New: Chats! 💬

A lovely space for us to converse and connect

Today I’m announcing a brand new addition to my newsletter: The Commonplace Chat.

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A common place, as I’ve said here, has multiple meanings—one of which is simply and straightforwardly a shared space to have meaningful conversations. And while the ideal situation is a literal pub where we can sip drinks as we swap stories¹, on this side of heaven we might need to “settle” for chatting wherever God’s planted us.

This is a new chat space within the Substack app that’s specifically for subscribers — kind of like a group chat or live hangout. (Most of the time I’ll share only with paying subscribers, but for this first one, I’m testing it out for everyone².)

I’ll post short updates that come my way, workshopping my thoughts as I go (especially as I do research for my fiction!), and if you’re a paying sub, I’d love to get to know you better this way.

To join Chat, you’ll need to download the Substack app (messages are sent via the app, not email³). I’ve personally turned off push notifications because I have zero push notifications in general, but you do you. I’ll check here and there on the app when I’m able.

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How to Start

1. Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. As I said, Chat is only on iOS for now, but chat is coming to the Android app soon.

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my first Roll Call thread to say howdy. Specifically, I’m curious about where you’re based and what you last read.

4. If you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ⁴.

Ora et Labora,

Tsh

p.s. And paying subs: I hope to have your Volume Three of the Common Place printable periodical ready for you in the next day or two! Be on the lookout.

1. You can do that with me in Ireland, though. Hint, hint.

2. I’m currently on a live Zoom meeting with the Substack higher-ups (literally), and they’ve said they hope to launch the Android app soon and very soon, and to launch a web-based chat feature as soon as they can. I’m especially interested in the latter, since I’m not a big fan of all of us glued to our phones.

3. Basically, don’t worry—you won’t be inundated with emails.

4. Don’t ask me, in other words; you now know as much as I do.