To Newsletter or Not To

Last Wednesday, Carolyn Howard-Johnson guested on the IWSG website. She offered lots of great information but one item that really caught and held my attention was her advice and opinion of newsletters.

Last year during the A to Z Blogging Challenge, my theme was a long list of things I was going to do or try to do when I became a full time writer. One of those things was starting an author newsletter. I know some writers put out regular popular publications and receive a few of them myself. As Carolyn mentions, the most successful newsletters are those that share more than promotion including her own, Sharing With Writers.

What I've decided is I'm not ready to make the time commitment a good, helpful newsletter would require. Even without the day job, keeping up with my blog and the other promotion I've been trying to do takes up a chunk of my writing time I don't like losing. I'm not saying never but for now I'll gratefully take advantage of the newsletters other writers share. Perhaps in the future, I'll revisit that thought.

I forgot to share any great little tidbits from my Old Farmer's Almanac planner last week so here's one for the season. "While creating its den, a groundhog typically removes over 700 pounds of soil." I guess that excuses them for eating all my cucumber plants last year. They needed the energy.

Do you write a newsletter? Do you receive any newsletters from writers or other professionals? Have you decided on a theme for A to Z yet?