I do love an end of the year wrap up
I hope this email finds you in soft pants and dinner plans that consist of leftovers and cookies
Hi friends,
Good morning! Well, “good morning” from here; it could very well be the middle of the night for you, I know. I hope this email finds you in soft pants and dinner plans that consist of leftovers and cookies. We are down to the last few Nanaimo bars and gingersnaps; the mashed potatoes are long gone but we are happy for the exhale of this liminal week between Christmas and New Years/back to school or work time. It’s Saturday morning here, my husband and children are watching the Nebraska Cornhuskers in their first bowl game in MANY moons, the hockey World Juniors are on all week, my coffee is hot, and the sun is out.
We have had a quiet Christmas. Three of our four kids have cycled through a cold and fever over the past week so we’ve laid quite low, but we did have a pretty good Christmas Day since one was on the mend and the other two had yet to fall ill - even managed a picture by the tree!
I know I’m arriving in your inbox a bit earlier than usual (I typically send these missives on Tuesdays or thereabouts), but with 2025 on the horizon and a lazy weekend hopefully ahead of you, I thought it would be a good day for a “best of 2024” round-up here.
I am such a sucker for those rankings and round-up articles at this time of year, sorting all the movies I have never saw and the tv shows I heard about but didn’t watch and the books that I AM actually reading/have read. Of course we had a very full year as a family with my eldest graduating high school and dozen other milestones and happenings here at home, but it was also a big year here at the newsletter.
This year, I sent out over 55 Field Notes to you. I always like to take this Saturday morning before the calendar turns to look back at the year that was here at our newsletter from a rant about Jezebel to a series on the unexpected Jesus, an essay about the loss of belonging to dozens of breath prayers to book chats. Hopefully this edition will also serve as a little short-cut bookmark for you Field Notes subscribers for all of that content over this year.
But first: In 2024, we welcomed “Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for An Evolving Faith” to the world!
I have 448 pictures and screenshots from the 2024 release of Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for An Evolving Faith. 448 images on my phone of your posted reviews, selfies, events, book clubs, Stories, unboxings, signings, bookstore visits with my husband, surprises, podcast clips, and a dozen other gorgeous moments.
Any author will tell you that releasing a book is an intense season with more than a few wobbles but you all made that experience this year beautiful and affirming too. As 2024 draws to a close, scrolling through all those images was a reminder of goodness.
Thanks to you, my fifth book became an international bestseller(!), but honestly, my favourite part has been/always is you.
I never take any of this for granted. I never forget that you’re really-real people and somehow, through these pages, we are alongside of each other. I’m so grateful.
Thank you. 🙏🏼
Looking back at Field Notes 2023 by the Numbers
I’m notoriously “not a numbers” gal (as my former business partners weep in acknowledgement), both in the traditional creatives-hate-math sense but also in the influencer-space “motivated by numbers and going viral” sense but...
In 2024 alone, we had more than 3.9 MILLION VISITS to Field Notes.
That’s quite the surprise, given the fact that everything I do here is pretty much a case study Against Conventional Norms for Content on The Internet. No advertising. No sponsored content. No national coverage. No rage bait. No hot takes. No big establishment or team behind it. Clearly I need an editor. Hardly anything I’ve written would qualify as “going viral.” It’s just this pretty faithful, quiet corner of the Internet where we refer our friends with forwarded emails or gift subscriptions and quietly share links by text - as I overwrite every single thought in my spirit.
Just one by one, you show up. And you tell a friend. And they show up. You are pretty kind about my typos. Almost all of you landed here because someone else opened the door for you. And that makes it all the more meaningful to me.
We continue to offer complementary paid subscriptions to literally everyone who asks. We never want anyone to be left out due to money while we create this quieter corner on the Internet - and it’s always our joy to be against-conventional-wisdom generous. Hundreds and hundreds of folks were hooked up this year again and I’m so glad that this is collectively a value for us all.
We are committed to keeping this one of the most affordable newsletters available, with a subscription fee that’s half the typical going-rate for these things, too so there won’t be a price increase in 2025, promise.
So let’s take a look back, shall we?
Top 10 Most Popular 2024 Field Notes
Other Noteworthy Notes
These are the Field Notes that didn’t make the top ten but became favourites or representative of the year in their own way:
Books, AMAs, & Good Things
You can find My Favourite Books of 2024 right here. But you can also revisit the November book corner, the July one, and the one from March.
We did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) now and then, too:
This is the one from August (Everything from my current social media survival strategy to staying connected to our kids to what I would tell my younger self and beyond)
This one is from April (Everything from prayer to church to raising kids on the spectrum to music and beyond)
And of course, we did a few editions of what we call “Good Things” around here so here are those recipes, podcasts, music, shows, and other things I was into this year back in November, then again in July, and of course back in March so if you’re looking for some fun links, those should do nicely.
Our Devotional Series of 2024
This year’s devotional series was The Unexpected Jesus. (It just wrapped up and I know we had a lot of new subscribers so hi! Welcome, welcome. So glad you’re sticking around.) Here are those links for you, if you didn’t get a chance to participate in real-time (plus there are audio recordings for each of these for you to listen, rather than read if that’s your preference).
Thank you
Thank you so much for your support and kindness around Field Notes. It is my greatest joy to write for you, knowing that it lands in your inbox or mobile phone screen as a real person from a real person.
As a reminder, we always take time at the end of the year to donate to the causes and non-profits we’ve featured here throughout the year from your Field Notes subscriptions on our collective behalf. We sent that money off this week and it felt good to know that we all did that together, too.
Thanks for subscribing, of course(!), but also thanks for your thoughtful comments and interaction there. I really do love when you comment and read every single one; it helps remind me that I don’t just send these out into the void but to you and your particular self.
Thanks for sharing my work on social media or with your friends, for buying my books, for following me on social media, for all of the referrals and recommendations from my fellow writers or readers, for generously supporting the causes and non-profits that we feature here, and for the dozens of ways that we’ve connected outside of this.
Back when I started this newsletter in 2014, I called it Field Notes because I figured this was a place to just write for you all from the centre of my life without all the fuss. I wanted a spot to care about prayer but also about food or books, to write about my life but also about the bigger things we care about together, to work through the things I was writing in my books directly with you as readers but also to just be people together rather than a “brand,” to chat in the comment section but also contribute something helpful in the world. I never imagined that it would become one of the key aspects of my work/vocation, never imagined all the ground we would travel together, all the life we would bear witness to, all the goodness that would come as a result. Ten years into this, I am so grateful.
I’ll be back with you in 2025. I’ve got two book projects quietly underway that I’ll share with you in the coming months along with big plans for this space to continue to evolve and grow with us.
I hope 2024 closes the door quietly on the way out,
S.
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Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your thoughts, your real life experiences, your book lists, and your knitting projects. Always encouraging and inspirational! No soft pants yet today as I am celebrating the late in life marriage of a dear friend, but you know they’ll be on the minute I walk back in the door later today. Grateful for the last few days to enjoy the lights of the season before putting it all away. Happy New Year!
Thank you for your good words and faithful practices again this year. I read this in my soft pants on my patio under a blanket, listening to my neighbor's choice of country music while (I think?) they take down their menagerie of holiday inflatables! Best wishes for the new year.