Coming home in 2024
Reader's favorites: contemplative essays, nature writing, and short stories
First, Iām so grateful to you all for subscribing, commenting, and sharing. A special welcome to new subscribers. š Together, we bear witness to this world ā not with despair, but with love, curiosity, and courage. Your trust encourages me to keep going and try new things.
My heartfelt thanks to all the new paid subscribers who joined this year. Your support sustains this space for the entire community, ensuring that reflections, stories, and shared wonder remain accessible to everyone. This season, weāre donating 30% of paid subscriptions to the Center for Humans and Nature, who explore what it means to be human in an interconnected world.1
In Midsummer, the newly renamed and re-logoād Homecoming became a place for nature writers to recharge, share, and discover each other. Still searching for a better word for what we do, besides ānature writing.ā After all, weāre dreamers, gardeners, farmers, rewilders, biologists, birders, trekkers, habitat restorers, designers, voyagers, artists, walkers, photographers, poets, ancestor-whisperers, guides, activists, ecologists, soil-makers, mythologists, storytellers, and so much more.
Come mid-January, Iāll be serializing my novel, Flux, about an asthmatic climate scientist and closet inventor who approaches her life as puzzle to solve, a machine to repair. A rising academic star, she documents the harms caused by the fracking industry. Sheās determined to expose the methane-leaking cracks in gas wells while hiding her own widening cracksāin her integrity, her relationships, her health, and her control over any of it.
Stay tuned for more on Dr. Grace Evans in the coming weeks. (Worked her ass off for that PhD, even lived in her car for a while, and doesnāt take well to being called āMs.ā)
Most liked
After Homecomingās rebirth, I was delighted that the first NatureStack journal was a hit. I also discovered that, following Novemberās disastrous election, readers have an appetite (dare I say a yearning?) for more contemplative content.
Most commented
I started this Substack with the eventual plan to publish fiction.2 Iāve found marvelous fiction hereāfrom luminaries like
, , and āwith too many others on my to-read ASAP list. Indy lit is thriving on Substack! Iām heartened that Homecomingās readers were enthusiastic about stories I published this year.Decemberās St. Francis Prayer series was also a hit, prompting several suggestions to make it into a book, which is now in my personal Project 2025.3
Most shared
We all have our reasons for sharing a piece of writing thatās just too good to keep to yourself. Maybe a post made you think or you learned something new. Or now you see the world differently. Or, in the case of the Old Woman, youāre devastated by bad news and need the comfort of a wider perspective.
Iāve included a bonus here, since the Old Woman already got a mention at the top. After rereading āWhen the Student . . . ,ā Iāve decided it needs an update. Writing it changed me in ways Iām still processing, so thatāll be 2025ās first post.
How to find these stats
If youāre curious where to find these stats for your newsletter, itās simple and illuminating:
Go to your dashboard and click āStatsā at the top
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Hover your cursor over one of the entries and scroll to the right
There, youāll find headers for Likes, Comments, and Shares
Click on one to see your top posts at the left
You can discover all sorts of things under Stats. For instance, to see where your readers are in the world, click on āSubscriber Report.ā Have fun with it!
Each season, we donate 30% of paid subscriptions to a worthy environmental cause. This season, itās the Center for Humans and Nature, where they explore what it means to be human in an interconnected world. Track past and current recipients here.
What did you enjoy most about this essay? Iād love to hear from you. Or share it with others by restacking on Notes, via the Substack app. Thanks!
Their website is here. Track past and current recipients of Homecomingās donations here.
Iām aware that fiction can be a tough sell, as most readers and writers come to Substack for non-fiction.
First up, a proposal to Chronicle Books. I think theyād be perfect. Putting this here so youāll hold me to it.
Flux!!!!!! I'm so excited. Congrats on a great year of Homecoming! Also great plan for the St Francis book...all very awesome to hear.
Hi Julie, I think you know I truly enjoy your writing, and I have to tell you that this watercolor is exquisite too! Soooo beautiful. Thank you for sharing it, and for allowing your art (both your writing and your watercolors) to brighten the connections between us allāØššššļø