Welcome to Life, Almost - the newsletter.

I write about life in every sense.

Ordinary things. And extraordinary things. Fertility, pregnancy loss, motherhood, grief,  love, toddlers, to-do lists.   

And you are….?

I’m Jennie Agg - I’m a journalist and author. My work has appeared in The Times, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, Red magazine, Women’s Health, ELLE, Grazia, and Positive News, among others.

Most recently, I’m the author of a book - also called Life, Almost - a blend of memoir and journalism trying to understand why we still know so little about miscarriage. It’s out now in hardback, ebook, and audiobook.

Back in 2017, I started writing about my experience of recurrent miscarriage, for newspapers at first, and then on a blog, The Uterus Monologues (which you can still read here). Since then, I’ve left my job as a newspaper health editor, gone freelance, had a baby, written a book, and moved to the countryside.

Apart from writing, I like running (not necessarily while I’m doing it), reading, walking, gardening, coffee, and cake. I live in a very impractical stone house, with three cats and lots of books. Quite often, I see more sheep per day than I do people.

Why did you start this newsletter?

I wanted a place to write about all the things that interest me – fertility, life after pregnancy loss, reproductive medicine, reproductive rights, grief, the day-to-day weirdness of possessing a human brain…..

There’s a bit of an overlap with my blog – The Uterus Monologues – but there’s space here, too, for things beyond coping through miscarriage. (If this is you, right now, though you are very welcome here. And I do try to keep my newsletter a ‘safe’ space in terms of how I write about motherhood and pregnancy – you will never be ambushed by a scan picture or be subjected to rants about how simply AWFUL it is having to watch Mr Tumble again, or whatever. More practically, there are more than 100 posts on my blog archive on all aspects of pregnancy loss, from ways to feel better, to what tests and treatment I had for recurrent miscarriage).  

Mostly though, as social media apps become increasingly noisy, extrovert places, I wanted a way to share more nuanced, complex ideas and feelings that can’t be conveyed in a 15-second Reel or 140 characters.

Why subscribe?

For all of the above, plus reading/watching/listening recommendations, fertility news round-ups - and the occasional sheep picture - all condensed into a weekly email, every Thursday.

…and why pay?

As a paying subscriber, you get full access to all of my writing, including exclusive paid-only essays.

Two posts every month are for paying subscribers only. A paid subscription also gives you access to the full back catalogue of Life, Almost, as older posts are archived behind the paywall.

Also behind the paywall is a weekly, private discussion thread, often - though not always - on an aspect of fertility or reproductive health. (You can get an idea of what these are like here.)

Plus paying subscribers get audio ‘voicenote’ versions of the weekly free email newsletter, recorded by me, sometimes with bonus material.

Finally, if you like my writing, a paid subscription is a wonderful way to support it - and to afford me the time and space so I can keep doing it.