Three Full Years of Thoughts

And I'm grateful.

(A grateful writer relaxes on Christmas Eve w/ Calvin & Hobbes.)

---

Back in June of 2021, Substack reached out and asked if I’d be interested in writing my own blog as a full-time job. I would be my own boss, I’d own all my content, and most importantly: I’d have the freedom to write about whatever I want.

I’d been working in progressive non-profit communications, and as rewarding as I found the work, I was eager to write about politics and other topics without worry of navigating understandable organizational constraints.

It was a big decision with no shortage of risk, but I decided to go all-in on this blog and realize my dream of writing for a living.

And not just any writing but opinion writing. And not for a major newspaper or established outlet, with all the structural support in marketing, but taking on the whole enchilada of writing opinion pieces and then asking the world to consider them through aggressive marketing of my own.

I’m glad I accepted the challenge and recognized it as a blessing.

I also respectfully declined the advice given to me by many that the blog should have paywalls that made it available only to those who buy a subscription. I knew a lot of folks wouldn’t be able to afford it, and I wanted my commentary to be financially accessible to everyone.

Plus, I thought, it would be a good challenge to earn folks’ paid subscriptions over time solely through the quality of my writing.

So, I made the blog free to subscribe and free to read and have gently encouraged those who enjoy it to support my work by upgrading to a paid subscription or simply buying me a cup of coffee if they enjoy a particular piece.

Is this a great business model?

Probably not. In fact, no, it’s definitely not.

But it has accomplished the only two things I wanted: 1) sustaining the blog in a way that would allow me to continue writing to pay my bills and 2) offering universal access to anyone willing to take a few moments to read my thoughts and share them with folks in their life.

New Year’s Eve marked the third full calendar of Charlotte’s Web Thoughts, and it was both the busiest and most successful year since I launched.

In 2024, it won the prestigious EPPY Award for Best News/Political Blog and the NLGJA Award for Excellence in Blogging. It was also named a Finalist for the GLAAD Media Award for Excellence in Blogging for the second year-in-a-row.

The reach of the blog allowed me to do countless panels and speeches and—my personal favorite—moderating book talks with some of my favorite authors, including with the brilliant

Heather Cox Richardson

(Letters from an American) at the historic Sixth & I Synagogue (seriously, I had to pinch myself talking to Prof. Richardson).

Most importantly, the financial freedom and flexible scheduling of the blog allowed me to do a LOT of necessary volunteer work in the election.

I was a surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign and rolled up my sleeves in three different working groups (Women for Harris, LGBTQ, and Military Outreach). I helped out in various capacities in numerous states, spoke on countless Zoom calls, helped raise a lot of money for the campaign, and attended the DNC for the first time.

I spoke at the Texas Democratic Convention and SXSW and a bunch of other public gatherings where I got to meet folks who don’t personally know a trans person, much less one who writes about politics, and broke down a lot of barriers in perspective.

And my goodness, the amount of fundraising we did for candidates and causes this past year. Seriously, thank you all for constantly showing up for people in need. I haven’t run the numbers, but I think we raised well over half a million through this blog and social media.

I’m just quite grateful that I get to do something I love for a living. I get to write about things that are important to me (and y’all) while paying my bills, and I get to spend the rest of my time on the work of advancing progress for those same things offline.

It doesn’t make me rich, to be sure, but it does give me great purpose and it does make me happy and I’m quite at peace with that.

I really can’t thank y’all enough for supporting my work. It means the world.

I’m a big believer in not spamming free subscribers with pleas to upgrade to a paid subscription, so this particular entry will be one of the few times this year in which I’ll directly ask you to consider one:

Otherwise, please feel welcome to enjoy and share the blog with folks in your life.

In fact, simply sharing my essays (I wrote 65 this past year) with your family and friends and colleagues and encouraging them to subscribe for free is an enormous help. You can also gift them paid subscriptions if that’s your jam:

Here are my favorite essays I wrote in 2024:

In Praise of the Hardest Job in Arlington National Cemetery (read here)

Maybe Part of the Problem is Loneliness (read here)

It's Impossible for a Child to Steal a Gun from a Responsible Adult (read here)

A Navy SEAL, a Doctor, and an Astronaut Walk Into a Bar (read here)

I Don’t Feel Sorry for Guz Walz (read here)

Send This to Your Relative Who’s Worried About Imane Khelif (read here)

I Shouldn’t Need to Have Children to Matter (read here)

These essays have some of the best writing I’ve ever done, and watching people share them online everywhere has been an enormous honor.

I simply could not do the work I do without y’all.

I’m grateful, and I’m looking forward to another year of writing and advocacy.

---

---