Letters Home

Subscribe now

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-1092-1456 {
padding-bottom: 75%;
padding-bottom: min(75%, 1092px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-1092-1456 img {
max-width: 1456px;
max-height: 1092px;
}

Good day, everyone.

If you are reading this email, it means you’ve subscribed to my online journal. Thank you for being one of the 7,000 (and growing) readers to have followed me here.

Most of you come from my Following Atticus Facebook page. It’s been quite a popular place over the last nine years. Alas, Facebook has changed much in that time, and I’m lucky if five percent of you see my posts now. It’s beyond frustrating.

This is my chance to get back to basics. Before social media existed, I wrote the popular “The Adventures of Tom & Atticus” blog. It became the seeds that grew into the New York Times bestseller, “Following Atticus.”

I began the Facebook page on the urging of a kind marketing professional at William Morrow Books as a way to promote our story. It grew beyond my wildest imagination to the point where we had more than 230,000 followers. Alas, most never saw our posts. On a good day, five percent did.

At first, the page was a great connection between author and reader. Eventually, the numbers grew, but the readership of my books did not. I have longed to rekindle that connection with those looking for more than just photos of cute dogs. I have wanted to get back into reaching those who read. (Don’t worry, there will still be photos here of Samwise and Emily here.)

This is why I’ve invited you to join me.

The basis of my better writing has always been letters. Two weeks before the first draft of “Following Atticus” was due, I tossed it in the trash. It was not me. The writing was mechanical. Not the least bit heartfelt. To get those three hundred pages done, I decided to write each chapter as a letter to a grandchild I didn’t have. Yep, I made up Johnny and Becky and wrote them letters about a most incredible fellow named Atticus M. Finch.

If you open up to the prologue of “Following Atticus,” you’ll note that I began the book with an actual letter I’d written to my father.

Letters offer me an intimacy with those I am reaching out to. It’s writing to one person at a time. My best blog posts and Facebook posts have started that way—like letters to friends.

Each morning, I sit down and pen several letters a day. It’s the cornerstone of my peaceful life. I find it soul-centering.

The Facebook attention span did not always mix well with my writing. More often than not, over the last couple of years, I deleted half of the posts. I wanted a better way.

This is that way.

I’m going back to basics, back to where I once began writing about my life in the mountains.

I’m offering three options where my posts are delivered directly to your email inbox. You get to decide how often you wish to hear from me.

Option 1: Two free posts per month. You’re all currently signed up for this.

Option 2: Twelve posts per month. This option is $7/month or $70/year.

OPTION 3 HAS BEEN MAXED OUT AND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

The basis of all of this is to let me re-connect with those I value most—my readers. And it allows you to decide how often you wish to hear from me.

Paid subscribers can read all posts on the blog by going through the archives. Then again, they’ll also be sent to your email. Those who chose the first option don’t have to pay anything, but you’ll still be sent a couple of posts each month. Consider them letters or the basis of a new chapter for my next book.

Thanks for being here.

Give a gift subscription