogging is dead and roll my eyes, but now, I’m nodding in agreement. Many folks have moved on to sexier forms of communication (AI? Tok of Tik?), but, to be fair, I’ve also changed my content a great deal from whence I started in 2009.
Therefore, I take full responsibility for not making “smart SEO” decisions, like writing about one topic. Instead, I’ve documented my expat journey, followed trends like Wordless Wednesdays (remember them?), and dumped all my writing experiments here when no one else wanted to publish it, and so it will always be HOME.
But the problem with the blog is, it hasn’t grown, even when I try to find new blogs and readers, participate, etc. No one’s interested. Folks come and go, and that’s life. I also have to recognize that my content isn’t appealing, except to a few of you lovelies who’ve been with me for years. And that’s okay. I appreciate you very much!
This brings me to Substack, which I decided to take seriously even though the thought terrifies me. I already use it to read many publications. One of my best essays was published there, on Oldster, and I adore that publication. The problem though is Substack might have financial issues, in which case, I could find myself in exactly the same situation in a year or two.
But who’s to say that whomever I chose might go through the same thing as MailerLite or TinyLetter? GAH!
In the end, I decided to go with Substack because I already use the platform, they have a podcast option (which I’m very interested in), and it has potential for growth. Of course, it could bellyflop. I’m afraid of a tepid reception, or crickets. But I’m not afraid to take chances, just afraid of doing the same thing, hoping for different results.
So far, my hairbrained ideas are these: writing quirky essays on the experiences that define us, interviewing friends on being an outsider (because my tagline for No Girl is an Island is “for the outsider in all of us”), reshaping the memoir, and continuing the newsletter under (my husband’s idea) “Lani on the Loose”.
This is probably going to be the case of biting more than I can chew, since I’m starting a new job in a week. Hey, at least I’m not attempting a new diet or exercise plan! Who the hell wants to go running four days a week when I can be banging my head against a closed laptop while I figure this out?
Don’t worry. The blog isn’t going anywhere. I mean, I’ve got to have someplace to go when Substack fails. Who doesn’t enjoy a good whinge?
Okay. Deep breaths. I can do ALL OF THIS. Laser focus. Laser focus. Laser focus. Oh, look, a new Six Feet Under is on Netflix now.
Happy 2024, everyone!
Do you have any reading or life goals this year?
Life, the Universe, and Lani 
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