March 2025 Newsletter
Volume 9, Number 1, March 2025
A change is coming! Yes, it is!!
I write this to you with some trepidation, because if you’re like me, you’re already worried, thinking, ‘Oh, no, this can’t be good’.
It is, though. Here’s the story.
In most things, I’m early or on time. Invite me to dinner, and I’ll be there the time you say to be there. If we’re meeting at 3:00 to go for a walk, I’ll be early: the same with going to the movies, theater, doctor, dentist, airport, etc. I want to settle in, relax, not rush or worry tooooooo much about any unexpected complications or delays. I’m this way with everything, except my writing.
With my writing there are always unexpected complications and delays.
In most things, I anticipate; with writing, I hesitate. In most things, I know where I’m going and how to get there. With writing—no matter how much I do—I’m lost most of the time, not knowing where I’m going or how to get there: searching for the right voice, tone, mood, word, sentence, story, image, comma or dash, beginning, middle, and end, often changing it all and writing it again, and again—not quite sure when or if it’s done, good, clear, funny, meaningful….
All of which is to say I began thinking about and planning to join Substack—a relatively new platform—a year ago. For one thing, it’s for writers, which on a good day, I am. For another, it’s free, as opposed to the $540/year I’m spending to Mailchimp the newsletters—a win-win and bargain if there ever was one!
Still, it is a change, and I frittered and fretted—hesitated—until now. So here it is: I will continue to send you my newsletter and stories from my I did—and didn’t—do it my way in my three months a year life in Brittany, France, only now it will come from a different platform.
It will work like this: I’ll mail you the first story, Flux-Libre—Flow-Freely—in the next couple of weeks, which is another Substack bonus: I’ll write more often and frequently, at least that’s my plan. There will be a link where you can sign up for Substack and subscribe to my page—WHICH IS FREE—because I want you and new readers, not money. As subscribers, you'll get exclusive updates to your inbox and have access to the archives. I’ll double send (by Mailchimp and Substack) the next few newsletters and stories. Then, after that, when hopefully everyone has signed up on Substack, I’ll drop Mailchimp and spend the money I saved on something important, like better house insurance, as my rates keep going up as the world I know appears to be tumbling down.
Please, tell your friends, family, neighbors, and book club members—and tell me what you think.
Meanwhile, Happy (belated) Birthday to George Washington and Abe Lincoln, two guys I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and happy (never belated) Valentine’s Day. May all that you love, love you back.
As always, I look forward to hearing from you, and you can reach me at:
If you’d like to contact me, I can be reached at:
Email: mark@markgreenside.com
Web site: www.markgreenside.com
Facebook author page: facebook.com/markgreensideauthor
Amazon author page: amazon.com/author/markgreenside
Please, feel free to share this newsletter with anyone. If you’d like to read previous newsletters, they are available on my website and Facebook.
Thank you. Be careful out there, and be well.
Yours Sincerely,
Mark
Copyright © 2025 Mark Greenside
Illustration by Kim Thoman