A note to subscribers

Hello, friends. First of all, I want to express how sincerely grateful I am to everyone who has kept up with this site, and especially those whose generosity has made it possible. It brings me such joy to know that there are this many people who continue to be interested in and inspired by the words that Rachel has written. I only hope that my presentation of them has done more good than harm.

Friday will mark one year since this site went live, and I wanted to say a few things here to update everyone on the current status of this site. Because it’s been a year, many of you who subscribe on an annual basis should be seeing membership renewals in the next few days. To be frank, I don’t know if this site will prompt you to renew, or if it does so automatically, but I have no interest in being sneaky. Obviously I’d love for all of you to choose to renew your subscription, but I feel like it’s important to be transparent about what I believe the site will look like over the next 12 months.

When I started the site I told myself that I would keep it going for two years. During that time I would try to keep it as close to regularly updated as possible, while working to (hopefully) get her book published by the end of the second year. So far I’ve been mostly successful on the first point and I’m now starting to work in earnest on the second.

The other intent with the site was for it to be topical, responding to the present moment in our culture with past writings. You may have noticed that this has become less frequent in recent weeks/months. There are a couple of reasons for that: 1) It’s just plain difficult. The zeitgeist doesn’t always mirror her past. And 2) I’m frankly starting to run out of socially relevant material, so I’m trying to pace myself.

This brings me to the topic at hand… I expect that, over the course of the next year, you’ll likely see fewer and fewer posts on this page that tie directly to topics of the day. They won’t go away completely, but it will, by necessity, transition more and more into “general interest.” As we all know, Rachel could tap into universal truths and shared experiences through personal anecdote in ways that few writers and storytellers could. So, even if she’s writing about a shopping trip to the farmers market or recalling a memory from High School band, there’s nearly always something to be gained from experiencing it with her.

For my part, I will always try my best to present pieces that I think are worth the trust you’ve put in me, but as the supply of writing shrinks, I can’t promise profundity with every entry. I hope that’s ok, but if not, I completely understand if you want to pull your support.

I hope that you’ll stay. And I hope that, if you have been supporting this page financially, you’ll continue to do so. And for those of you who subscribe to the free feed, I’m glad you’re here. As I’ve said from the beginning, all the money earned from this site will be used to publish her book, and to keep this site running (yes, it does cost money to host this). I don’t know, and can’t predict what final costs of the book will be, but it is my intention to offer paid subscriber some kind of discount, if not a fully free copy, of the book when it’s complete. So, if you’re an unpaid subscriber now and would like to subscribe, now’s the time. If you’re a paid subscriber and would like to upgrade, I’d be super grateful. Or, if you’d like to jump ship, I promise I won’t be offended.

Either way, I’m happy you’ve been here. You’re a balm to me and I’m forever grateful. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment on this post, or, if you'd like to reach out privately, you can contact me at mixtapesfrombabylon@gmail.com

Peace.

-D.W.