Turning Toward the Visible
Today’s email is free for all to read. The Behind the Scenes of Business Column and Cody’s World Digest comes out on Thursdays for paid subscribers of Monday Monday. Enjoy this week’s installment with no paywall.
If you’re new here, I’m Cody Cook-Parrott — a writer, artist, and movement practitioner exploring attention, practice, and systems. I’ve sent out Monday Monday since 2017, a weekly newsletter on writing, art, rural living, queer love, and creative business. I am the author of How to Not Always be Working and the forthcoming book The Practice of Attention (Sounds True, March 2026)
Thanks for being here.
Photo by Cody SellsDear Reader,
Part of being a tornado person is the gift of sight. The blessing of knowing with utmost clarity what it is you want more than anything, and being willing to make swift and risky moves to achieve the new outcome. It’s not that I desire chaos and upheaval, it’s that when the wind picks up I don’t resist.
For the last thirteen years I have excelled at the act of the business pivot, changing my mind and following the path that calls to me regardless of what other people think is a “good” idea. This has led to some flops, some failures, some quick steps back toward the original plan, and people slipping away.
I have spent the last few months being completely platform free in search of a liberated experience. My Instagram account completely deleted, sending my newsletter from a platform free service provider, deactivating my YouTube channel I played with for two weeks, and leaning into the hidden nature of being nowhere to be found.
What I found was not liberation, but loneliness.For a short time this felt refreshing, like I’d escaped the wheel of constant presentation. My business was doing well — the paid subscribers of my newsletter had grown with the launch of Cody’s World, Fieldwork (my very cool three month small business cohort) sold out with time to spare, my latest class had almost 100 sign ups : all markers of things going well and a business model that was working with no platforms.
I have never let good strategy run my business, in fact I often am doing the opposite of what any good marketing strategist would suggest. I’ve never once thought about SEO, I deleted (instead of deactivated) my 80k Instagram follower account and left up no archive, I left Substack where I was a bestseller, I once invested in selling thousands of dollars of yarn in a shop that wasn’t a yarn shop and I couldn’t sell it online. Like I said, I do not run my business by strategy.
I also don’t run it by intuition, impulse, or feeling. It’s a different force, unnameable perhaps. It’s a practice, I run my business as a practice. As an experiment. As a humble effort in learning how to make money without compromising all of my values.
Moving from Buttondown Back to Substack Using Buttondown to send this newsletter this year has been a complete delight. And if you run a business where you want to be off platforms and have a simple and analog like structure to email correspondence that also could include paid subscriptions - I cannot recommend it enough. Justin, Steph, and Anita are an amazing team and the customer service is beyond my wildest dreams. They made my vision come true of being able to leave a platform that at the time wasn't working for me.
I left Substack for a handful of reasons, primarily feeling like I was addicted to metrics, uncertainty around how much I wanted to put in to having a paid newsletter, and the desire to be free of algorithms and the social media aspect of Notes. There have also been moments where my values collide with choices that Substack has made, but I also find this to be true with most technology I use. Leaving was an imperfect choice, and so is returning.
Substack does not have a migration team to help anyone move a list which led me to some hurdles that I did indeed overcome. Right now I can’t figure out how to move my full archive from Buttondown back to Substack, but otherwise all paid subscriptions and free subscriptions have seamlessly moved. If you are my friend or family and had a comped subscription before and don’t see it popping up let me know.
The Impulse to ShiftOver the last few weeks I have felt what one of my Human Design mentors and I refer to as “tingle over time” or TOT for short. It is when I get the same impulse / desire multiple times and don’t act on it but see it reappearing. Moving back to Substack had become a TOT - a continued desire to return to the community of writers, to not feel so alone in my writing, to be amongst my peers, and to interact on a deeper level with my readers.
One of my greatest collaborators in decision making is my menstrual cycle, which with the help of my Oura Ring I track religiously. I suffer from debilitating PMDD —shout out to my amazing acupuncturist Dr. Cody Burch who has been supporting me with needles and Chinese herbs, getting the mildest relief is a win. If you’re in Northern Michigan I cannot recommend working with her enough.
Alas - during days 23-25 of my cycle I am a puddle of darkness. Prince of the underworld. Not to be spoken to, messed with, or interacted with. If I am lucky I try to do very little things on these days, but what I am learning about week four of my cycle is my tolerance is so low it actually gives me this precise clarity.
Example of what I don’t do in Week Four : I am growing my hair out, so if I feel the urge to chop it all off during Week Four I simply do not take action. That action would not be in line with my goals. Week Four = No Scissors.
Example of what I used to not do in Week Four : Make any sudden moves for fear that every move would be the equivalent to giving myself Amélie baby bangs before I could put the scissors down.
What happened this time : The TOT had passed through me a few times in the desire to return to Substack and I felt an overwhelming need to take up positive space in my community that wasn’t so hidden.
I felt so uncomfortable on Day 24 being away from the space that was a home for my writing from 2021-2024 and I knew deep down I would go back but wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t a rush but also didn’t hold me back. I thought - ok I should just wait until I bleed, that is when true clarity comes.
True clarity was in the discomfort this time, not the waiting.
Steps :
I emailed my paid subscribers letting them know I was considering the move and got an overwhelmingly positive response with one person asking to be removed from a values misalignment perspective.
I let Buttondown know I was thinking about the move and they were nothing but kind and supportive, while of course sad to lose me (we had a lot of fun working together!)
