Hi! You’re still here! Thank you.
If you’re new, welcome! Most of what’s below won’t mean much to you. Wait till next week.
I hope your holidays were as relaxing as mine (except for a harrowing drive from a couple days ago). I’ve been gearing up for a lot of big things in 2026: a new contributor (hopefully the first of several), a new newsletter format, and a lot more to look forward to. Next week’s newsletter will be the first in the new format. This one’s just to set the table.
While I’ve got big plans, I’ve learned a lot about what draws people to Turn & Work and keeps them there, and I’m pretty happy about it. Short version is that this mix of content seems to work. I’ve never been about going viral or whatever, but a certain amount of traffic just might allow this site to pay for itself and kick a few bucks to contributors.
Two promises though:
1) It’s never going to have ugly, intrusive ads, and
2) If you’re receiving this email, I’ll never ask you for a dime.
On that note, here’s what you can look forward to in 2026:
One: Say Hi to Hannah
Hannah is from Australia, and her voice is a breath of fresh (often brilliantly snarky) air. You’ll see music features and book reviews from her starting next week. Here’s a line is in one of her first pieces, free lunch if you can guess the artist she’s talking about:
They sound a tiny bit like Bob Dylan, if Dylan thought that Jesus was watching him masturbate.
I know you’re already a fan. Learn more about her here.
Two: New Shortlist (incl. guest contributors)
The shortlist will run every other week, and I’m going to be actively seeking guest contributors for it. Inspired by the Personal Anthology, I’ll open it up to anyone who wants to share links and commentary for their 5-ish favourite short stories of the moment. Interested? Tell me here.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? I’d love to read it. My goal is to publish a story every Thursday in 2026. I have three (maybe four) lined up for January, but if you’d like to see your work on Turn & Work, hit the thing below.
Submissions are always open:
fiction or creative nonfiction, any genre.
Republished stories are welcome too.
Three: New ways to listen to the Setlist
I don’t know how big (or lasting) the shift away from Spotify actually is, but I’m making my playlists available to the broadest audience I can. Thanks to tunemymusic, The Setlist will be available in some form on pretty much any platform you can name. It looks like an interesting tool, and if you use it for Tidal or Qobuz or whatever, let me know what your experience is like.
There’s a new Setlist coming tomorrow. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube.
Four: Fewer and finer links
The links section was getting pretty unruly, so I’m limiting the number I’m going to include, and they’ll be woven into the pertinent section. Not a huge change, but hopefully one that’ll make the newsletter flow better.
Five: new voices and ideas to keep growing the community
Visits to the website increased by 500% in 2025 vs 2024. Newsletter subscribers increased by an even greater number but I don’t have a nice graph for that one. That’s because I’ve switched the newsletter platform from Mailchimp to Beehiiv. Now that I’ve got a stable traffic baseline and a website rhythm I’m happy with, I’m going to be pushing hard to grow this thing. More contributors. More original short stories. More bits about (and by) artists. Q&As with editors, record label people, PR folks, publishers, and the business side of the business. If you’ve got ideas, come at me.
Onward and upward
That’s enough for now. Stay tuned for next week: we’ve got a feature with trip-hop cellist Rebecca Foon, a couple of books about nerdy nonfiction things, and three pieces from Hannah, including her first essential read.
Stick around, you’ll be glad you did.