Introducing: Me! 🧡Halloween Heart🧡! And an option to pay me for my work!
Consider this your Fall Syllabus for my Substack newsletter
Happy fall y’all.
A chill has entered the air, my household has already consumed two entire packages of Halloween Oreos, and the kids in the neighborhood have gone back to school. The time for ghosts and ghouls is upon us, and I could not be more excited.
But before I get to describing a new section of With Love From My Kitchen Table, titled Halloween Heart, let me introduce myself. I’ve gotten a number of new subscriptions in the past few weeks and I’d like to say: Welcome! I am so happy you’re here. I started this newsletter with two subscribers (Hi mom! Hi husband!) and now seventy-five of you have signed up to read my work each week. And I don’t even know all of you personally! Wow! Thank you for being here. It’s honestly so so cool.
A little bit about moi (yes, I did take French!)
I’m Kaia. I am a mother, wife, writer, avid reader, teacher, painter, and author of the hybrid memoir/historical fiction/research work The War Requiem, published by Essay Press. I have published a number of essays and short stories in literary magazines, and I’ve taught creative writing, composition, and literature at the collegiate and high school levels. I met my husband while we were both studying abroad on St. Olaf’s Global Semester program, and we’ve been married for over eight years now. We welcomed our son just about two years ago and that’s been our favorite adventure so far. I grew up with cats but am now a dog person. My first dog, Cleo, was one of the loves of my life, and we had to say goodbye to her a year ago this month. We now have Franny, who is a cuddly black lab who eats absolutely everything, especially the things she is not supposed to!! I love chocolate cake more than just about anything, I sing more than I speak, and I am a major fan of reality television.
Here is a picture of me and Franny the night we brought her home. It was Halloween season, so I threw out the name Sybil, but that got a hard pass from Michael. She’s more of a Franny anyway.
Introducing Halloween Heart
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and for the past few years I have been quietly working on a series of essays about all things Halloween. Think Aimee Nezhukumatatil’s World of Wonders or Bite by Bite, but instead of essays on catalpa trees or lychee fruit, you get essays on Jack-o-lanterns and black cats. Two of these essays have found homes in literary magazines, but the rest I’ve not yet found a home for. For a while, I thought I might try to traditionally publish them as an essay collection, but lately, I’ve had other ideas. After all, Halloween is subversive and surprising, horror movies can be terrifying or hilarious or both, the treats you can get in your bag range from Sourpatch Kids to king-sized Kit Kats to (lame) raisins. I want my essays to live in a space that is as flexible and accessible and exciting as Halloween. So I’ve decided to publish them on Substack.
I’ve thought about whether or not I should create a brand new publication or if I should create Halloween Heart as a subsection under the umbrella of my With Love From My Kitchen Table newsletter. But I decided that my love for Halloween is a huge part of me, so why shouldn’t these essays live with my other writing? I also don’t have the bandwidth to run two separate publications, tbh. And I can always change my mind later. From the start of this publication, I’ve always prioritized doing what I feel like doing instead of what I think I should in order to gather more followers or subscriptions. This is my own little corner of the internet where we do it my way!
Nuts and Bolts
So what does all of this mean? What can you expect? First of all, you will receive the essays under the Halloween Heart section automatically, since you subscribe to WLFMKT (wolf market? This was already more Halloween than I thought). I celebrate ghosts and skeletons and the uncanny all year round, so you can expect these essays to pop into your inbox from time to time throughout the year, but they will ramp up around the fall months. If you, I don’t know, like, hate Halloween (are we friends?? Jk) you can go to your settings and unsubscribe to the Halloween Heart section specifically and receive the normally tagged WLFMKT essays and listicles as usual. No hard feelings. (Hard feelings!! Again, jk, no hard feelings.) On the weeks I send out a HH essay, those who have opted out will get nothing. (Boo hoo for you and Boooooo👻 for the rest of us.)
Explaining my thoughts behind offering an option to pay me for my writing
These essays have been written with traditional publishing in mind, meaning I have worked over and edited them many, many times over the course of months. I also work hard on my weekly letters to you. For some time, I have been hinting that a paid option is coming, and that time is here. I put in hours each week thinking about, writing, and editing these posts, and I want to give readers an option to support my work financially.
For the time being, it is important for me to keep all of my work going out through Substack free, with the option for people to pay me, because I actually have quite a few irons in the fire behind the scenes and I want to be able to push pause on my Substack in order to focus on my other projects whenever I want without feeling guilt. For this reason, I want the payment for my Substack to be an option. If you want to kick me a few dollars a month and you’re not worried if I take a week off here or there, I would be so grateful (it will go to coffee and hiring a babysitter so I can write more). If you want to continue reading for free, I am so grateful for your readership. Truly. I have had one person pledge a subscription right from the start (cousin Mary—thank you!!) and this is a head’s up for her that when I turn on the option for paid support next week, she will get charged. If I decide to go on hiatus for a month or more, I will suspend all paid subscriptions.
How much does a subscription cost?
There are subscriptions available for $5/month, $50/year, or you can be a “founding member” and pay $100/year. And, of course, you can always keep reading for free.
Regardless of whether or not you choose to purchase a paid subscription, I hope you will consider forwarding my work to people who might enjoy it. It’s really a thrill for me to be read. It makes me feel seen and empowered in a way that nothing else in my life does, and the beauty of the internet is that with a few clicks, you can introduce others to new ideas, friends, and worlds. Please consider sharing my words.
What’s coming up?
Later this month you will get a WLFMKT letter about some of my favorite books I’ve read recently. You will also get a HH essay or two. In October, I will exclusively be posting Halloween essays or listicles. In November, I’ll toggle the spooky back a bit and we’ll see how it goes from there.
When does the option to pay happen?
Next week. I’ll turn on the option for payment next Thursday, September 12th, and will send you a reminder along with that week’s essay.
When’s the homework due?
Just kidding! No homework for you, my lovely readers! All of this is for fun, for me and for you. Thanks so much for being here. Please let me know if you have any questions, and, as always, know I’m thinking of you—
With love from my kitchen table,
Kaia
*A little addendum I always put in the bottom of my syllabi: I reserve the right to change my mind about any of this at any time. ☺️