Our first year, plus links and recs

52 weeks of stories, nature, entrepreneurship, and community

Natural Stories debuted one year ago this week. Thanks to all you subscribers—especially paying subscribers!—for making this possible.

In that first week, I emphasized the link between nature and story. (“In some formats, such as the cowboy movie, the story involved struggle, as man conquered nature. In other formats, such as the works of Henry David Thoreau, Mary Austin, or John Muir, the struggles were more subtle as people honored nature.”) I wanted the world to “tell more natural stories.” And now, here, I’ve told 52 of them.

My reactions: I’ve really enjoyed the writing. The weekly deadline stimulates my creativity more than I expected it to. I’ve enjoyed the freedom to explore formats and ideas without worrying about what some magazine editor wants. As I’ve gotten more familiar with the platform, I feel like I’ve gotten better. Substack’s interface has been easy to use. And I’m pleased that I have delivered a new story every single Tuesday this year.

I’m incredibly appreciative of you paying subscribers. (And I didn’t turn on payments until January, so those of you who signed up on the yearly plan have at least another three months coming!) I do wish there were more of you: although subscriber growth has been steady, it hasn’t yet been explosive, so I’m still not even making minimum wage here. Then again, I didn’t make minimum wage on my early books, either!

And the flipside is that this is an incredibly gratifying business model. Some of you pay me directly for my writing, with minimal middleman fees from the platform. (The rest of you: I get it! You can’t pay for all of your subscriptions! I don’t, myself. Our percentage of paying subscribers is about average for Substack. So while I will continue to encourage you to convert to paid, I’m more interested in increasing the total number of subscribers than increasing the free subscribers’ guilt.) As much as I continue to enjoy and/or benefit from other business models—such as books, magazines, speeches, work-for-hire, startup equity shares, or formal employment contracts—Natural Stories feels like the most entrepreneurial thing I’ve ever done. I’m glad you’ve joined this journey with me.

Do I have a favorite story from the past year? I like how this space gave me an outlet for formats as diverse as commentary on newsworthy explosions, Edward Abbey parody, and a counterintuitive argument for freedom through government. I was pleased to revisit trips to Yosemite, an Alaska national park, an Alaska small town, and my all-time favorite movie setting. I’m proud of the quality of the writing in “I been there,” “A long-forgotten class struggle over nature in Wyoming,” and “America’s coach goes camping.” And if I ever get around to writing my long-contemplated memoir My Life as a Dog Columnist, “Dog poop and the moral abyss” could serve as the climax. But in the end, writings that you publish are like children: you don’t have favorites (at least, not that you admit publicly). You just send each one’s unique strengths and character off into the world.

So again, thanks to all of you for being that world.

One of my earliest Substack role models, Anne Helen Petersen, says that her subscribers most enjoy links and recommendations. So in that spirit of gratitude, here are some of my recent favorites:

• I really liked Timothy Egan’s new book, A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND. I had no idea of the scope of the KKK in Indiana in the 1920s, or the familiar-seeming schemer atop the organization, or the dramatic trial that sought to bring him down at the height of his power.

• I’m now reading Bill McKibben’s THE FLAG, THE CROSS, AND THE STATION WAGON, and I hope to say more in a future story.

• Despite work-from-home policies—or maybe because of them!?!—Americans are driving more miles than ever. [sad emoji]

• Here’s a mind-expanding interview with Kainai Blackfoot elder Dr. Michael Bruised Head in the journal Frontiers of Human Dynamics. I sometimes struggled with the language—more the academic jargon than the Blackfoot terms!—but I may never use “invite everyone to the table” the same way again. [wow emoji]

• I’m a fan of eastern Montana’s Ranchers Stewardship Alliance, and particularly enjoyed its podcast A Crested Wheatgrass Melodrama (on Apple or the RSA website).

• Speaking of podcasts, NPR’s How Wild is really well done. Its first few episodes frame debates about wilderness, and I found the episode called Natural particularly eye-opening.

Please feel free to post your own links and recs in the comments!