I really like Rebellious Pastor's Wife! Yet I voted for something else without anything specific. I wonder if you could keep working on the Rebellious Pastor's Wife idea and tweak it? Keep the fun, rebellious, feeling and the use other words? Maybe there are no better words to capture the idea/feeling. In that case I vote for "first idea, best idea."
Christine, I’m so glad you didn’t see my comment as negative. I know being a wife and mom is a huge part of your life, but you are also a therapist, social commentator, iconclast, and guide/therapist to us who are growing out of Christianity. I just wanted to encourage you to think bigger, try to capture as much of that as you can! I like, “Now It’s My Turn To Talk” and its shorter variations—“My Turn,” “Now It’s My Turn,” and “My Turn To Talk.” They all leave the topic door wide open, and there’s still something a little rebellious in it (which I love), implying that you’ve listened to society, the patriarchy, Christianity, your clients, maybe even your husband and men in general, and now (brace yourselves!), you get to talk back to all of that!! 😄 Love it!!
Not negative - just protective / defensive on my behalf! An iconoclast oh boy 🤩 lol. Ironically mother is a big identity (by default at this labor-intensive stage of their lives!) but wife not as much (partner is more resonant for me), which is another part of "rebellious" but I have gathered that these feelings / nuances were not conveyed in the proposed title!
Oh I like the shortened versions too! And your summarization would be a great tagline!!
Hi Christine, I'm a new-ish reader of your newsletter and I love it. I think you're moving in some great directions with your re-naming ideas.
I hesitate over your "Rebellious Pastor's Wife" name because it kind of defines your identity as a subset of your husband...and I think you have a great voice that stands on its own.
However, I also see that you like playing with the tension of your identity. I was thinking that incorporating "Irreverent" (or a similar word) in your name could be a fun way to get some of that tension in. Maybe something like "Irreverent Therapy for the Religiously Traumatized". That's a mouthful and could likely use some refining, but I think it's an idea for how you could play with that tension in your desire to help people who've been traumatized by the church that you still love and serve.
Love your thoughts! (And I'm glad you like my newsletter!). Thanks for "getting" what I'm trying to do with the name. I like the ideas that go along with irreverent! One other option I thought of was "Now It's My Turn to Talk" -- two reasons, because I listen to people all day as a therapist but I have lots of opinions and thoughts on things that I get to express through my newsletter -- and second, because it's like "talking back" to patriarchy, evangelicalism, etc. A little bit of the rebellious side I was trying to convey, though it doesn't immediately get across that it's often about a religious / ex-religious space. Will keep thinking!
Christine, you are SO much more as a person and as a writer than a pastor's wife, rebellious or not. It seems ironic in a newsletter that includes articles against the patriarchy to identify yourself primarily as a wife. I urge you to keep thinking of a newsletter name that captures a broader spectrum of who you are and what you write about. Also, this is a minor quibble, but the grammar of "The Rebellious Pastor's Wife" implies the pastor is rebellious. I assume you're the rebellious one, so the grammatically correct title would be, "The Pastor's Rebellious Wife." Back to a broader title, it's tough to try to summarize your topics in a brief title because you range so widely. I think The Trauma-Informed Take was a really good choice that will be tough to improve upon. :-)
This is true! I thought about "Pastor's Spouse" but it doesn't have the same stereotypes associated with it... but I really don't fit any of the stereotypes anyway, hence the "rebellious" part. I'm glad you like my original name! One other option I thought of was "Now It's My Turn to Talk" -- two reasons, because I listen to people all day as a therapist but I have lots of opinions and thoughts on things that I get to express through my newsletter -- and second, because it's like "talking back" to patriarchy, evangelicalism, etc. Weigh in if you feel like it! :)
Hi Christine! I just started reading your newsletter and thought I’d weigh in with my meager 2 cents as I just wrestled through this same question. I have been writing under a general title about a variety of topics, one of which is spiritual abuse. I recently decided to devote an extra weekly post to spiritual abuse and wasn’t sure if I should rename my Substack in some manner. I decided to keep the same name, but use the sections feature which allows multiple newsletters under the same account. So my Substack is Once a Week, and I have 2 sections: Thesis 96 re spiritual abuse, and Theology & Therapy which is a catch-all for my various other interests. Not sure if that helps, but maybe an additional option to consider!
Nice! Substack is really growing their options. So do your subscribers automatically receive both unless they opt into just one sub-newsletter?
Right now it takes all my extra available bandwidth to produce one post a week, but doing something like you're doing sounds great once maybe the kids are a tiny bit older! And I like your topics and your tagline ("at the frequency of a counseling session" yessss)
Yes, it’s a cool feature but took me some time to figure it out! You have the option of including all of your current subscribers with new sections/newsletters, and then they have the option of opting in/out of any of them. It can just be a way categorizing your posts, regardless of how often you publish. Here’s their info article. Cheers!
Trauma-Informed Take was obscure to me at first. So your idea to change it seems good. I'll have to think what might be better. My Turn to Talk is, I think, too vague. Talk about what? You're got a lot of subjects in your letters - mothering, ex-evangelicals, church trauma. What can encompass all? Rebellious sounds too juvenile. How about Help is on the Way?
