heather you truly do deserve this. your writing is a light and i don't mind what you're writing about or how often you're writing it; i'm just grateful that you share it with us sometimes.
Seconding Mika!!! You deserve this! I think I get what you’re saying — you are not, and do not feel entitled to this. You understand and feel the abundance/reciprocity in this reader/writer/supporter relationship. To me, that’s the key… relationship. As opposed to transaction. Giving and receiving vs paying for a product. Not that there’s anything wrong with Substack writers who’ve created and are selling their publications as products. No judgement there. Just recognition that it’s not the only way to do it. Deeply grateful for your writing, and for the opportunity to support it via $ or sharing or commenting or just participating in this energetic exchange. Hoping life settles down for you soon, however that looks.
Heather, you were my first paid subscription on substack, and I've never even been tempted to cancel. This is not generosity, or kindness - although I support you and want you to do well. Your writing gives me so much, whether it is serious or silly, and I am grateful.
Sorry you have had such a terrible time recently. Here's hoping things calm down and stabilize soon xx
no, thank you for continuing to write with courage and authenticity, with love and with cats (because they are wonderful - we have 7), and sharing your life and your passion with us.
I believe generosity benefits the recipient and the giver. And I also believe that you are generous with us, in the way that you share your truest self, even when you don't have to. So I'm happy to be a Cattywampus subscriber and eagerly await your next updates, especially the good gay books one!
Love your writing and happy to be patient when you're having rough times. I consider my subscription an excellent investment in a person with a valuable voice.
Heather, love your newsletters whenever you get them out. Your sentence "Being a Substack reader these days is kind of like living next door to a Mary Kay salesperson" made me laugh out loud! I would love to subscribe to more Substack authors, but at some point, I’m not gonna be able to feed the cat and that simply is unacceptable. Please continue to share your life and humor with us!
First of all, I’m so sorry for the loss of your grandfather, and for the many other storms of EVERYTHING happening at once (listen, could you at least get a Stephanie Hsu appearance out of this? Or Michelle Yeoh - you do you).
And I’m SO glad your cat is OK. Reading that NYT article about how veterinarians know from nothing to extremely little about cats was both infuriating and perfectly congruent with my recent experience with rescue cats and our own cat. Re the landlord … uhhhhhhhhhhhh. 🤬
That said, I’m here to address your “don’t deserve” comment. To me, this is not a one-way street from us to you, or even a two-way street that’s dependent on your writing about hats on cats (though I enjoy that discussion) or, really, anything in particular.
I’m losing my street metaphor! But point is - this is a community of writers and readers; of queer and straight, trans and cis people; chronic condition havers and temporarily abled folks; people who have safe to safe-ish housing and those who don’t. We’re all in it together. (And to those who don’t feel that way, I hope you feel supported and lifted by a community sometime - it’s lovely.)
Mutual aid. It’s what you definitely model and, I hope, what some of us do as well. Sometimes that’s rescuing a cat family, sometimes it’s making soup for a friend, sometimes it’s getting on a [cursed] plane to be with family, and sometimes - despite the platform’s owners - it’s subscriptions to a Substack. 🧡🩷🤍🩷🧡
A big part of why I pay for newsletters, patreon, etc is because I want to do my part to make sure artists and writers whose work I enjoy not only get to keep doing what they do, but also so they hopefully have the resources they need when things get tough. I so appreciate the work you do and have been doing for so long, and I'm also genuinely glad that you've been able to take a bit of a step back/slowdown during this difficult period. I'm sorry that it's been such a rough few months, and I really hope that you get a nice solid period of good-to-perfect days soon.
It is such a gift getting to receive your newsletters, you can’t even imagine how happy it makes me to see you’ve shared more writing with us here. I feel so excited and joyful when you apple us to celebrate your wins with you and I feel deeply moved when you share your sorrow and grief with us. I feel less alone when you share about chronic illness and disability - and it helps tremendously to feel even for a few minutes that connection we share. I love hearing about Stacy and your cats and your grandfather and your memories and stories. You write in such a way that I feel like we could be good friends if we hung out. So thank YOU 😊
heather you truly do deserve this. your writing is a light and i don't mind what you're writing about or how often you're writing it; i'm just grateful that you share it with us sometimes.
