Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

I can’t call you subs, it’s too weird. Welcome new subscribers. Hello again subscribers who have been with me on this weird and wonderful journey for a while now…

I want to thank everyone who gave me such great advice about leaving Facebook. I had a really wild few days thinking it all over and talking to my husband about it. I am looking into a few things and I think come Thursday (our regular column night) I’ll have some news.

In the meantime I thought I’d explain this place for those who haven’t been here before. It’s Emily Writes Weekly which I suppose refers to my weekly column here. I write about odd things, talk about my week, share little stories about the kids…I rant a bit, rave about books and TV shows and movies I’ve seen, and sometimes I treat it like my confessional booth. We have talked about a lot of stuff here - free from trolls, which means we can share our vulnerability, be honest, and show care for each other.

I have been writing this newsletter for almost a year. And when I started I posted more “free” content. Then I stopped doing as much because I was just so flat out with kids. Now I’m hoping to do some more. I don’t want anyone to feel financial hardship by supporting me and I don’t want anyone to feel excluded. And I’m trying to balance that with…well, I’ll talk more about that on Thursday.

Anyway…Welcome! Please feel free to share my emails with friends if you think they’d like it and would want to sign up (free or paid! I’m grateful regardless!).

You can read all posts here. So if you sign up, you get access to previous posts as well (some paid, some free). And you can comment on posts and chat further, folks will get alerts if you reply to them so you can continue discussions.

It also means you can read posts you missed if you want to. I know some folks are just too busy to read columns - so you can always return to them and skip the things you’re not interested in.

Anyway, that’s probably enough of that. But I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about Substack (this platform that sends newsletters to your inbox and hosts a page of my posts). If you subscribe you can cancel your membership any time (I’m very grateful if you don’t but also totally understand money can be tight). Because of you, I have a chance to finally make a living from writing. And that means the world to me. So thank you a million times over.

Rocket baby on the mic.

In other news, I took the kids to Verb Festival’s The Garden Party on the weekend. It was a free two-day festival at the Botanic Gardens in Wellington. It was so wonderful to see my mates at The Spinoff. Especially after all of the worry around Facebook’s removal of news in Australia. The first day I got to attend on my own while the kids played at Nana’s house. On the Sunday, I took the kids.

They had the best time. Ham was dressed as a rocket and looked very cute. Toby (Manhire) and Toby (Morris) were hosting a family quiz and they asked if anyone wanted to sing a song. Well, Ham was up immediately. But then he thought he hadn’t been picked and burst into tears and started screaming about the injustice of it all - in front of the entire crowd. I finally calmed him down and he got on stage and sang You Are My Sunshine. It was pretty cute (the singing, not the fury).

When we got home he told his dad “Every person clapped me there wasn’t even one person who didn’t clap me”. He was very proud of himself and I was very proud of him. He is very shy but loves to sing. He doesn’t like to talk much and he spends most of his time hiding in my skirt or behind my back. It was lovely to see all the kids get on stage and practice being brave.

Eddie on the other hand managed to introduce himself to everyone at the Gardens, got up on stage and sang We Will Rock You (with great audience participation) and then got lost. When security finally brought him back to me with his best friend’s little sister, he looked very guilty. It is the third time his name has been called from the stage for being lost which mortifies me every time. If he wasn’t eight I’d put a lead on him.

Last night Eddie gave himself a haircut. He shaved the top of his head and left the back long. It looks almost worse than his quarantine cut. I’m having some regrets about the whole “my body, my choice” mantra I’ve taught them.

Eddie wants to get a chicken. Do you have a chicken slash chickens?

Are chickens cuddly? He wants a cuddly chicken and I feel like it’s hard to find a chicken that wants to be cuddled.

He always wants an indoor chicken? Is there such a thing? Can chickens be like dogs?

What I am watching: Right now? A YouTube video: Top Five Scariest Roads. And a compliation of people being chased by animals. As background entertainment to writing this post. I am also obsessed with Drag Race UK on TVNZ.

What I am reading: Firefire Lane very slowly because I just want to know what happens after seeing the TV show (on Netflix) but it is almost word for word the same as the show so it’s quite boring.

What am I listening to: The You’re Wrong About podcast. It’s so good and so addictive.

What are you watching/reading/listening to?

Talk soon x