The thing you have to always remember about having an email list is that you own it ~ you get to move it to whatever newsletter platform you want and every person has the ability to opt out at anytime.I exported my CSV of subscribers from Buttondown and uploaded them to Substack and the import review was denied. I had to provide some more proof that I didn't randomly come up with 30k email addresses.
I was originally told I would not be able to seamlessly move my paid subs over and that I would have to comp them all and have them re-sign up which is a huge financial risk. Because my Stripe account was formerly connected to Substack I was able to move everyone back with no problems (phewph!)
In the middle of the night I couldn’t sleep so I woke up and emailed my full list off the archive and let them know I had made the move.
And then here we are now with a free installment of Behind The Scenes of Business. Monday Monday will remain free on Mondays with an essay, Paying Attention To link round up, and Classifieds - community ads that are 150 characters and $75.
Support :I turned to two people I deeply respect : and . Amelia validated that what I wasn’t feeling was a resistance to being alone - it was indeed loneliness. And that ahead of my book launch being on a platform is simply good for reaching new and dedicated readers.
Erin, our sacred newsletter whisperer, encouraged me to do the damn thing and put the pieces in place for a return. She helped me see where I could be more consistent in my output, clearer in my delivery, and sharper with my tongue. If you’re looking to grow a paid newsletter I can’t recommend working with Erin enough.
Why the return to Substack : This past week I started working with my publicist and marketing team for my next book —The Practice of Attention, Sounds True (March 2026).
First of all I feel so lucky that NO ONE on the team has ever suggested I use an app that is addictive to me or get back on any platform. This has not always been my experience with a publishing team.
As I think about this book being in the world, wanting people to share it, wanting to witness this sharing, I knew I wanted to be - as The Little Mermaid says so succinctly - where the people are. I wanna see, wanna see ‘em dancing.
I want people to be able to tag me, to restack my newsletters, to be able to be in the comments with paid subscribers, to use Notes myself to point people to my newsletters.
I want my work as an author to reach a culturally relevant mass - not just the secret portal of my business.
The Lie of Discoverability :One of the alluring parts of Substack is the discoverability through recommendations and being on a platform. This is not a sustainable business model if your full income doesn’t come from said newsletter. Most of us are also teaching, doing 1:1 work, writing books, making art, etc. Free readers = readers who read for free. There is no guarantee they will become buyers. What a blessing! So much of the magic of this newsletter is it being free. But that doesn’t pay the bills so we have to look at the business plan.
By business plan I mean scratches on a napkin, half formed Notion documents, and phone notes.
A large audience does not make a business plan. Systems, practices, and strategies do. Even if I don’t lead with strategy, it makes its way into my business once the practices have spoken first.
And yet, I knew I wanted to grow my free list, which has been more or less stagnant since moving to Buttondown with the exception of a few times that someone mentioned or tagged my newsletter - on Substack Notes.
Since migrating less yesterday I have gotten more new free subscribers in less than 24 hrs than I did within weeks using a newsletter system not on a platform. This was part of my reason for moving, to grow the readership I tend to with great reverence.
Social Media Addiction + Features :In my usage of the platform in this moment I don’t feel negatively sparked by the analytics (which you can now hide!) or overly interested in being on Notes. It all feels neutral to me and reminds me more of my relationship to Pinterest or Are.na where I want to dive in for a moment but feels easeful to put down.
In quitting Instagram I never said I would never use social media or a platform for sharing ever again, as much as my usage of that specific app wasn’t working for this sober drunk.
If I’m honest - I feel excited to occasionally use Notes to share my work and connect with peers and readers. I’m excited to use the chat to host conversations (I had a lot of fun with this before I left)
Want to go live? Invite me over I’d love to hang out.
If any of these features start to hit on my addictive nature I know there are changes I can make to the way I interface with the website. Keeping the app off my phone for now feels clear.
Long Live the Email Newsletter :Another problem I have is Substack’s insistence on getting people to use the app, and as your humble email newsletter facilitator it is my hope that you read this in your email inbox. That it is a slower experience. That it lands in the private contained space and not an app built to hold you in.
And - I want you to have ease. I know for many having one place to read newsletters is helpful, and this was reflected to me when people unsubscribed when I migrated to Buttondown - citing they would only read my newsletter if it was in the app.
All to say - long live the email newsletter.
What’s Next : Tomorrow I head to Boulder for my residency at Naropa for year two of my MFA. I will continue to write and work on my craft in Cody’s World - my digital garden, dance, writing, and research archive available for paid subscribers. When you upgrade you get automatic access.
I will put my whole self into my Monday newsletter, responding to the desires and questions of my readers.
I will stay committed to my job of synthesizing my lived experience into the written word and inviting other to bear witness, now with more pathways to visibility.
I make half of what I once did while on Substack and will work to grow my paid offerings - building back trust with my readers.
I will walk June, relish in Katy’s love, read and write. Writing forever.
Thank you :For reading, for being here, for trusting me in the great tornado process of artistry.
If you liked today’s essay - consider liking it, sharing it, or texting it to a friend.
Paid subscribers are invited to chime in in the comments.
Celebrating being back and looking forward to what is revealed.
→ Website
→ Pollinating Through Projects Waitlist : A Two-Day Workshop on Writing Across Mediums - a study in bringing together all your many forms to make what seems like a jumbled mess finally make perfect sense. Live on Zoom Nov 1 + 2 :)
→ Are.na
→ info@codycookparrott.com
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