Hey Reader!

Another Tuesday, another email sent.

Except that this time I did not send it. In fact, I did not even write it.

I was having A Day and being thoughtful or clever or interesting or even mildly capable felt out of reach. So I didn’t write the email and I felt bad about it.

And then I spiraled into “I’m going to end up in a crappy nursing home with no friends, living on applesauce, listening to the wails of the senile and lonely.”

Because at a certain age that’s just where your mind goes. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Then morning came and I’d love to tell you that I was transformed, that the glory of spring flowers and birds singing and sun shining reinvigorated me and I leapt to the keyboard with a song in my heart. 🌼🌿☀️🐥

But that would be a bold-faced lie.

In fact, I thought of ten different ways to get out of sitting at the computer in communion with other writers (or alone, which sometimes happens). But I am all about honoring my commitments; otherwise I would never get anything done.

I host Consistency Club on Wednesdays at 10 am. So today, at five to ten, I opened up Zoom and I sat down to write to you.

When I talk about newsletters I really go hard on consistency. It’s so easy to let a week slip by, and then another, and then it’s October and your Happy Fourth of July! draft has to be scrapped and you’ve got to start all over again.

Consistency looks different to different people; maybe you’re a once a week writer, or twice monthly. Maybe you send out multiples every week! If so I salute your energy. ⚡️⚡️

For me, the temptation to put it off until tomorrow, whether that’s writing a newsletter or finally taking those boxes to the post office, is always quadruple espresso strong. That’s why I started Consistency Club - so I’d be forced to sit down and JUST DO IT. (With apologies to Nike. Kind of.)

Email is still the best way to reach people, by which I mean people you’d like to work with.

I mean, for sure, make reels and post memes and stay in touch via LinkedIn. More exposure never hurts. But social media in all its forms is still mainly useful as a portal to your mailing list.

Sales happen when people get to see you, learn about you, become invested in your work.

And what better way to share all that than through email?

I started Consistency Club to help keep you going on those weeks when writing is the last thing you want to do.

Its original purpose was for email writing, but it can also be for journaling, angry letter-writing, finally getting that blog post done; whatever kind of writing you feel like doing.

Maybe you owe your aunt a letter 🙋🏻‍♀️ or you want to put together a really thoughtful testimonial for someone you think is great.

Here’s the thing - it feels so good to actually sit down and get the writing done! Totally worth the effort.

Life is overwhelmingly busy! Somehow this is true even if you spend hours watching The Pitt and simultaneously playing solitaire. “Relaxing” isn’t really a thing anymore, not with our devices screaming at us to open up, update, respond.

​Consistency Club is an hour of silence (or music, if you want - you do you) in which to get some thinking and writing done. It’s easy. Show up every week or when it fits your schedule. Join us halfway through or sign off after 20 minutes.

But stay for the full hour if you want to feel self-satisfied and superior.

I’ll be here, having battled through another ten reasons not to spend an hour writing. If you need a prompt or have a newsletter-related question I’ll be happy to help.

Hope to see you next Wednesday!

Yours in showing up,

Julia

PS - If you want to hear me talking about other stuff, like aging in the land of patriarchy or what to drink during the Zombie Apocalypse, subscribe to my other newsletter, Are You Kidding.

​Foo Fighters know that even the ordinary can be heroic, and so does this email. Forward it to someone who’s looking for a hand to hold.