The year before, the year ahead

After a year on Substack I'm catching my breath, thinking ahead, and taking a moment to say thank you

One year today (and 50+ essays ago) I posted my first essays on Substack, and the experience since then has turned out to be quite different than I expected.

I started by sharing a story written by my grandfather, Jack Howard (1875-1971), an outdoorsman, story-teller and talented photographer, called “The Year We Had Two Thanksgiving Days.” Wanting to share the text and his other writings with family, I sought a place to host them, which led me to Substack. This was followed by another essay by Jack Howard entitled “Trouants Island,” describing the small island in Massachusetts’s North River where my grandparents and their family passed many joyful summers in rustic cottages near the sea.

Outdoorsman and photographer Jack Howard, who indirectly led me to Substack

Then something happened. Posting these pieces on Substack and becoming acquainted with the diversity of authors and essays appearing on the platform created an appetite to write simply for the pleasure of it. Since then I’ve composed a mélange of essays comprising memoirs, social commentary, thoughts about language learning, and meditations on key life decisions and the transitions they’ve brought about—such as moving from the United States to Ireland for work and then to France for retirement.

What’s ahead for the next year?

I don’t think I can maintain the pace I set for myself starting out. My target is a fortnightly essay, with perhaps a few extras here and there. Although I love having the freedom to write about whatever comes to mind, I expect to pursue a few themes that seem to recur:

• Evolving perspectives on the country of my birth (United States) and the European countries where I have lived and worked (Germany, Ireland, France). I am sympathetic to those who make the difficult decision to emigrate from their original home country, for whatever reason, and offer occasional perspectives that I hope can be helpful during such a transition.

• The challenges and rewards of social integration in a new country; language learning in particular.

• Commentary informed by data on social issues I care about—education, healthcare, and public policy that shapes aspects of everyday life in the United States and Europe.

• A new series of vignettes highlighting cultural venues in my home city of Nice, France, which visitors might not happen across during a short or hurried visit—the small museums, historical sites, the splendid small libraries, the many café théâtres (for the true francophile), and more.

• Personal essays with anecdotes about unusual experiences and other things I find of interest.

One of the bigger surprises of crafting and sharing 50+ gribouillages over the past year is that people read them! So thank you to the more than 400 individuals who subscribe to Seeking Tranquillity in France and to those who follow me. It feels like a little vote of confidence every time someone likes, follows or subscribes and I’m very grateful. And special thanks to my paid subscribers. I didn’t start writing for the money, but for a retiree every centime makes a difference and I appreciate it. My resolution is to use whatever I earn here (after French income tax and social charges) to subscribe as a paying customer to other newsletters I’d like to support. If a subscription’s too dear, you can also always …