What you can expect from me this summer

Because setting expectations builds trust 😎

Finally ordered my first copy of The Happy Newspaper, a brilliant project by UK author/illustrator Emily Coxhead! It is as fun as I’d imagined… ✨

Hi friend,

For the most part, I like to go with the flow here. After years of thinking my writing needed to be “helpful” in some way, I finally feel as though I’m back to my blogging roots. Not writing any BIG ideas or how-to posts, just compiling stories for my little weekly dispatches and monthly newsletter, and sharing the ways I think and see and experience the world.

And, every so often, I do find myself looking ahead and thinking about what I might do here next. This usually happens right before I take time off the internet, which I do in August + December of every year. This seems to line up with the middle + end of the calendar year… the perfect time for a former planner to start re-thinking their goals. 😅

As it turns out, I’ll also be going through a big life change this summer. I’ll tell you more about that next week. But it comes with a lot of life admin, and has me looking at my calendar and my money, making lists, strategizing, etc. I’m basically mapping out changes to my whole life right now! Including my work, book writing project, and this newsletter.

Things will start to change next week! So before it all begins, I want to give you a sneak peek and share what you can expect from me here this summer…

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June + July

📝 I’ll continue to write weekly… but I’m trading my “dispatches” for a different kind of diary

I really want to document the big life change I’m about to go through. Some of you might have already guessed what it is, but if you’ll let me indulge in my vagueness for just a few more days, I’d appreciate it. My friend Julie recently told me that something she loves about our conversations is that I always bury the lead, then throw a whopper of an update at her. I didn’t realize this was something I did, but I can see it now. I guess I like to hold onto things for a little while… let them live inside me, and figure out how I feel about it and how I might talk about it, before I say it out loud. I’m ready to say it out loud, but I also want to write about it. So you can expect a weekly update from me in June and July, but it won’t be in the format of my usual dispatches. I want to write essays and include some extra visuals. And I even have a title for it, so this experience will be packaged up in a little series. The first one will be in your inbox next week.

☎️ I’ve added extra days to my booking calendar for our one-on-one chats!

In April, I created a new subscription option that includes a 60-minute private Zoom chat for us to chat one-on-one about anything you like! I don’t record them or use what we talk about for writing/marketing material. They are just for us. But just to give you an idea of what we can talk about, so far we’ve had convos about everything from newsletters and non-fiction book proposals, to money, shopping bans/decluttering, habits, creativity, and the question of: Are we in the portal!?

When I first launched this offering, I was only able to do Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s, and the odd Sunday. But my responsibilities have shifted a little, and I can now do most Thursday’s too—and have updated my booking calendar to reflect this.

So, from now until July 16th, my availability is: Tuesday, Wednesday, and most Thursdays from 2pm-5pm UK time (6am-9am PT, 9am-12pm ET). If weekends are better for you, there are also two slots available on Sunday, June 15th + July 13th. I only do 1 call per day, so once someone books a slot, that day gets greyed out in the calendar. I won’t be doing any calls from July 17th-August 31st. And I’ll be figuring out a new schedule for September onward, during that time!

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July

💸 I’ll be offering a 30% discount on paid subscriptions

At the start of the year, I told you I would offer a 30% discount on paid subscriptions twice in 2025. The first was for the whole month of January. And the second/last will be for the first two weeks of July. I think I’ve offered a discount every July, as a way to celebrate my birthday (which is on July 7th). But this summer is a big one, because I’m turning 40! 🥳

I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about discounts, as I know they can create scarcity and encourage people to spend money they might not have otherwise. But I also know they give us more opportunities to support writers/creators we love. So if you’ve thought about upgrading to a paid subscription (or want to renew at a cheaper price), just know that option will be available July 1st-14th.

🕯️ I’ll be hosting my LAST live journalling session (and it will be free for all paid subscribers)

Oh gosh, friend, is this an example of me burying the lead!? This wasn’t intentional… I’m just going in calendar order! But I suppose this is the biggest piece of news, at least for those of you who have joined me for journalling sessions in the past. All year, I’ve been sitting with the question of whether or not I want to do more in the future… and it feels clear and good to finally be able to say: no, I do not.

I’ve been hosting live guided journalling sessions online since the fall of 2021. But I’ve done fewer and fewer since I moved over to the UK and started building a different life here. The reason I’ve been questionning if I want to continue doing them at all is because: I don’t journal anymore. I stopped in the summer of 2023 and haven’t had a regular journalling practice since. So it doesn’t feel right for it to be part of my business anymore either.

The main reason I had such a hard time making this decision is because I LOVE spending time with you on Zoom! I’m really going to miss seeing your faces! Which is why I’m going to host one final session and make it free for all paid subscribers of this newsletter. If you’re already a paid subscriber, you don’t have to do anything—I’ll just send you the Zoom details closer to the date. If you want to join us for this final session, you’ll need to become a paid subscriber, at least for the month of July. I truly don’t mind if you cancel after a month. I’d love to see as many faces as possible in this final session.

Save the Date

What: Last Journalling Session with Cait
When: Sunday, July 20th at 8am PT/11am ET/4pm UK
Where: On Zoom for 1 hour (meeting details to come)
Who’s Invited: All paid subscribers!
Topic/Theme: Stay tuned!

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August

😎 I’ll take my annual summer vacation from the internet!

I’ll still be working on my next book, but won’t be writing this newsletter or hanging out anywhere online. So you won’t hear from me in August! But I’ll be excited to reconnect in September and hear how your summer/winter was, depending on where you are in the world… ☺️

xx Cait