Cheers to more Love Letters in 2026.
The tire shop, a $2 notebook, and some beautiful surprises coming your way.
Where I sit in North Florida, the final long afternoon rays of light of 2025 are slowly receding from my desk almost daring me to watch them leave.
It has been a strange year, to put it mildly. A year I am delighted to bid farewell. Maybe you are too.
Let me begin by saying how deeply grateful I am for you being here. I know things have been a bit slower around here than normal, but that’s about to change in a big way.
You might have noticed our publication logo got a small glow-up… I’m going to start there if that’s ok? Because I’m like a five-year-old who can’t wait to give you your present in hopes you love it.
I (along with a considerable section of the internet on my socials) have been feeling the pull to go way more analog in 2026. Perhaps you have too.
There are snail mail and artist-run print clubs popping up everywhere, it seems.
I subscribed to Lore Pemberton’s snail mail subscription, and it is hands down the favorite thing I’ve done for myself in 2025. Not sponsored, just sharing the love.
I’ve been dreaming for months. But change can be scary, and it has taken this long to get my courage up.
(No, we’re not starting a print and paper version of The Wonder Habit®. I can barely drag myself to my own mailbox some days. 🤣)
Instead, I am reimagining our space here.
I want it to feel like a real-life paper letter snuck itself into your inbox.
The kind of letter you would be watching for in the mail. Maybe you'd put it in a special place for when you’d had time to soak it in. Then you’d store it away as something to be cherished.
I want these post to feel like the note you’d find lovingly tucked in your pocket. The kind with the words you needed showing up right on time.
I want you to open up your email or app and feel seen, loved, heard, and inspired.
And I want you to know you are welcome to write back. Comment. Hit reply on your email to write to me directly.
Here’s what making this space more tangible looks like practically.
Weekly posts, Love Notes, on wonder, creativity, and encouragement. Expect more art, sketchy borders, distilled courage, and whimsy. Some weeks, maybe even more than one.
A few times a month I’ll also be sharing thoughts about making in the age of AI and slowing down, as well as my experiences with My Year of Making (more info on that below.)
Monthly, we are going all out in 2026. At the end of the month, I’ll be sending out a monthly digital edition of what feels like a snail mail club called The Wonder Guidepost.
It includes things like digital printable projects, sketchbook pages, personal reflections, printable wall art, creative practices for more presence, and so much more.
It is a publication that is digitally delivered but designed to help you build a beautiful life offline.
And it is all 100% free. So if you haven’t subscribed… you might want to. Have friends who need this. Pretty please share this post with them.
Our paid tier, Prompt & Ponder, will continue to have our deeper weekly prompts. But I am also working on some special “offline” content for you as well.
So that’s what I’m working on for us! Now, about my $2 notebook.
How a $2 notebook can change your life.
We are welcoming in 2026 with a HOT take. I don’t think we have to totally get off our phones to find more wonder and slow down. But I do think we have to be super intentional about our choices.
Going completely tech-free is a little like saying you can spend all your days twirling in a field of wildflowers baking sourdough. I know that’s not my reality at least.
Slow living on the internet can be so aspirational and unattainable. It baits you, gets you to buy in, only for you to realize the images are so far removed from reality.
I want to be part of changing that. 2026 needs to be the year of being human on the internet.
Sorry to tell you, but I don’t live in a forest cottage in my idyllic landscape and paint all day.
I am a medically complex, middle-aged woman who lives in a cottage in a commercial district with an office building in her backyard.
Slow living isn’t about your geography. It’s about your topography, the contours of your attention, and the way you shape your days. It’s less about place and more about space.
Slow creativity is about making really intentional small choices every day, right where you are.
I’m going to be talking a lot about this here and on my socials in 2026 because I’m so tired of the marketing machine selling us aspirational mirages.
I want to give you actual inspirational tools and encouragement.
So welcome to my $2 notebook. 📓 I mean she’s kinda adorable.
Instead of mindlessly scrolling at the tire dealership the other day, I had my pen touching actual paper writing the things in this post.
My phone wasn’t locked away. I was referring to resources that were on it, but I was not scrolling the never-ending feed.
The phones in our hands are tools. Which means we can learn to use them in ways that actually benefit us.
I got more inspiration sitting in a tire dealership with a teeny notebook & a pen than half a day scrolling through socials.
Writing with ink on paper lights our brains up in ways our devices never will.
Get yourself a tiny $2 notebook.
Jot down the weather. Count how many red cars are in the parking lot. Describe the person sitting 3 chairs down. Get curious about the situation you are in.
Is there a lesson? A metaphor? If a stranger were sitting in your exact circumstance this very moment looking for support, what would you tell them to help or encourage them?
Maybe that wisdom could apply to you too.
I’m amazed how often the kindness I would automatically give a stranger I don’t always give myself. Working on changing that.
And lastly… if you made it down here, high fives.
My Year of Making starts tomorrow!!!
To get our free weekly prompts, you need to be signed up on my email list (that isn’t Substack). It’s 100% free. You can join any time. But if you want to jump in right now, here’s the link.
When you sign up, you’ll get the getting started guide sent immediately along with this week’s prompts.
I’m so excited to welcome 2026 and have a year of wonder and making together.
All my love, Michele