Welcome to the Writing Shed!
I’m Tommy Tomlinson, a writer based in Charlotte. I’m the author of two books: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (2019), a memoir about being overweight in America, and DOGLAND (2024), about the Westminster Dog Show and the bond between dogs and their people.
I grew up in Brunswick, on the Georgia coast, and am a graduate of the University of Georgia (go Dawgs). I’ve lived in Charlotte since 1989. Both places are home to me. My wife, Alix Felsing, and I live in an old bungalow with a cat named Jack Reacher. (He’s mellower now, but he earned that name in his younger days.)
I’ve been writing for a living since I was 20 years old. I’ve worked for newspapers, magazines and websites, living and dead. If you’re interested in some of that work:
My column on the day my wife and I got married
My profile of Dean Smith and his life with dementia
My story on Jared Lorenzen, a brilliant quarterback with a weight problem
I’ve been a local columnist, a sportswriter, a music critic, a cops reporter, a podcaster—just about anything that involves making words work for a living. The kind people at Substack, when I was starting this newsletter, suggested that I should focus the Writing Shed on one topic. It’s good advice that I did not and will never take.
My goal is to land in your inbox a couple of times a week with something interesting. One of those posts, usually on the weekend, features 10 things I want to share with you that week—stories I’ve read, books or movies I’ve enjoyed, music I think you should hear. That post usually has a short essay as a lead-in. The other weekly post could be just about anything (see the paragraph above about not sticking to one topic).
How does a subscription to the Shed work?
In general, with limited exceptions, everything I post here is free. But I also offer subscribers the option to pay for a subscription if they choose. Writing is how I pay the bills, and I appreciate anyone who chooses to pay for my work. If you start out as a free subscriber, I hope you’ll find at some point that the Shed is worth paying for.
Paid subscriptions are $50 a year or $5 a month—besides my gratitude, I’ll also have the occasional perk for paid subscribers. (For example, when I finished DOGLAND, I gave some of the books I used for research to paid subscribers.) There’s also a Golden Ticket option, which starts at $250 a year, for people I think of as founding partners in this little enterprise. Their perks include free copies of any books I write.
You’ll notice, if you read through my posts, that there will always be a place for you to subscribe if you choose. So here’s your chance right now:
Why the Writing Shed?
I’ve learned to work pretty much anywhere as a reporter on deadline—I’ve filed stories from a phone booth, an airplane hangar, a busy Waffle House, and the press box at the Super Bowl. These days I work in a home office I share with Alix. But what I’ve always dreamed of is a little shed that I could step into every morning and do the work I’ve always loved.
One of the things I like about a shed is that there’s room for others to hang out, maybe have a beer when the work day is done. That’s how I think of this newsletter. It’s a place we can spend time together to talk about the things we care about. I want to hear your thoughts, your ideas, your stories. Dive into the comments and fire away. We’re building a community here, a place that I hope gives us some respite from the chaos and trouble that always surrounds us. I don’t want to escape that, but sometimes we all need a breather. So come join me here in the Shed, and let’s breathe a little.
— TT
