Today's Communique From the Land Of Misfit Toys

Please, sir...may I have another??

True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations.

• Suze Orman

In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.

• Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything

I’ve been tinkering around the margins of this newsletter for a bit over three months. I have an idea as to how I want things to move forward. At least for the immediate future, that is. However, I suck at predicting the future, so I’ll refrain from allowing the car to get too far ahead of the horse.

I stopped writing for my blog of 20 years, What Would Jack Do?, because I felt the time had come for a new challenge. More than anything, I wanted to see if there was a way I could make some money off of my writing. It’s always been a dream of mine to support myself with my gift, and I knew it wasn’t going to happen with my blog.

Substack offers me an opportunity to make that happen. The platform and the support it provides don’t guarantee that I’ll turn a profit, but it offers a much better chance. It’s going to be a long-term project and commitment on my part, and I’ll need the support of my readers to do that.

In the short term, everything I post will be available free of charge. That may or may not change in the future. For now, though, I want my work to be as widely available as possible. Of course, subscriptions will remain on the menu, and I am grateful to those of my readers who’ve subscribed so far. Know that you’re part of a small but growing group…and that I’m immensely grateful for your support.

As things develop in the future, I may offer subscriber-only features or the occasional subscriber-only post. I have many ideas, but as I’m new to this platform, I want to let things develop organically. Ultimately, I want to be bigger than Stephen King, but that’s not going to happen overnight.

If you choose to subscribe, I'd be honored to have you in my corner. For those who might want to do something a bit different, you may also donate via Venmo. My handle is @Jack-Cluth. I’m also on PayPal; my handle there is @jackcluth.

Even if all you want to do is read without making a financial commitment, that’s OK, too. I’m honored that you would take time out of your day to read my contribution to the universe.

All of this may and at some point probably will change. However, I’m still learning how to navigate the Substack platform. As I learn how to do things differently and (hopefully) better, my efforts will reflect that.

The bottom line will always remain the writing, though. I’m always available to correspond with readers, and I’m open to suggestions/ideas/complaints/gripes. So, keep it clean and on topic, and we’ll get along just fine. My email address is yuppieskum@gmail.com.

Thank you for being a part of this. Like any artist, I enjoy having an audience, and it’s exciting to know some people are sincerely interested in what I have to say.

For my part, I promise to do my utmost to respect your time and the decision you’ve made to stop by my little corner of da Interwebz.

Stay tuned….