Time Off

I am writing today to inform my subscribers that I need to take a break.

Last year, I was asked by many followers to consider writing on Ghost instead of Substack because of the billionaire/alt-right connections. I offered to give it a year on Ghost, using my Substack paid subscriptions to pay for Ghost. Not only is Ghost expensive, it does not offer any way to push my writing unless I either pay more to have a professional design and run my site or figure it out on my own. After a year, I still cannot figure out how to put a simple share button in my essays. So, Ghost is being canceled this month as it has only been able to raise $135.

While Substack is my biggest earner, it has come to my attention through subscribers, friends and even my wife that Substack is routinely dropping my followers, not pushing my work, my essays are going into the spam folders of many subscribers and even somehow changing subscribers to blocking me automatically. I never seem to gain followers, and when I do, I lose other followers who then claim they never unfollowed me. I have heard similar stories from other writers on Substack. I am not sure where I will go beyond Substack, but it clear that Substack is changing for the worse, going the way of other platforms such as X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube etc.

I have spent the last decade warning of what was to come with my former agency. Two books and a Emmy award winning film later, I feel that I have said all I can say. I cannot make anyone read or listen to me, and saying I told you so really doesn’t help anyone. I do not think there is anything more I can say or write to wake people up. ICE, CBP and Border Patrol have become Trump’s private army. The mass deportation is a cover for the police state. What they are doing to immigrants, they are going to do to you. If you cannot see that yet, you will in due time.

Personally, I am spent. In the last year, my psychiatrist retired. My new doctor decided eight years on a mild anti-depressant did not work for me because the current administration under RFK, Jr. says those medications do not work. Never mind that it has kept my mental health stable and suicidal ideations at arms length for nearly a decade. This has made it more difficult for me to mentally cope with all that I am exposed to; the ideation, rumination and anxiety have returned. At the same time, that one medication afforded me a bit of pain relief for the damage I suffered from my attempt. And so now without it, I am in more pain making it difficult to write. My doctors suggested CBD and CBN for pain relief. This was working well until California banned the importation of such products. So, now I have just plain old marijuana to handle the pain, and that inhibits my writing as well.

Additionally, my wife has seen a large pay cut. Most of your subscriptions go to help migrants. This will be cut as well. Most of the costs of my research and writing has been paid for by my wife, and I can no longer justify those expenses with our budget cuts. We are cutting back as you all are I’m sure. Please do not think I am asking for more paid subscriptions. I am not asking for that.

All this is to say that I am taking some time off. I feel unbalanced and have seen nearly all my coping skills taken away. I will pause all paid subscriptions on Substack and as mentioned, I will be cancelling Ghost. I want to thank you all for your support.

Jenn