A SUBSTACK LOVE LETTER ♥️

THIS LOVE LETTER IS AN APPRECIATION PIECE TO 60 WRITERS

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SUBSTACK,

It’s 6:15 am.

And I’m up again imagining what it’s like to be a bestseller.

I know I’m supposed to be a Substack bestseller. In fact I’d love to be a Substack bestseller. I’ve stared at the ceiling for 67 nights wondering why not. But how can I when it’s not what I stand for, neither is it what I dream to build.

I’m Ral Joseph, Faith if you want to call me by my government name and my father taught me values rooted in people, cultivated in community, sustained by culture, enhanced through connections.

Does that sound like what a bestseller would be saying?

You know what? Forget it!

Planet Ral was created for this. People. Identity. Connection. Growth. It’s easy for us all to get lost in trying to be the best, it’s super frustrating when nothing works and it’s somewhat content-ful when we tell ourselves it’s enough when it’s not enough. In the end, we feel out of place. Substack is king at making us feel that way. Most of us quit, slow down, re-strategize, come back and quietly hope one day we feel that feeling that “even we” can’t seem to define.

Planet Ral is home. I wanted to build a community that feels like it was made for you. A community of truth. A community of grace. A community of inclusivity. An appreciative world for creators who identify with the different aspects of creativity. A village.

I like how quiet it feels here, no one is in a hurry to join a live class, gain access to a product, clear your credit card for a zoom session. Or pay $99.99 for daily access. We’re simply being us. Reminding the world that care is real, life is real, us is real, what matters to us matters to all, and this is how it all began. Through renaissance, culture, to economics, politics, science, technology, now AI.

We can’t all lose ourselves.

Where would the world be if we did?

Though we may chase, we chase with consciousness

We are Human.

This love letter is an appreciation piece to everyone I met a year ago when I joined Substack, who became real time friends to me. Creators who built genuine connections with me. Creators who valued community and craved one without so much noise. People who choose PLANET RAL and the value of what we bring to the table and then choose to sit and dine.

The journey of what we could explore here, the topics, the themes, the highlights, are societally mind blowing. The plans and implementations are incoming and they are revolutionary. Our work is meant to move and shake. Together.

Be a part of the village.

PS: THIS LOVE LETTER IS AVAILABLE AS A SINGLE PHYSICAL COPY & AS A 3-PIECE BUNDLE WITH ISSUE 20 & 21 BELOW +++ AN E-COPY TOO BELOW

WE ARE CAFFEINATED AND FUELED BY YOUR SUPPORT. TO BECOME OUR PATRON, A FOUNDING MEMBER, A COMMUNER, OR TO SEND A GIFT MEMBERSHIP, CLICK THE LINK BELOW. HAVE FUN!🏵️🦋

Barbara Nickless

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Yvette Troyna

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QuYahni B Joseph

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Cindy Chance

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Melinda Lloyd

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Assemblywoman Debra Mazzarelli

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LINDA AMATO

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Gary Coulton

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Kyra Faison-Gardner

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Violet Kay

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Regina Duke

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Rosetta McKinnon

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Liam Randall

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Dorie Snow/雪多丽

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The WOW Words

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Dr. Mary M. Marshall

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Steven Muir

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Janin Lyndovsky

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MargaretGypsy

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Laura's Poetry Corner

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Inksite

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Kelly Trost

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Chris B. Writes

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Waving From A Distance

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Sue Reid

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Mark Farley’s wandering’s

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Alicia Joyful

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Harinath👍✨

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Tracey Scott-Townsend

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Sue Banerji

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Pepper Miller

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Sacred Rebelle

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Saira Anwar

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Candy Kennedy

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Luna

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Laura Catanzano

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Laney Mills

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Oli Trollgora

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younghock2

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Carolyn Isabelle

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Saima Durrani

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Stella Chibuike-Ezike

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Julia Dyviniak (JN Ashe)

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NOW,

A small surprise.

A note of love to the writers I met just yesterday here and some I've known a while. It still amazes me how quickly strangers become part of the same orbit when the conversation is honest and the work is real. Creative community doesn’t always arrive loudly; sometimes it forms quietly, in replies, in shared sentences, in recognition.

I just want you to know that meeting you already feels like part of what Planet Ral is becoming — a place where people don’t just publish beside each other, but begin to belong beside each other.

I’m really glad our paths crossed.

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Tina Nayak

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Jeanmarie Hill: What Remains

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Elaine Wright

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Jillian Bybee, MD

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Francesca Bossert

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Emma Carpendale

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Lynda Heines

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Lesley Riley

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Rick Lewis

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Colleen (beanietvq)

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Chellie Grossman

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Everything is Gray

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Michelle Gomersbach

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Kathryn Jefferies, PhD

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MEMBER INVITATION

What held your name before you had one?

Before borders, cities, platforms, or timelines, people were already held together by something older. Before we learned how to introduce ourselves, we belonged somewhere. There were stories carried across generations, food shared between hands, songs that outlived their singers, and people who stayed so we could arrive.

Issue 22 — ROOTBOUND

We’re inviting 4-stanza poems or 200-word essays about what holds us at the deepest human level:

soil
ancestry
memory
ritual
language
music
dance
food
land
story
care

Something older than explanation.

Submissions are open for one week.

(Email: Space.planetral@gmail.com)(Subject: Issue 22 Submission)(PS: Include your Substack name on the mail)

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THANK YOU.

Before I close this little letter, I just want to say thank you to everyone already writing with us, reading with us, orbiting with us, and to those who only just found their way here. Creative communities are not built all at once; they grow through small recognitions, shared sentences, and people deciding to stay a little longer than expected.

If you’ve been reading from the edges and haven’t stepped in yet, consider this your invitation. There is space for your voice here.

Be part of the publication.

Be part of what we’re building together.

Physical copies of the Love Letter issue are now available, along with e-copies for those who prefer to read digitally. And if you’d like to go deeper into the orbit, the Love Letter issue + Issues 21 and 22 are also available together as a special bundle: the link to all of them is just below.

This publication continues because of your support.

We are fueled and caffeinated by you.


Courtesy — Planet Ral