Frequently Asked Questions
How many people get Connections? I don’t know. Currently I send about 4000 each month by U.S. mail and between 1500 and 1600 by e-mail, which is easier and cheaper than U.S. mail and thus preferable for me. Also, for several years I’ve been putting each issue of Connections on this web site, and many people get Connections regularly from it. In addition, I often hear from readers who regularly make copies of Connections and distribute them to a Sunday School class, study group, or group of friends. I have no way of knowing how many people who aren’t on my list get Connections in these ways. However, some of the U.S. Mail recipients are people I've put on the list by my choice rather than theirs (United Methodist conference delegates, for example). I'm sure some of those have now died or moved without my knowing it, and some undoubtedly don't read Connections even though they're receiving it. For all those reasons, I have no idea how many people are getting Connections.
Who helps you? While I’m working on an issue my husband usually reads a draft of it and tells me his reaction or points out typos. He also takes the post-office trays of paper copies to the local post office for me when I get them ready to mail. Occasionally my daughter reads a draft and makes suggestions. However, I do everything else myself: all the writing; printing the labels and sticking them on the snail-mail copies; maintaining my web site and mailing lists (which, by the way, I never give or sell to anyone); and replying to most of the responses I receive.
Doesn’t this take a huge amount of time? Yes.
May I make copies of Connections and distribute them to a group, use a quote from it in something I'm writing, or put a link to your web site on mine? Yes, I'd be delighted for you to do that. Connections is not copyrighted, and I don't make money from it—quite the opposite. I want to reach as many interested people as possible, so I appreciate all the help anyone wants to give me. All I ask is that if you copy or quote, you say where the quoted or copied material came from.
How do you write Connections? I use Adobe PageMaker software to compose the issue on my computer and to convert it to a PDF (Adobe's "portable document format") file. Then I e-mail that file to my list of e-mail recipients and to a local print shop that prints, folds, and tabs the paper copies that I send by U.S. mail. I use a database software program called Alpha Five to store my mailing list. At mailing time I export the list from Alpha Five into a program called My Mail List, which creates the labels, sorts them into the order necessary for bulk mailing, and prints them.
Where do you get the pictures you use? I have several large collections of clip-art. I've accumulated them over the years, bought mostly from computer stores but a few from church publishing sources. I also have a couple of software programs with which I can create or revise pictures in certain formats.
When does my subscription expire? I keep a record of what recipients pay and when, but I don’t operate a real subscription system. I don’t send renewal notices. Some people keep paying $5 yearly or whenever they think of it, and many pay more. I send Connections to many people who pay nothing, however, because I want to reach the most churchgoers that I can reach, especially those in decision-making positions.
$5 a year doesn’t cover your cost, does it? No. That’s really just a token amount. It doesn't come near covering my cost. Many recipients pay more than $5, and I greatly appreciate whatever anyone chooses to pay. I pay most of the cost myself, as a contribution toward something that I believe needs doing and that I’m fortunate enough to be able to do. (Incidentally, I pay it entirely from personal funds, and it isn’t tax-deductible for me.)
Are readers' contributions tax-deductible for them? No, because I'm just an individual, not an organization of any kind.
Do you get many responses? Yes, and that's one of the most interesting and enjoyable aspects of Connections for me. I answer nearly all of the responses, except occasionally when a lot stack up while I've been away on a trip or gotten too far behind for some other reason. The only unenjoyable aspect of getting responses is getting occasional fierce attacks that are sent anonymously. I can't take seriously anything that a letter-writer isn't willing to put his or her name on.
How do you keep thinking of topics? That’s usually the easiest part of doing Connections. I read a lot about church-related topics, simply because I love to read and these topics interest me. My reading, my conversations and correspondence with Connections readers and other churchgoers or dropouts, and my attendance at church gatherings continually bring to mind topics I want to write about.
Why do you write Connections? Partly because doing it helps to feed my hunger for interaction with kindred spirits and for challenging mental activity, a hunger that I don’t find much food for elsewhere. I write also because I believe that bringing these subjects and these viewpoints to the attention of more church members is something that needs doing and isn’t being done very widely elsewhere, and that it is what God calls and enables me to do, at least for the foreseeable future. Also, I find that although there are a lot of people "out there" whose views and understanding of the Bible and Christianity are similar to mine, most of us feel alone. We sometimes feel, too, that there must be something wrong with us because we don't hear others expressing similar views. A big reason for my writing Connections is that I want to keep these thinking people reassured that they're not alone and that the church needs to hear from them.
Why don’t you write about the United Methodist Church apportionment system and other UMC topics? As a lifelong UMC member I’m of course especially concerned about the UMC, but similar issues also confront other mainline denominations, so these issues need attention throughout the church, not just in any one denomination. Besides, my mailing list includes members of at least twelve denominations, as well as some non-churchgoers, and I assume they wouldn't be very interested in reading about subjects that pertain only to the UMC. Also, I don't write about finance because, although I know it's important, it's not an area in which I have much interest or ability.
Why don't you write more about the many good things the church does? Because I find that those are very thoroughly covered in official church publications. I don't feel any need to spend my time, effort, and money merely duplicating what's already so available there. I wholeheartedly agree that my denomination and others do many good things, but my purpose is to make people aware of concerns that I think need attention and that aren't often written about anywhere else, especially in publications that lay churchgoers read.
