The Unspeakable on Substack

It had to happen.

Hi Everyone,

I tend to come to things late. I had a Blackberry phone until 2013. I’ve only now started playing Wordle. I recently heard about this band Coldplay. Kinda meh, to be honest.

For the last few years, I’ve been an enthusiastic Substack subscriber, but I’ve resisted doing one myself. 

The resistance is over. I’m finally launching a Substack. Here’s why.

If you’re reading this, chances are you know me at least a little. I’ve been around for awhile and I’ve done a lot of different things. These days I’m not just a writer but also a podcaster, teacher and, most recently, founder of a new enterprise called The Unspeakeasy. As such, I managed to accumulate about a hundred different websites. This has created confusion for you and extra work for me. The Substack page will consolidate those sites and offer a regular newsletter will keep you up to date on everything I’m doing.

So, what exactly I am doing and how does it relate to this? Here’s a quick rundown

The Unspeakable Podcast is the interview show I launched two years ago. It features free-ranging, candid, Nuanced AF™ conversations with all kinds of fascinating people. The podcast will still be free and available on your regular podcast apps like aways, but this Substack page is now the way to support it and become part of the community.

A Special Place In Hell, my new podcast with Sarah Haider, looks at culture and society through the lens of our twenty year age difference. It’s also been likened to an “after party for The Unspeakable” but it’s very much it’s own thing.

The Unspeakeasy is a community for freethinking women that I’m in the process of building. It will have its own online space and mailing list, but I’ll also keep you updated on our progress, including information about our “sanity spa vacation” retreats, right here.

Writing courses: I periodically teach private writing workshops in personal essay, memoir, and opinion writing, mostly on Zoom (they used to be in my apartment in NYC; those were the days)! I’ll keep you posted about those courses here so you’ll never miss an announcement.

My own writing, including new personal essays. If you’ve only discovered me in the last few years you might not realize that all the opining, podcasting, teaching, and, lately, bellyaching about free speech only came about because I built a career on personal essays. I haven’t done that kind of writing in awhile, but it’s time I got back to it. Sharing such work requires a lot of vulnerability and trust on my part, and you’ll have the chance to become one of my early readers.

If you’ve been following me lately, you know I’ve been very open about the difficulties of adjusting to the new creative economy. I’ve talked about how much I’m willing to sacrifice, financially and otherwise, in order to keep saying the things I want to say. I’ve also admitted how hard it is to ask for help, especially financial help.

Nonetheless, I’m asking you to come along with me and become a subscriber. Here’s what you’ll get for what you’ll pay.

Free Subscriber

• As a free subscriber you will receive periodic updates about what I’m doing. That includes writing classes, public vents, the latest about The Unspeakeasy and links to things I publish here and elsewhere. Periodically I will publish a piece of new writing on the page for free and, as a subscriber, you’ll know about it before it goes mega-viral on Twitter. You’ll also be able to access the entire catalog of Unspeakable episodes right there on the Substack page.

Monthly Subscriber $7/month

• A weekly newsletter that keeps you updated on everything I’m doing, including writing courses, public events, the latest with The Unspeakeasy, my own writing, and more.

• All sorts of Unspeakable extras, including discounts on Nuanced AF merchandise, access to premium versions of the podcast and the ability to leave comments. That means you’ll get the podcast a few days early, you won’t hear ads, and you’ll be able to hear bonus content. I don’t do bonus content every time, but when I do you’ll be able to access those episodes on the Substack page.

• Now here’s where you really get your money’s worth. You’ll get everything mentioned above, plus regular new writing from me. This is big. And we’re not talking about hot takes or quirky jeremiads about the culture wars. I’m going to go back to my roots and write personal essays. I’m going to write about what my life is like in this particular moment in time, how I feel about the past, and what I both hope for and fear for the future. Maybe this will become part of a book someday and maybe it won’t. But they will amount to early drafts of the next phase of my writing life, and you’ll be the first to read it. I might even release some on audio.

Founding Member $200/year

• For this, you mainly get my undying and awestruck gratitude. Aside from that, you get all the regular paid podcast perks plus the chance to join regularly-scheduled monthly Zoom hangouts with me. I’ll meet with all of you for about two hours once a month and we’ll discuss recent episodes of the Unspeakable podcast. Occasionally a guest might join us, but more than occasionally you’ll get cameo appearances or barkerruptions from my Newfoundland dog, Hugo.

By the way . . .

If you are a paid subscriber to A Special Place In Hell, my new podcast with Sarah Haider and are thinking “but I just paid for a whole new podcast why do I have to pay for this one, too?” I hear you. Substack is working on some bundling options to address this very scenario, but they’re just not there yet. So for now, email me and we’ll figure something out.

A note to my Patreon supporters

If have been a Patreon supporter, first of all, thank you. By now, you should have received an email explaining that The Unspeakable will continue as before, but the Patreon is no longer active and Substack is now the only place where you can support the podcast financially and join the listener community. The good news is that you will get one month free access to the Substack premium features listed above. The inconvenient part is that if you want to keep supporting me, you’ll need to buy a paid subscription on Substack. This is a risk for me, since it means I have to build back my paying audience from scratch. But I think this will be a much better way for us all to come together and I’m deeply grateful to you for coming along with me.

Some final thoughts

I started publishing my writing nearly thirty years ago. I never wanted to be anything other than a writer. What drove me was my urge to give voice and bring meaning to ideas and stories that don’t lend themselves to easy interpretations. If something was difficult or scary to think about, that was what I wanted to delve into. I succeeded as a writer because, back then, saying the difficult or scary thing was exactly the job description of a writer. Not everyone loved what I was doing (not even close). But a critical mass of readers appreciated it, even they didn’t always agree with me. Put simply, they got what I was trying to do. In turn, they got more out of the reading experience than if I’d avoided the difficult stuff. It was a beautiful relationship.

If you’d told me thirty years ago, even ten years ago, that this relationship would all but crumble someday, I would have said that was impossible. Moreover, if you had told me that a time would come when wanting to engage with uncomfortable ideas was, in many circles, the opposite of a writer’s job, I would have told you that was unthinkable.

As we know now, anything is possible. Even and maybe especially the unthinkable.

Which brings me back to why I’m writing on this platform. Despite all the noise, it’s clear that there are still lots of people who want writers to do their jobs. If you’re receiving this email, it’s because I think you might be one of those people for me. If that’s the case, I hope you’ll join me in anyway that makes sense for you.

That is if anything makes sense anymore. On that score, you know I’ve been trying. And we’re in this together.

All my best,

Meghan