Here's to 2024 and R-Rated Movie Club!

Thanks for a great first year! Here's where we're headed!

Thank you, Dear Reader, for your support for R-Rated Movie Club! 2023 was our premiere year, and I had so much fun. I’ve never written a newsletter before (inner critic voice: did it show?!) and stretching my creative legs to try something new was good for me. I’m glad you were here and I hope you’ll stick around next year. Today, I’m writing about where we’re headed in 2024, what I learned from your feedback, and what I experienced as a writer this year.

Lights down, curtain open, here we go…

Going forward in 2024…

here’s what we’ve got:

1. Newsletter entries for R-Rated Movie Club will most likely look like this:
   Sunday Matinee | Most Sundays

   This is the heart of R-Rated Movie Club. These entries pair scripture and movie quotes to compare, contrast, or compliment. There are occasionally polls, giveaways, and other goodies, too.
   Feature Presentation | On Occasion

   These deep-dive essays pair an R-rated movie with scripture to explore scenes, themes, and character studies.
   And “More.” | On Occasion

   Additional entries may include podcast audio, videos, essays, and the glory that is the always-ambiguous yet always-enticing “more.”

On one hand, I’m writing less than in 2023 while leaving room for new entries (more on that later). Essentially, expect tighter regular entries and less-frequent but more in-depth deep dives as they come.

2. Another big change is comments and chats are open to all subscribers. I decided I’d rather hear from more of you than put up a paywall. Going forward, subscribers can fully participate in comments and chats (both are moderated).

When you “like” or comment on a post, it helps me know I’m writing to real people. Thanks for engaging with my work, I appreciate it.

2. Here’s the biggest change of all: R-Rated Movie Club is 100% free in 2024. I’m doing away with paywalled content this year. I truly appreciate anyone who is interested in and can afford to suport my creative work. Overall, I’m just so grateful that you are reading my work.

If you can and would like to support my work, you can get a paid Substack subscription (it’s set to the lowest rate possible) or you can use Ko-Fi to show a one-time or recurring expression of support. I’m also an Amazon Affiliate and earn from qualifying purchases made through some links at R-Rated Movie Club.

Here’s what you said about R-Rated Movie Club…

I’ve appreciated all of your “likes,” comments, and feedback over the past year, especially the recent subscriber poll this month. Here’s what you’ve told me about R-Rated Movie Club and how your feedback will impact my work going forward:

1. Some of you are recommending the newsletter to your friends. I appreciate that, because word of mouth is the best way to grow the newsletter. That’s why I now have three exclusive essays for any subscriber who makes referrals. These free essays are my thank you gift for sharing about R-Rated Movie Club, and thanks.

2. By and large, entries are a good length, but some of you think they’re a little long. With this in mind, I’m entering the new year attempting to write entries that are tight and breezy to keep them a fun, simple read. Feature Presentations are lengthier by their nature, so I think this will most impact Sunday Matinees.

3. R-Rated Movie Club is maintaining a good balance focusing on movies and scripture essentially equally, and you also told me I should keep that up. So I will!

4. Most entries didn’t get any comments in 2023, but some of you said if comments were open to everyone in 2024, you’d be more open to writing a comment. Guess what, wish granted! Comments and chats are public (and moderated).

5. A few of you said you’d listen to podcast audio and I am going to give this a shot, as time and energy allows.

6. Finally, you told me R-Rated Movie Club is having the impact that I’d hoped it would: you’re thinking about movies and scripture in new ways, you’re seeing God in the secular, and you’re laughing! My mission is being fulfilled and that feels great!

Again, thank you for your feedback all year and in this month’s poll, it truly helped.

Here’s what I learned by writing R-Rated Movie Club…

I’ve started a blog, had many writing workshops, and write every week for work. This was my first newsletter, though, and I think the first ongoing writing project I created with a specific focus.

1. I was so honored. It was such a gratifying feeling to gain over 50 subscribers within 10 days of announcing R-Rated Movie Club. That really gave me the boost I needed to get started and keep going. What an honor to have you here.

2. Wow, did I have fun! Putting together two passions of mine - movies and faith - has been such a blast. I loved sitting down to read the upcoming scriptures in the Revised Common Lectionary and think, what movie am I I reminded of here? I ended up surprising myself along the way a few times, and that’s a good feeling for a creative heart. I got to write at length about my first R-rated movie, The Blues Brothers, had a lovely time writing about names with Mary Magdalene and Lady Bird, and - as far as I know - I wrote the first and only theological reflection on Cocaine Bear. Now, that’s fun!

3. I had to check myself when “fun” became “work.” There were a few spots along the way when R-Rated Movie Club became more of a job than a creative outlet, and that wasn’t great. It was usually when life was really busy, personally and professionally, and writing came under time constraints or not at all. That isn’t a great way to keep the creative juices flowing. I realize halfway through the year that I created a schedule that was far too ambitious, a schedule on par with writers who are making a living through Substack subscriptions. That’s not me, so I need to adapt. Going forward, I’m doing my best to keep a regular writing schedule, and offering myself a little more forgiveness along the way.

4. I got nervous sometimes. There were times I wrote and I felt myself holding back because I didn’t feel like I had enough knowledge to back up what I was trying to say. I think my biggest personal example is my partly-written entry about Everywhere, Everything, All at Once. I went down a rabbit hole of open theology, process theology, and multiverse theology and eventually I thought, yikes, do I have enough resources to back up what I believe here? Ultimately, I feel what I feel, and I believe what I believe, but I’m still working on ways to get brave about how to commit a few things “to paper,” so to speak. It was an interesting feeling to have as part of my creative process.

5. I’m a writer. When I was in grad school for my MFA in Creative Writing, one of our classes put together a ‘zine where we each gave our best advice for writing. I don’t have a copy anymore, but I remember verbatim what I wrote:

Thinking about writing isn’t writing.

Writing is writing.

So write.

I think I remember that so clearly because I was writing it not just to my classmates, but to myself. It has been years since I wrote for fun on a regular basis. I edited old pieces here and there, jotted down ideas on occasion, but didn’t write all that much. I had unconsciously got myself stuck in a period of “thinking about writing.” But as I said, that isn’t writing. Writing is writing. Now, I’m writing. And I love it.

Again, thank you so much to all of you for reading. And a special thanks to all of you who have the means and interest to support me further, it means a lot to me.

Here’s to a new year of R-Rated Movie Club. God’s peace and good movies to you!