Thank You, See You In Study Hall

It’s that time of year again.

The time where I say thank you. I’m grateful to each and every one of you, my subscribers. You help keep me, and my little household here at The Shark Shack, afloat, and that means you help keep Reasons Not To Quit going.

Thank you for every little “like” and heart-emoji clicky. Thank you for every one of your referrals, restacks, and shares. Thank you for forwarding free posts to people you know who would like it. Thank you for adding me on Bluesky (@hbb.bsky.social) and for following and reading my Notes here on Substack. Thank you for subscribing (all subscriptions are free!) to my professional Substack. I make my living on the strength of every single one of you who helps my work find its people and the right people find their way to my work. If the spirit moves you and you recommend Reasons Not to Quit to people, or you recommend me as a professional — stars in your heavenly crown!

Photo by chris robert on Unsplash

Thank you to all of you who have become my clients this year in the realm of writing. My gratitude goes to those of you who have trusted me as your developmental editor or bookwife as you started or finished a major writing project, to those of you who worked or are doing ongoing work with me to get that revision done, that dissertation turned into a book, win your wrestling match with Reviewer 2, or finally get that book proposal written. Thanks to the incredible students who joined me for the “Worldbuilding for Nonfiction” class this fall via The Writing Grove.

My love goes out bigtime to those of you who’ve chosen me as a consultant to help you get some leverage on a range of personal issues ranging from “how do I maintain my body neutrality now that my doctor put me on Ozempic?” to “I have too much Stuff and it’s threatening to eat my entire house, where do I even start?” to “I have treatment-resistant depression; how can I have a life that sucks less anyway?” I can’t tell you what a joy it is to work with such thoughtful, caring, and determined people.

To my Winter 2024/25 100 Days Cohort squad, you luscious badasses, your commitment to doing the good things for the long haul makes me smile every time I think about it. It’s so exciting to watch each of you figuring out your paths and projects, sorting out what creative sustainability looks like for you, and getting little glimpses into your visions, your dreams, and your tenacity.

It’s a promo still from Buffy the Vampire Slayer showing librarian/mentor Giles and slayer Buffy looking over a book o’ vampire-killin’ lore. I got it off the Internet, like you do.

To those of you who have already snagged your spots in the upcoming It Ain’t Gonna Lick Itself: New Years Revolution cohorts: I am super damn stoked to play Giles to your Buffy as you stake the hell out of the energy vampire that is the old year’s chaos and let the well-maintained order you want to see in the world begin with you and your household.

For you beautiful, ambitious, bold writers who’ve taken the plunge and thrown your hat into the ring early for either the Write Your Book Proposal or The Body On The Page intensives: you make my heart sing. I love helping people learn how to make their lushest writing dreams come true and I’m excited to find out what you’re up to.

For all of you, then, a gift from me to you:

Join me daily — or as often as you like — between December 25 and January 1 for

Winterlude Study Hall

Every day from December 25 through January 1

10 am to 12 noon, EST

Zoom

Registration is FREE for all subscribers to Reasons Not to Quit

Come hang out with me and an all-star cast of other Reasons Not to Quitizens for some congenial body doubling work time. There’ll be a writing prompt for them what wants it, or just use the time to work on that thing you keep meaning to work on with the pleasant reinforcement of other people who are doing the same thing. Come write the Great American Novel. Or clean out your closet. Or dive down that research rabbit hole. Or scan the family photos you keep meaning to scan. Or… you know better than I do.

I’ll kick things off with a greeting at 10. At a quarter to 12, we’ll stop and have a little social time. We’ll do it again the next day, all the way until New Years’ Day and inject a little cameraderie and git’er done into that weird week between the calendars.

Duke University students enjoy one of the fantastic Nasher Art Museum study hall events on the Duke campus.

And for my paid subscribers, a couple of other handcrafted gifties from my house to yours…