Getting clear
Getting clear
Taking a break, recommendations, and an exclusive message for paying subscribers.
*No affiliate links in this post.
A lot’s been going on, and I want to get clear on my writing direction and more moving forward. To aid in this next step, I’m taking a (partial) break from publishing on Substack for the summer.
Back in 2015, I created a 12-month map with Goff Creative (in the Content Strategy Planner), to plan out flexible future projects, but really to get them down so I’d have a framework for easier plan breakdowns later.
In those planners, I’d put plans and projects on sticky notes, knowing things would likely have to change. But I still had that general framework to keep myself accountable. Now, I have a lasso-selection feature on my Supernote tablet to copy and paste or move project timelines around, or even change projects completely. The same principles apply as they did in the first planning boards. And so does the underlying concept: I need flexibility. My life always has, even before I knew the names of the reasons why my body fails me randomly, why a seemingly minor injury snowballs into a chronic problem, or why even the healthiest of healthy and organic foods make me sick.
In a couple weeks, I’ll have two teens and two pre-teens to entertain. My oldest kiddo’s closest friend from Florida will stay with us for just shy of a month at the start of summer (end of June here). I want to make sure I do right by them (and finish all my home projects before becoming a caretaker to a fourth young human). The pandemic summers were a wash, and although we’re on a much tighter budget than before, I don’t want to throw away one of the last summers where all our kids still want to hang out with us.
Knowing myself relatively well, I’ll probably pop in with a random message at least once during my break. And when I fully return, I’ll have more clarity on where I’m going with these posts.
I hope you have a beautiful summer! (And if you’re a paying subscriber, hang tight. There’s a special section for you below.)
I look forward to writing to you, refreshed!, and with more focus and better organization upon my return.
In the meantime, check out some of these great fellow writers on Substack whom I adore—although one, I believe, is on a summer break too:
Katie Hawkins-Gaar of My Sweet Dumb Brain, writing about facing the ups and downs of life and grief while making space for self-care.
Essays, roundups, and featured new writers’ works once a month from Roxane Gay of The Audacity.
Abby Rasminsky of People + Bodies, writing about her life and experiences as a traveling scholar’s wife, a mother, and a professional writer.
Lyz Lenz of Men Yell At Me, writing about politics, living in “Red Country” as a liberal (parent, too), personal stories, the patriarchy, and more.
The advice newsletter from former columnist Heather Havrilesky of Ask Polly.
A newsletter on living and living well with chronic illness from Natasha Lipman of The Rest Room.
A newsletter of “musings from the liminal space of writing and living” from Danielle Lazarin of Talk Soon.
Random essays and thoughts from Will Peterman of Will’s Dumb Brain.