I've been meaning to write

It has been over three years since I started this newsletter. What began as a simple writing exercise, born from the isolation of living in a new country, evolved into a cherished practice of study and vulnerability. This project, now at over a hundred essays, has held me accountable to myself, reminding me to contemplate a little more deeply about what, in the past, I would have simply moved on from, and to seek in every self-revelation those fibers that connect me to you; to this world. A call for connection, an offered mirror, a door perpetually unlocked.

At risk of sounding terribly dramatic, I am so, so thankful you are here. No, really.

In the spirit of Virgil's phrase that woman is fickle and ever-changing ("varium et mutabile semper femina"), I am making a few changes that may or may not change your experience of my newsletter –

Moving to Ghost

I have migrated my newsletter – still called semper femina – from Substack to Ghost. You will still receive new posts directly in your inbox, but my work now lives in the URL letters.lianmsing.com, which is hosted by Ghost.

I share Leah Reich's reasons for moving in this compelling essay:

The problem with Substack is not simply that Substack platforms and profits from Nazis. It sounds crazy to say this, because Nazis are bad, but the problem with Substack is actually much bigger, much deeper, much more foundational. The problem with Substack is also the problem with Patreon, with Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X. I've said this before and it's the hill I will probably die on:

Centralized, proprietary platforms beholden to venture capital and to shareholders are bad for the internet and for society. They're bad for us. They offer short term benefits at long term loss.

Here we are, on the internet, where it feels like we have too much to choose from, we're so overwhelmed at every moment. But what choice is there really? Substack or Patreon? That feels like Coca-Cola or Pepsi all over again. Neither of them are good for us. I don't want us to build another full-service platform. I want us to build an internet that doesn't trap and own us. I want us to be okay with not making billions of dollars from our unicorn startup, or millions from our newsletter, if it means other people have to fight for survival.

How can we undo our need for virality and unsustainable success? How can we build opportunities for people to make a living without having to kill themselves doing it? Do we all have to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers? Is success only about big numbers or is it also okay to have smaller groups of truly devoted readers and followers?

As a non-profit, open-source platform, Ghost is fundamentally different in its philosophy. It exemplifies a way of participating in the internet free from the capricious whims of for-profit platforms, and I'm fascinated by the possibility in these wilder paths. (That Ghost is much more customizable certainly adds to the appeal for me.) I hope you'll stick around.

Newsletter + mailing club

Monthly essays on semper femina are still free for all subscribers.

What's different are the paid tiers – I'm no longer separating this newsletter from my mailing club, Epistolaria, which means:

• The Letter tier ($12/mo or $120/yr) comes with an issue of the Epistolaria monthly zine, folded and mailed by hand, and access to the entire digital library of current and past zine issues. As a gesture of gratitude for believing in this project, existing Epistolaria subscribers will be charged their current rate.
• The Patron tier ($17/mo or $170/yr) is for those who believe that poetry, writing, and analog arts matter, even when the milieu tries to convince us otherwise. Subscribers at this level receive the monthly zine, access to the entire digital library of current and past zine issues, and an end-of-year 16-page newspaper of collected essays, photographs, and original art.
• For those who don't want another monthly subscription, one-time donations are also welcome.

Financially nurturing a writing practice is a dream for most writers, so I don't take for granted any support I receive that helps make this creative life possible. Thank you for being here at any capacity.

New and forthcoming work

My poem "Sojourns in the parallel world", inspired by Denise Levertov's poem of the same title, was recently published in the spring issue of Digging Press.

A stunning new magazine, Hungercandle, is publishing two of my poems, "Irruption" and "Invocation", in their first issue, out this summer. I'll be sure to write when the issue is published.

What's next

Sitting in my drafts are essays on the cultural omnivore, alter egos, my love/hate relationship with English as a Manileño, a short list of things I know to be true, a long list of mistakes, and resistance as a habit of both necessity and inutility.

If any of these sound mildly interesting to you, I hope you'll stay, tell a friend, or write me a short note. Talk soon.