Well, January Happened
Inky Archive for January 2025
Most of the people I know seem to be in agreement: the less said about January 2025, the better.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed the energy of January — reflecting on the past year and planning for the new one are fundamental activities for me — so I feel betrayed really let down by how terrible this one was. But I’m trying not to dwell on it. When I get frustrated that we still have the holiday decorations up, for instance, I remind myself that at least we still have holiday decorations, which is more than a lot of people in Southern California can say right now.
Leave it to say that I am a bit slow in coming to conclusions about my plans for this newsletter, which is why you’re getting this edition of Inky Archive the first week of February instead of in the last week of the Month That Will Not Be Named.
Wait, you say. I wasn’t even expecting an Inky Archive??
That’s right! You weren’t ,were you? You wouldn’t even know it was late if I hadn’t mentioned it. But I did; I’m just honest like that.
So let me introduce you to Inky Archive, along with the general “content strategy” for Magic & Ink going forward. For now.
A Monthly Newsletter
After some soul searching, I realized that I don’t really have the time or attention for what makes great premium (e.g. paid) content on Substack. What I really want to write right now is more personal in nature — dare I say “bloggy” — stuff I don’t mind sharing publicly but doesn’t really seem significant enough to clog up your inboxes, let alone ask you to pay a subscription fee to read. So I’m going to go ahead and post that stuff on my blog.
Then, at the end of each month, I’ll send out the Inky Archive with links to all those posts, however few or many they may be, along with any other content I might produce elsewhere (you never know!) and you can choose to read whatever sounds interesting, or not. I anticipate a mix of creative and informative work, but I’m really following my nose so who knows where it will lead me.1
Along with chatty personal updates, I’ll include some fun things like writing and editing tips of the month, neat photos, writing prompts, interesting stuff I may have read, and polls on topics like:
So, it’s going to be an actual newsletter, not so much articles sent to your email. I am keeping the components fluid to see what works best (e.g. what you all seem to like) so I hope you’ll chime in with your opinions when I try something new.
But Also…
Along with the monthly Inky Archive, I am going to try to publish one other article through Substack each month. I don’t have a specific plan for these, but they’ll be something a little more than what goes on my blog usually. I’m not sure how define “a little more” but I’ll figure it out, I’m sure. The first one will be coming in the 2nd half of February and I’m very excited for it!
And Then…
But what about Forest of Distraction, my oldest readers may be wondering.
Well, that will pop up when inspiration comes to me for those tasty little digests of world wonders. I realized recently that the reason I haven’t been prompted to put together any of those posts in months is because I haven’t been active on social media,2 and that’s how I discovered many of the items I have shared. Having realized that, I can supplement inspiration with a little more deliberate effort and I hope there will a few of those drifting into your inbox in the near future, too.
If You Want to Support Magic & Ink
I am leaving paid subscriptions on, with the only benefit for now being able to get a discount on developmental editing services if you’re a paid subscriber. That might change if I come up with an idea for premium content and/or community.
In the meantime, if you want to support my work, you can always buy me a chai.
Back to January 2025
While I have no new blog content this month, I’m going to share a couple older favorites, along with the two articles published on Substack this month in the Month That Shall Not Be Named.
The new:
The old:
One of my favorite Forest of Distraction:
Something old from my blog:
To close, here is a lovely sunset from January 24. Maybe the entire month didn’t suck after all.
If you really don’t want to wait for the newsletter for my blog content, you can always use an RSS reader to subscribe — so old fashioned, I know! I have used Feedly since Google knocked off Reader over a decade ago. Does anyone have other recommendations?
I actually deleted my accounts this week, but I haven’t really used them since taking a “brief” break in May.
I look forward to getting past ground hid day. Don’t know if the critter saw shadow or not. You can give me the news.