A Farewell to Paid Subscriptions

and a hearty 'thank you' to all subscribers and readers

I’ve been contemplating this for quite a while, mostly because I feel uncomfortable accepting donations for writing that I cannot promise will continue. So I will be ending paid subscriptions to this substack.

I have never created any difference between free and paid subs anyway — all my material has been available to everyone, such as it is. Furthermore, there is a nagging pressure, given those who have generously reached into their pockets to donate, to continue to produce, even if I have no particular urge — and at the moment, I am devoting more time to creative writing, having just completed a new novel and wanting to embark on another.

I will undoubtedly have things to say, but not in a way that justifies a subscription model. For one, although I have reported ‘breaking news’ on occasion, particularly as it relates to New Zealand, my essays have been idiosyncratic excursions.

I note that people yearn to be kept up to date, and true journalists — those who write daily or about daily events — have that as their mission. But that’s not me. I write only when moved to write, and not at the beck or call of anyone or anything.

There are a number of topics I wish to address and will make my way towards in the coming days and weeks. I have been nourished, in my literary education, on the ‘occasional’ essay — that is, the essay that draws upon many themes and presents something in a relatively novel way. Essays for readers more than essays for those who wish to be apprised of the latest news.

I wish to thank all of you who have reached into your pockets to give me a vote of support for what I have been doing: your generosity is most gratefully appreciated.

If I happen to come up with a stellar piece that cries out, I will perhaps figure out a way for people to ‘buy me a coffee’ or donate in some way, but not as ongoing subscribers who rightly should expect a relatively constant stream of writing.

This does not mean that I will not continue to inquire and to express myself, of course, and I will be very happy if my pieces can be shared on other platforms, since I am not on Facebook, Instagram or even X at the moment.

Not being in the business of giving advice — actually, I never really was, even as a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst — I nonetheless admit that every act of writing is, somehow, an attempt at persuasion, an attempt at bringing the reader into the writer’s point of view. For me, that’s as far as it goes. For others who cherish didacticism, the persuasion is generally more coercive.

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed and read my work. I hope you will continue to do so and that the free subscription base will grow. It has been a unique and comforting circle to have discovered.

Emanuel E. Garcia, M.D.

December 2024