I resisted the notion of a newsletter for a long time. Mostly because I was uncertain. Aside from my memoir, what could I say? What value could I offer to potential readers? What would they want from me?
But I was looking at it the wrong way around.
I had bought into a rethinking of platform. I didn’t want to be the proclaimer, the herald, the shouter. I wanted to share not only my ideas but the ideas of my readers as well. As my friends Allison and Ashleigh have christened it, I wanted a bridge.
But I was still stuck.
Where would the sharing begin? And how?
The Magazine Cover
It turns out there was an exercise, one that Allison had recommended months and months ago, in fact, that would help. And just like that other bit of excellent Allisonian advice—to print out and retype my WIP—I resisted. I thought it was silly. Pointless, even.
The exercise?
Imagine your life as a magazine. Think Oprah’s O but without the awful Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz business. Imagine next what that magazine’s cover would look like. A photo of you, sure. But what about the articles? The things you love to talk about or write about?
And when I finally stopped finding excuses and did the magazine cover exercise, look what came of it.
Then What
I began to understand what my bridge might look like because I was beginning to understand my passions. The things that make me light up when I talk about them.
I had the what and the why down. But one question remained.
How to share?
I asked that question to my friend Leanne, who was just beginning her newsletter journey. Her answer was spot on: Whatever you do, let your personality come through. Make it short and make it funny.
And so my newsletter took flight. The second issue just landed in people’s email inboxes a few days ago and I’m looking forward to writing the third issue. Either about the Great Fart Battle or about traditional Japanese color names (rat gray, for example, or wet wings). Or maybe, better yet, about the unofficial holiday that falls on April 4 in Japan.