Seconding Mika!!! You deserve this! I think I get what you’re saying — you are not, and do not feel entitled to this. You understand and feel the abundance/reciprocity in this reader/writer/supporter relationship. To me, that’s the key… relationship. As opposed to transaction. Giving and receiving vs paying for a product. Not that there’s anything wrong with Substack writers who’ve created and are selling their publications as products. No judgement there. Just recognition that it’s not the only way to do it. Deeply grateful for your writing, and for the opportunity to support it via $ or sharing or commenting or just participating in this energetic exchange. Hoping life settles down for you soon, however that looks.
Heather, you were my first paid subscription on substack, and I've never even been tempted to cancel. This is not generosity, or kindness - although I support you and want you to do well. Your writing gives me so much, whether it is serious or silly, and I am grateful.
Sorry you have had such a terrible time recently. Here's hoping things calm down and stabilize soon xx
no, thank you for continuing to write with courage and authenticity, with love and with cats (because they are wonderful - we have 7), and sharing your life and your passion with us.
I believe generosity benefits the recipient and the giver. And I also believe that you are generous with us, in the way that you share your truest self, even when you don't have to. So I'm happy to be a Cattywampus subscriber and eagerly await your next updates, especially the good gay books one!
Love your writing and happy to be patient when you're having rough times. I consider my subscription an excellent investment in a person with a valuable voice.
Heather, love your newsletters whenever you get them out. Your sentence "Being a Substack reader these days is kind of like living next door to a Mary Kay salesperson" made me laugh out loud! I would love to subscribe to more Substack authors, but at some point, I’m not gonna be able to feed the cat and that simply is unacceptable. Please continue to share your life and humor with us!
First of all, I’m so sorry for the loss of your grandfather, and for the many other storms of EVERYTHING happening at once (listen, could you at least get a Stephanie Hsu appearance out of this? Or Michelle Yeoh - you do you).
And I’m SO glad your cat is OK. Reading that NYT article about how veterinarians know from nothing to extremely little about cats was both infuriating and perfectly congruent with my recent experience with rescue cats and our own cat. Re the landlord … uhhhhhhhhhhhh. 🤬
(NYT article gift link for those who want to read it: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/science/cats-veterinarians-health.html?unlocked_article_code=1.304.XInc.KBBEhr0cfsjl&smid=url-share )
That said, I’m here to address your “don’t deserve” comment. To me, this is not a one-way street from us to you, or even a two-way street that’s dependent on your writing about hats on cats (though I enjoy that discussion) or, really, anything in particular.
I’m losing my street metaphor! But point is - this is a community of writers and readers; of queer and straight, trans and cis people; chronic condition havers and temporarily abled folks; people who have safe to safe-ish housing and those who don’t. We’re all in it together. (And to those who don’t feel that way, I hope you feel supported and lifted by a community sometime - it’s lovely.)
Mutual aid. It’s what you definitely model and, I hope, what some of us do as well. Sometimes that’s rescuing a cat family, sometimes it’s making soup for a friend, sometimes it’s getting on a [cursed] plane to be with family, and sometimes - despite the platform’s owners - it’s subscriptions to a Substack. 🧡🩷🤍🩷🧡
You absolutely deserve this!!!! Ten exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!
😄🤗🥰❤️🖖
So glad you're here and still writing. Yours is one of the few I always stop what I'm doing to read. Grateful doesn't begin to cover it. Thank you!
A big part of why I pay for newsletters, patreon, etc is because I want to do my part to make sure artists and writers whose work I enjoy not only get to keep doing what they do, but also so they hopefully have the resources they need when things get tough. I so appreciate the work you do and have been doing for so long, and I'm also genuinely glad that you've been able to take a bit of a step back/slowdown during this difficult period. I'm sorry that it's been such a rough few months, and I really hope that you get a nice solid period of good-to-perfect days soon.
It is such a gift getting to receive your newsletters, you can’t even imagine how happy it makes me to see you’ve shared more writing with us here. I feel so excited and joyful when you apple us to celebrate your wins with you and I feel deeply moved when you share your sorrow and grief with us. I feel less alone when you share about chronic illness and disability - and it helps tremendously to feel even for a few minutes that connection we share. I love hearing about Stacy and your cats and your grandfather and your memories and stories. You write in such a way that I feel like we could be good friends if we hung out. So thank YOU 😊