Links, almost #7
Tech wives, tired daughters, and why 'as a mother' can get in the bin
Well, hello!
Before we get into this month’s array of things I’ve enjoyed lately, I wanted to talk to you all about something; something which – if I’m honest – feels far more exposing than what I usually write about. Even things like reporting on my own miscarriage, or trying to pin down the complicated feelings I have around wanting another baby.
What could be more vulnerable? Money. I need to talk to you about money.
This summer, I decided I wanted to make a real go of this newsletter. I would try to make it my main job.
Before that, I’d been toying with another idea for a business – drawing on my work as an editor and sub-editor – which felt much easier and less emotionally complicated to market and charge people money for. But because I’m also trying to write a novel (s l o w l y) and I, theoretically, only work three days a week, having three side projects on top of the journalism work that actually pays my bills was not very realistic.
The truth is I didn’t really want to do the other project as much as I want to write this newsletter, I just thought it was a good business idea – and I felt less awkward about the prospect of charging for it than I do about my more personal writing here. And then I had a miscarriage, which has a particular and brutal way of forcing fresh perspective on you.
So, I did some sums and some thinking about what this space should be for. What I landed on was this: somewhere to publish fertility stories you may not find anywhere else.
‘Stories’ might mean personal writing about my own experiences, but, as of next year, it’s also going to include reported features (if there’s something in particular you want to hear more about, or would like investigated, do let me know here).
As for the sums, I worked out that in order to make this newsletter fully self-sufficient, I need 192 paying subscribers. And while I’m a way off that number at the moment, it suddenly didn’t seem completely beyond the realms of possibility, as I’d once assumed making my living from this newsletter would be.
As I’ve promised before, I’m not here to give you the hard-sell. I’m delighted to have you here, whether you pay or not. But, because people can’t buy what you’re selling if you don’t tell them about it, here’s the deal: As of next year, two posts a month are going to be paid-only, rather than one, as it currently is.
Likewise, the Monday discussion threads are going to be for paying subscribers only, starting next week. In January, the price of a subscription is also going up a little for new subscribers – though it will still work out as less than £1.50 a week – so if you’ve been thinking about upgrading and just not quite got round to it, now would be the perfect moment, as it means you’ll pay the old price for ever more.
And now for the good stuff…
Reading/watching/listening…
The Start-Up Wife, by Tahmima Anam. What happens when a man takes credit for a woman’s work... And what if that man and woman happen to be married to each other?