Sunday reflections on the El Boletín community
A personal thank-you - and a few thoughts on where this little hobby might one day lead
Happy Sunday everyone!
I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s edition of El Boletín. Please forgive me for sending you an additional Sunday email. But I was lying awake last night reflecting on the El Boletín journey so far - and wondering what the future might hold.
If you’ll indulge me, let me start by sharing a little more of my story.
Back in September, I broke my shoulder. After being patched up by the National Health Service here in the UK, I was sitting at home, just me and the cat, with my arm in a sling - facing six long weeks of boredom. I wanted to find something positive to do with that time, and I kept coming back to how much joy I get from learning Spanish.
I love digging up fascinating articles, watching Spanish-language videos, listening to podcasts, and exploring the culture of the Spanish-speaking world. Then I thought: maybe there are other people who’d enjoy these discoveries too. So, despite not being one for social media - I don’t use X, Facebook, or LinkedIn - I started a
. Just to see what might happen.A few weeks later, it blows my mind that more than 200 people have taken the time to write in their email address, and sign up to receive El Boletín each Saturday morning. Moreover, many of you have started sharing your own favourite resources, your own favourite parts of Spanish-speaking culture, and your own journeys with learning the language.
And that’s when I realised that I didn’t really want El Boletín to be about me broadcasting to the world each week, but a two-way conversation. A new group of friends, supporting each other on the road to fluency.
Of course, El Boletín is completely free - and will very likely stay that way. It’s just a cool new hobby that brings me joy, alongside my day job, friends, and family.
So why did I turn on pledges yesterday on Substack?
Not because I plan to monetise anytime soon, but as a way to see whether there’s a group of readers who might one day like to go a little deeper. A smaller, inner circle of paid members who not only enjoy receiving the weekly curated reading, listening, and cultural snippets - but who’d also like to discuss those resources with other learners in a more structured way, share advice and support, and keep each other motivated on the path to fluency.
And moreover, who’d support the idea of me sharing more first-hand stories by taking El Boletín on the road. To not only link to that interesting article about the Catalan tradition of la calçotada, but share videos and photos of how it looks in person, audio of how it sounds, and interviews with the people behind the stories.
Pledges simply help me to know whether there are readers out there who’d like to join that inner circle, and when - if ever - I should take that next step on the journey.
In the meantime, I’ll keep sharing my Saturday morning list of reading, listening, and cultural snippets - the things from the mundo hispanohablante that bring me joy. And next week, I’ll go back to work. Smiling that something positive came out of this time: that I found a little tribe online who share in that joy, too.
Thank you for being part of our small, growing community, and for joining the journey towards fluency - together.
- Gareth