One year ago today, I was sitting in a hotel room on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in the middle of my sabbatical, having taken myself away for a writing retreat. The room was nice - a kitchenette where I prepared many meals, a view of the wintery ocean, and just enough room to both relax and spread out my laptop and books and myriad notes I’d been collecting for a year.
I knew I wanted to start a series from these notes; they mostly came out of conversations I was having with colleagues and clients, and often as various topics came up I’d say “I need to write about this” and my conversation partner would encourage me to add it to the list.
And what a list it was. Good lord, what a list it still is. 52 posts later, there are still dozens of topics I’ve not gotten to - and more keep coming up. Yes, I have a list still of things to write about… because while I’m considering other topics, people in our congregations keep acting up. (I mean, come on - give a girl a break!)
But thanks to all the messiness of humans being messy together, I have had an amazing first year writing Hold My Chalice. And many of you have responded. I’m blown away by the 59% open rate on the subscriber emails, with many more reads coming from email shares and social media.
What you read most
Some topics clearly caught your attention: top on the list was an early post, “The Person in the Pulpit” from January 24, where I talked about the brilliant, young, queer ministers who are not dudes” - over 3,600 views!
Also popular:
“More More More” (about why we should want to grow) from March 21 - 3,400 views
“The Church of the Future” (the topic’s in the title) from December 13 - 3,100 views
“It’s All About the Common Endeavor” (learning to be good church people) from November 28 - 2,700 views
“Starts and More Starts” (one of my biggest worship pet peeves) from August 1 - 2,600 views
I was surprised “It Was In the Newsletter” from March 7 didn’t have more views (2,300), but I can tell you the magnet I gave away at General Assembly was mighty popular:
Some more fun stats
Over 1,100 of you have subscribed (thank you!) - 11% of you are in Massachusetts and 9% in California. And none of you are from the southwest, or the Rockies (except Colorado), and there’s a column of states from North Dakota to Kansas that is HMC-empty… and come on, Wisconsin! I know I have fans there!
I also like seeing that 15% of you also read Notes from an American by Heather Cox Richardson, and many of you also read Rabbi Danya Rutenberg, Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, and Rev. Diana Butler Bass; nicely done, supporting women in ministry!
So what’s next?
Honestly, more of the same. (That and convincing someone…anyone in Wisconsin to subscribe.) As I said, the topics list remains long, and I imagine will keep on being long until you all get your act together. Maybe a bit more worship content, too. And who knows… I might take advantage of Substack’s podcast feature. Might. We’ll see. I will be adding some items to my Redbubble shop, probably in time for General Assembly (yes, I know it’s online this year, but you’ll still be on the socials and you’ll be wanting to sport new swag.)
A final word
Lastly, I want to thank the 134 of you who have financially supported my writing (I’m ever so grateful, and I owe you more paid subscriber content in the new year).
I should pause to mention one of the things I find remarkable: there are people who took to email to yell at me for asking to be paid for my work. (I’ll pause while you swear.) Yes, while I love doing this column, it is work. And for those who don’t know, I am self-employed, which means no one else is paying me for this - so paid subscriptions help. (So do free subscriptions; I know not everyone can afford it, and I try to make most of the good stuff free.)
If you like what you’ve read and aren’t subscribed - or if you want to upgrade to a paid subscription - click the Subscribe now button below.
Thank you all for a fantastic year, and get ready for more opinions (because I’ve got ‘em)!