A Machine system update: I got a job

I’ll take a few months off from this newsletter as I settle in. Then I’ll figure out what the next phase here looks like.

The Fairfax Machine was built to be nothing if not efficient, so I won’t waste words with a windup: I start a new full-time job later this month.

That will mean some changes here.

I launched this newsletter in early June, a little over a month after I returned to The Washington Post as a freelance editor for its travel section. A simpler time, when I had more of it. In mid-July I took on another part-time job, editing Washington History magazine. Piled onto my dedication to The Machine, this became a lot, especially once I began curating the Friday Download every week. By the fall I had exhausted my very human bandwidth.

Now, I’ve accepted a role that I’m excited about and need to commit to. To that end, I’ll be taking a few months off from The Machine starting Jan. 27.

I’ll evaluate my bandwidth from there as I go. I know I’ll have some open windows after work and on weekends, and I’ll have a Reston-to-D.C. Silver Line ride a few days a week to fill. I might end up having leftover energy in those times to spend toward The Machine, or I might be beat and just want to watch Dropout. I can’t predict yet.

But I want to make clear, either way, that this is not a pulling of the plug on The Fairfax Machine. We can call it, well, sleep mode — both for the pause The Machine will be taking and for what I’ll hopefully be catching up on.

More to come in the coming weeks. For now, here are a few answers to a few related questions.

Are you sending out more newsletters before you pause here?

Yes, for the next two weeks, including a post with some takeaways from these first eight months of The Machine.

Subscribers will get the Friday Download as usual this week, plus one more on Jan. 24. (Make these two weekends count!)

And I’m wrapping one major reported feature that I’ll drop on Sunday or thereabouts. It would mean a lot to me if you read it.

What’s the future of The Machine from here?

I’ll sort out the medium-term outlook once I settle into my new job. But my long-term aspirations with this little local news outfit started high, and they remain high.

Especially since the fall, The Machine has grown rapidly. What started as a mailing list of some family members, friends and old WaPo coworkers has become a roster of 650 subscribers and counting across NoVA. The Machine’s strategy seems to be working, which in some ways makes this tough timing. It also makes me confident for its potential future.

One of a few hundred lessons I learned while editing in The Post’s Metro section was that an informed democracy requires smart, rigorous, colorful and accessible local journalism that resonates with and reflects readers’ lived experiences. Done well — and that’s an increasing rarity today — it can empower people and connect them more closely to their communities and to each other.

My belief in that mission is why I started The Machine and why I kept at it as my responsibilities grew. And it’s why, even now, this isn’t a farewell note.

What happens to paid subscriptions in the meantime?

I turned off all payments in Substack’s settings the other week as I grew confident that I would land this job. I wanted to make sure that no one new bought a year’s subscription that I couldn’t justify.

For monthly paid subscribers, that payment stoppage means Substack should not charge you for The Machine going forward. (If it does, please send me a note so I can flag to Substack and refund you.)

For annual paid subscribers, I can pro-rate you a refund or pay your generosity forward by donating to a local news nonprofit. If you have a preference, just shoot me a note.

Mostly, I’m just grateful to all of you who supported The Machine’s reporting by paying for a subscription in its very early and experimental days. I didn’t and don’t take it lightly.

Should I unsubscribe after this month?

I’m certainly biased, but I’d urge you not to.

As long as The Machine is in sleep mode, I won’t bother you with any emails: no spam, no new-job diary entries you didn’t sign up for, no downsides.

Then, whenever The Machine boots up again, we can pick up where we left off. Or somewhere close to it.

Anything else?

Just a couple more things for this post, at least, starting with: Thank you.

Whether you’ve subscribed for months, weeks or days, I appreciate that you’ve let The Machine take up space in your inbox. And I’ve been so gratified to hear from some of you about how much you enjoyed a story, or how useful the Friday Download has been, or your own memories of the Tysons mall Santa. Your engagement has kept me energized.

Now, as I prepare to take a break here, I’d love to keep hearing from you:

• What from The Machine has been most valuable?

• What could I maybe drop and save some time?

• How does anyone get work done on the Metro, anyway?

Your input will help me figure out what the next version of The Fairfax Machine might look like.

And, whatever time it takes, there will be a next version.