Hello Reader,

When we moved to the country, we were completely clueless city slickers.

We made mistakes. Some were expensive. Some were heartbreaking. We even lost goats before I finally figured out what I was doing.

If you found me because you wanted help raising goats or building a homesteading life, you probably know me as the person with answers. Through my books, classes, and membership, I’ve spent years sharing the practical information I wish I’d had when we started.

But information isn’t the only thing people need.

They also need confidence.

They need to know that the people who seem to have it all figured out once stood exactly where they’re standing—confused, overwhelmed, and wondering whether they had made a terrible mistake.

That’s why I feel so strongly about finishing my memoir.

It covers our first six years on the farm: the mistakes, the losses, the lessons, and the moments when I wondered whether we were really cut out for this life. After one of our livestock guardian dogs attacked our daughter, I seriously considered giving up and moving back to the suburbs.

I’ve written 27,000 words so far. But about a year ago, an agent told me that those pages read more like a chronological account of events than a story.

And I got stuck.

Now I’m trying something different. I’m starting over out loud—and I’d love for you to join me.

I recently began writing on Substack at On the Banks of Mud Creek. I’ve published nine posts in eleven days, usually first thing in the morning, and I am having the time of my life. I affectionately call these posts my “morning missives.”

Free subscribers will continue receiving those missives: reflections on homesteading, writing, life, and whatever is on my mind when I sit down in the morning. (Lately, it's been about dogs on the homestead.)

Paid subscribers will be invited further into the memoir-writing journey. They’ll receive:

• A rough-draft memoir chapter every week
• A monthly Zoom gathering, with rotating dates and times
• A chance to talk with me about the memoir and homesteading
• Opportunities to tell me where the story draws them in, where it loses them, and what they want to understand more deeply

I would love to create a conversation around it, and perhaps, with thoughtful readers beside me, I can finally get unstuck and finish the story.

Paid subscriptions are $7 a month or $70 a year. A $150 founding membership is also available for anyone who would like to offer additional support for this work.

And if a paid subscription isn’t right for you, I would still be excited to have you join as a free subscriber and receive my morning missives.

​Join me on the banks of Mud Creek​

Somewhat astonishingly, Substack has already named the publication number 72 on its Rising in Culture list. It feels as if this little experiment has begun to find its people.

Maybe you’re one of them.

Deborah

P.S. You can read more about why I decided to begin writing this way in Starting Over (Out Loud).