Welcome to Good Practice

Hi, I’m Whitney. I’m so glad you’re here.

I’m a narrative nonfiction writer creating on the unceded land of the sduhubš (place/people of the large lake), near the city of Seattle.

A selfie of Whitney, a white woman in her mid-40s with shoulder-length gray hair. She is smiling and her head tilts slightly to the side.

Eight years ago I was a marketing executive in the specialty coffee industry.1 Before that, I was a technology marketer for a company you definitely know. Along the way I got an MBA while working full time and spent thousands of hours driving or flying hundreds of thousands of miles to offices where I did work that involved a lot of meetings and email and calendars and slides and not a lot of heart.

In 2017 I realized I didn’t have it in me to do that type of work anymore. I also realized I was far afield of the types of practices that made me feel alive and connected to others: mostly writing and creative expression, but other things, too. Like nurturing relationships, breathing outside air, experiencing art with others, actively engaging in the work of creating the community where I live, and advocating for the things I value (I’m a big fan of justice).

For the last several years I’ve been making my way back to a creative practice. I’ve been writing and studying and doing a lot of preparing to put my work out in the world, but feeling shy about actually sharing it. Here, I’m trying to be braver, share some work in its imperfect form, and invite community around the idea that we’re all just practicing.

So that’s what Good Practice is about. You’ll find essays on the process of making a way in the world. It’s not perfect, it’s practice.

If you’d like, you can support my work

Good Practice is free to read. Right now, full posts, commenting, and the archive are available to all subscribers. If something you’ve read here has been meaningful to you and you’d like to support my work, you can do so by upgrading to a paid subscription. Thank you.

Stay up-to-date

Every new Good Practice post will show up in your email inbox when you subscribe.2 I’ve found the Substack app offers a nice reading experience and you can find Good Practice posts there, too (log in with your email address). You can also find past posts by visiting goodpracticenewsletter.com.

1

Not Starbucks.

2

If you’re new to the Substack ecosystem, think of email newsletters as the new blogs. Whew, what a full-circle journey for both mediums.

User's avatar

Subscribe to Good Practice

We're all just practicing.

People