Fifty Weeks Of Writing Weekly Newsletters

A Year-Long Journey of Writing, Connecting, And A Commitment To Myself

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, a book I’m in the middle of reading

Hello, my lovely bookish friend!!!

Welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet where I talk all things books. Have you been reading this week? I started the week with The Bell Jar, but then halfway through the week (and the book), I started re-reading a manga I love, because it’s ending soon and I wanted to refresh my memory of the story. 

Now coming to today’s letter– it’s a little special. Because it’s my fiftieth letter on Joyie Talks Books, which means I’ve been writing and sending out a letter every week for fifty weeks now. Had someone told me that last September, I’d have thought they were lying.

Fifty weeks also mean that I’ve been here for almost a year, and I have no impressive feats to show off for that. At the moment of writing this letter, I have 78 subscribers, not cool, I know.

But for me this was hardly about being cool. I started this newsletter first and foremost, to have something productive to focus on. When I wrote my letters, I was thinking of something other than just how much I loathed myself. I didn’t care about subscribers and no, I don’t say this to sound cool. Really, when you’re in the kind of mindset I was in back then, you simply cannot think of other people, because you’re too busy just fighting with yourself. So, my goal was to keep writing, so that I could convince myself that I was in fact capable of doing it, committing to something and then showing up, week after week.

I still remember the week I sent my tenth letter, I wasn’t happy, because I was in total disbelief. And now I’ve done it for fifty weeks. In these fifty weeks I’ve been sick, I’ve been sad, I’ve been away from home without my laptop, but I have kept writing and posting. And that is something I am proud of.

I’ve learnt a lot too. Most importantly, I’ve found my voice, I’ve found the courage and confidence to express it. If you go back to my earlier letters, they’re quite stiff. I was trying to write in a voice that ‘worked’, now I write in a voice that’s ‘mine’. 

My biggest fear in starting a weekly newsletter was running out of ideas. But it turns out, since I love books I always have something to say about books. In fact, the more I’ve written the more ideas I’ve found. Ideas aren’t something you hoard, they’re something you think up, and writing is one of the best means to make you think.

While I’m happy with my fifty week streak, I’m not going to stop here. I want to keep doing this. But now that I’ve proved a point to myself, maybe I can also be a bit more appreciative of the people who have kindly subscribed to my newsletter and have supported me. Words cannot express how grateful I am to you. I set out to do this for my own sake and my own sake only, but meeting you along the way has helped me heal. 

I’m not going to ask a question today, feel free to ask me one if you’d like. I hope you’re doing well and thank you for being here.

For more of my bookish ramblings, you can also find me on Instagram

Also, if you’d like me to write for you, you can contact me at joyiewrites@gmail.com

That’s it for today, I'll be back in your inbox next week.

Until then,

Joyie 🌻