Hello, and welcome to the very last post of 2023! I hope that you are in the midst of a luxurious break filled with good wine and food and lots of time spent with people you love.
Since I joined Substack, I’ve produced a lot of content. When I joined this platform, I set an ambitious editorial calendar for myself and, by and large, kept to it. For the last quarter, I wrote two pieces a week for this publication: one recipe and one choose-your-own-adventure piece.
A few weeks ago, a friend asked me if this had proven to be a sustainable model. I had to stop and think about that question. At times, creating content for this channel has felt like another item on a very long to-do list. But at other times, it has felt like a sweet reward: I am, after all, a writer, and getting paid by my community to produce a weekly newsletter feels like I have ~made it~. All in, I can’t quite make the call, but I do know that I love it.
I love writing to an audience (small but mighty) and engaging with your opinions. I love having a deadline, even if it’s one that’s just enforced by me. I love sitting down every week to write, something that I crave and has fallen by the wayside over the last few years.
It has been (and I cannot stress this enough) so much fun to get back into the rhythm of writing, and I am so grateful to you all for showing up here to read, like, comment, and respond, week after week. You are literally making my dreams come true!
Three years ago, I co-founded a photography agency. It was a wonderful, whirlwind chapter of my professional life, and it closed in October when I resigned my role. For the first time in years, I’m solidly back under the umbrella of Page & Plate Studio, and it feels exciting to stretch my legs and plan for the future. Part of that future is writing, which I’ve started to explore through work with the newly relaunched Edible Chicago and, of course, this newsletter.
In 2024, I hope to expand the lens of this newsletter. One theme I’ll be incorporating much more than I have is art. I am, after all, a photographer and an artist, and the act of creating art is a subject I think merits discussion, if only to place it back on a pedestal alongside endless takes on technology. If that sentence sounded worrisomely boring to you, never fear: there will also be more unpopular opinions on food, updates on what I’m reading, and interviews with people I admire. Craving something else? Hit reply (or leave a comment!) and tell me what you want!
Wondering how to support Page & Plate in 2024?
Invite a friend to read this newsletter.
Hire me to take photos for you.
Follow me on Instagram to see more of my work.
Book a studio consultation to get help setting up your own photography practice.
We’re back on Tuesday to start the year off with a bang to talk holiday reading. See you next year!