This is a version of what I sent to my email list last week: I thought I might expand it a bit, but I’m too exhausted.
In case you’ve been wondering about the break in writing.
The good news is that I hunkered down and got a major draft of a major project down: now on to the next stage to finish that and more.
The not-so-great news is that I am mentally and physically wiped out — for reasons I can’t understand (except perhaps the stress we are all experiencing), I keep waking up much too early, and then spend the rest of my days trying to get some rest and failing.
Anyway, long story short: I am going to take the rest of August and perhaps even part of September to rest and finish the Very Big Projects that need to be done. My goal is to finish them by mid-September.
Being able to just focus on one project at a time has been hugely productive, and I need to do this when I can (which is now).
I will resume the Updates (which I genuinely love working on) at the end of the summer. In the meantime, I will be writing new pieces here and there, whenever I’m able to fit them in between the work on the Very Big Projects. At the end of the summer (loosely translated), I’ll have a great big blockbuster post for you, detailing Everything I Worked on During the Summer! I’ve been receiving quite a number of “gone for the month” notifications in response to my emails, so I gather everyone is off anyway. I am going to pretend that I’m European, with paid vacation time and all the rest (the dream is real.)
Of course, I can’t resist issuing verdicts and asides on current affairs so I will be occasionally active on social media. Do feel free to follow me there, or not! You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook (I am not accepting new friends on the last platform, but you can use the “follow” option).
I hope you have a restful summer. Many thanks to all of you for your continued support of my work, in so many ways.
Image: Yellow and Red Poppies, Emil Nolde, c. 1956.
