Wonder List #1
I love newsletters. I love reading them. I love writing them. I love studying them to learn what makes the great ones really sing. For the inaugural Wonder List, I thought it only appropriate to celebrate some of the newsletters I love most.
By the way, this list isn’t complete, and if you write a great newsletter or read one that I didn’t include here, just drop it in the comments. I mostly compiled the list from newsletters I’ve received over the past few days, and I guarantee I’ve missed some great ones.
Nature-Loving Newsletters
Heather Winslow LeFebvre’s Connecting with Nature: See past issues and Subscribe here. I especially love her “Ten ideas for connecting with nature” feature each month.
Andrea Debbink’s Natural Wonder: See past issues and Subscribe here. I appreciate Andrea’s tips for loving and caring for nature.
John Muir Laws’ Monthly News. Subscribe here (right column). Laws is a nature educator, artist, and fellow wonder-seeker. I especially love his nature journaling tutorials.
The National Geographic’s Weekly Escape: See past issues and Subscribe here. In addition to the magazine, National Geographic offers several great newsletters about the natural world. The Weekly Escape is one of my favorites, but I also subscribe to several NG newsletters.
Faith and Christian Living Newsletters
The Redbud Post: See past issues and Subscribe here. This is the monthly newsletter of the The Redbud Writing Guild, of which I am a member and a board member.
Jen Pollock Michel’s Post Script: Subscribe here. This monthly newsletter feels like more than an author update: Jen’s reflections and book recommendations are thoughtful and inspiring. She also occasionally offers special series or resources.
Dorothy Littell Greco’s Words and Images: See past issues and Subscribe here. Another thoughtful newsletter from an author I love. Dorothy’s two books are about marriage, though that’s not the sole focus of her newsletter.
Kimberly Coyle’s Monthly Letter: See past issues and Subscribe here. I especially appreciate Kimberly’s literary writing style and her frequent prayer and reflection tools that she offers for free to subscribers.
Newsletters for Writers
Ann Kroeker’s Newsletter: Subscribe here (scroll down). Watch for full transcripts of Ann’s podcast, along with with tons of helpful tips and resources.
Jonathan Roger’s The Habit Weekly: See past issue and Subscribe here. Jonathan’s weekly essays about writing are well worth the read. He covers everything from punctuation rules to writing love letters.
Newsy Newsletters
The New York Times’ The Morning: See past issue and Subscribe here. This newsletter isn’t just a list of stories from the Times. It’s written especially to help readers connect the dots of news stories and to help make sense of what’s going on. It’s one of my faves.
NPR’s The New Normal: Subscribe here. I like a lot of things about NPR, but this particular newsletter is all about pandemic life. It feels newsy about the things that affect my everyday life.
Newsletters that Make Me Think
Okay, so this heading is actually true about all the newsletters on this list, but these three newsletters have a particular way of making me think differently than I might otherwise.
Gracy Olmstead’s Granola: A Newsletter about Place, Books, and Community: See past issues and Subscribe here. In addition to beautiful opening essays, Granola offers tons of great curated links to articles, books, recipes and more.
Michelle DeRusha’s Back Patio: See past issues and Subscribe here. I love Michelle’s humor, dog stories, prairie photographs, and book recommendations. Her newsletter feels like a letter from an old friend, and since I’ve known Michelle for more than a decade now, I guess that’s what it is.
Image’s A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud: curation, criticism, and commentary from James K.A. Smith: See past issue and Subscribe here. I feel like I’ve been at a weekend conference every time I read one of the Smith’s newsletters. I especially like the way he introduces the things he recommends.
That’s the list. Don’t forget to tell me what newsletters you love in the comments.
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash