I just want to make it very clear that I do not pay for subscriptions on Substack feeling entitled to writers’ minds. I am not putting my $5 into a vending machine slot each month expecting to extract “content” from human beings who are writers and artists. That’s not how it is ever supposed to work. I drop my few dollars in the coffee tin as a writer plays with her daughter in their summer garden. As a writer takes space to resist and to process. As a writer rests. The clank of my change in the can isn’t meant to demand—I’m here! Now give me my money’s worth to read! No. It is meant to say: I’m here because I believe in you. I humbly accept the invitation to read from your heart as you are able to write from it. Be free in your process. Let this be one space that is not extractive. 🦋