I really like Rebellious Pastor's Wife! Yet I voted for something else without anything specific. I wonder if you could keep working on the Rebellious Pastor's Wife idea and tweak it? Keep the fun, rebellious, feeling and the use other words? Maybe there are no better words to capture the idea/feeling. In that case I vote for "first idea, best idea."
Christine, I’m so glad you didn’t see my comment as negative. I know being a wife and mom is a huge part of your life, but you are also a therapist, social commentator, iconclast, and guide/therapist to us who are growing out of Christianity. I just wanted to encourage you to think bigger, try to capture as much of that as you can! I like, “Now It’s My Turn To Talk” and its shorter variations—“My Turn,” “Now It’s My Turn,” and “My Turn To Talk.” They all leave the topic door wide open, and there’s still something a little rebellious in it (which I love), implying that you’ve listened to society, the patriarchy, Christianity, your clients, maybe even your husband and men in general, and now (brace yourselves!), you get to talk back to all of that!! 😄 Love it!!
Not negative - just protective / defensive on my behalf! An iconoclast oh boy 🤩 lol. Ironically mother is a big identity (by default at this labor-intensive stage of their lives!) but wife not as much (partner is more resonant for me), which is another part of "rebellious" but I have gathered that these feelings / nuances were not conveyed in the proposed title!
Oh I like the shortened versions too! And your summarization would be a great tagline!!
Hi Christine, I'm a new-ish reader of your newsletter and I love it. I think you're moving in some great directions with your re-naming ideas.
I hesitate over your "Rebellious Pastor's Wife" name because it kind of defines your identity as a subset of your husband...and I think you have a great voice that stands on its own.
However, I also see that you like playing with the tension of your identity. I was thinking that incorporating "Irreverent" (or a similar word) in your name could be a fun way to get some of that tension in. Maybe something like "Irreverent Therapy for the Religiously Traumatized". That's a mouthful and could likely use some refining, but I think it's an idea for how you could play with that tension in your desire to help people who've been traumatized by the church that you still love and serve.
Best of luck in picking your new newsletter name!
Love your thoughts! (And I'm glad you like my newsletter!). Thanks for "getting" what I'm trying to do with the name. I like the ideas that go along with irreverent! One other option I thought of was "Now It's My Turn to Talk" -- two reasons, because I listen to people all day as a therapist but I have lots of opinions and thoughts on things that I get to express through my newsletter -- and second, because it's like "talking back" to patriarchy, evangelicalism, etc. A little bit of the rebellious side I was trying to convey, though it doesn't immediately get across that it's often about a religious / ex-religious space. Will keep thinking!
Christine, you are SO much more as a person and as a writer than a pastor's wife, rebellious or not. It seems ironic in a newsletter that includes articles against the patriarchy to identify yourself primarily as a wife. I urge you to keep thinking of a newsletter name that captures a broader spectrum of who you are and what you write about. Also, this is a minor quibble, but the grammar of "The Rebellious Pastor's Wife" implies the pastor is rebellious. I assume you're the rebellious one, so the grammatically correct title would be, "The Pastor's Rebellious Wife." Back to a broader title, it's tough to try to summarize your topics in a brief title because you range so widely. I think The Trauma-Informed Take was a really good choice that will be tough to improve upon. :-)
This is true! I thought about "Pastor's Spouse" but it doesn't have the same stereotypes associated with it... but I really don't fit any of the stereotypes anyway, hence the "rebellious" part. I'm glad you like my original name! One other option I thought of was "Now It's My Turn to Talk" -- two reasons, because I listen to people all day as a therapist but I have lots of opinions and thoughts on things that I get to express through my newsletter -- and second, because it's like "talking back" to patriarchy, evangelicalism, etc. Weigh in if you feel like it! :)
Hi Christine! I just started reading your newsletter and thought I’d weigh in with my meager 2 cents as I just wrestled through this same question. I have been writing under a general title about a variety of topics, one of which is spiritual abuse. I recently decided to devote an extra weekly post to spiritual abuse and wasn’t sure if I should rename my Substack in some manner. I decided to keep the same name, but use the sections feature which allows multiple newsletters under the same account. So my Substack is Once a Week, and I have 2 sections: Thesis 96 re spiritual abuse, and Theology & Therapy which is a catch-all for my various other interests. Not sure if that helps, but maybe an additional option to consider!
Nice! Substack is really growing their options. So do your subscribers automatically receive both unless they opt into just one sub-newsletter?
Right now it takes all my extra available bandwidth to produce one post a week, but doing something like you're doing sounds great once maybe the kids are a tiny bit older! And I like your topics and your tagline ("at the frequency of a counseling session" yessss)
Yes, it’s a cool feature but took me some time to figure it out! You have the option of including all of your current subscribers with new sections/newsletters, and then they have the option of opting in/out of any of them. It can just be a way categorizing your posts, regardless of how often you publish. Here’s their info article. Cheers!
https://on.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-publication-sections
Trauma-Informed Take was obscure to me at first. So your idea to change it seems good. I'll have to think what might be better. My Turn to Talk is, I think, too vague. Talk about what? You're got a lot of subjects in your letters - mothering, ex-evangelicals, church trauma. What can encompass all? Rebellious sounds too juvenile. How about Help is on the Way?