For the writers who are still here, still trying (plus a $1 invitation)
Available today only for Reasons for Living readers
Note: Not interested in our Black Friday sale? Thank you so much for your patience. In the meantime, watch Christy Anne Jones’s I tried Haruki Murakami’s 4 AM writing routine. ❤️
Hello friends,
I spent most of yesterday thinking about the quiet ways we try to keep going. (Why? You’ll hear about that in the next personal essay that comes out in Reasons for Living.)
Not in the triumphant sense—no declarations or color-coded plans—but the small, faithful attempts to return to the work that matters to us, even when our bodies, our minds, or our circumstances keep changing.
If you’re here, you understand this particular kind of persistence.
It’s not loud.
It’s not tidy.
It’s often stitched together from whatever hours, clarity, or courage the day will allow.
Yesterday, I shared something in my Black Friday sale that I realized I hadn’t offered to you—this community that reads every (often vulnerable) line I write, that cares about meaning, survival, and the shape of a life lived honestly. It didn’t feel right to let it pass without opening the door one more day.
So, for today only, I’m making the Gentle Persistence Complete Collection available again to Reasons for Living readers.
This isn’t a productivity system.
It’s a year-long companion for writers whose energy is limited, inconsistent, or tender in ways the world doesn’t always see.
Inside the collection, you’ll find two core frameworks many of you have asked me for:
Writing Through Brain Fog — how to write when your mind feels unreliable, slow, or scattered
The Cell Method — a modular, energy-responsive writing practice that expands and contracts with you
And because this was part of the Black Friday sale, I’m also including something new—something I created after watching too many brilliant writers drown in unfinished pages:
The Unfinished Project Audit
(coming early 2025)
Before you can write with gentle persistence, you need clarity about what deserves your limited energy.
This audit helps you honor what you’ve started, release what no longer serves you, and identify the one project that truly matters right now.
It’s the antidote to overwhelm.
It’s the beginning of a more honest writing life.
You’ll also receive six months of access to the Academy community forums—a space where complexity is normal, tenderness is respected, and support is simply part of the equation.
And because Substack didn’t get this yesterday, I’m opening one more door just for you:
Today only, you can secure full access to The Unexpected Shape Writing Academy for just $1.
This gives you a seven-day trial once the Academy reopens in early 2026.
If you choose to stay after the trial, you’ll continue at $97/month—an amazing discount (we aren’t 100% sure what the next tuition cost will be, but it’ll definitely be higher than that).
It’s the gentlest, lowest-pressure way to see if our adaptive approach to writing instruction is the right fit for your life.
Both of these invitations—the Gentle Persistence collection and the $1 Academy trial—are here for one day because I don’t want you to miss something that could genuinely support your writing life.
This collection isn’t about getting more done.
It’s about writing in a way that doesn’t cost you your well-being—about choosing one true thing and tending to it slowly, deliberately, with the kind of persistence that grows out of compassion rather than pressure.
If this is your moment to choose a softer, steadier way forward, I’d be honored to walk with you.
Access the Gentle Persistence Complete Collection (today only).
Or reserve your $1 Academy trial for 2026.
Your writing deserves a structure that meets you where you actually live.
And you deserve a way of working that doesn’t require you to abandon yourself to complete the work you love.
