Work on a School Schedule
I'm Taking A Summer Break
Double Negative Dispatch Issue #105
The reason I like the structure of a 365 project is that it leaves no room for negotiation. I gotta get whatever it is done, everyday. Life will eat you up with taxes, paperwork, meetings, and other irritating minutia until you absolutely lose your mind, so having a non-negotiable type of work that is much more rewarding and satisfying has often been the thin membrane from me and total insanity.
But maybe living on a perpetual grind doesn’t necessarily make the work better.
Early this year, we decided it would be better if we moved closer to the city we increasingly find ourselves, but of course, moving is the ultimate irritating minutia of all irritating minutiae. Not just moving either, but selling a house and buying another one. When that process stretches, say, from February to June, routines go out the window. Exercise starts to be a little less regular. The joy that my projects give me slides more and more into the background.
Such is life.
While, yes, I’m in somewhat of a whiny mood while writing this, I’d like to avoid whining too much. And now that things are settling down, I’m able to crane my neck and start to look ahead. I’ve kept my work at a maintainable level in 2026, and I’d like everything to be about 10% better. I had a day off last week (really it was more of a sick day), and I couldn’t believe how much clearer I felt after taking one day of rest. New ideas flooded in, I was able to see things from a more refreshed point of view. It was crazy. Who knew that taking a break could be so rewarding? Why didn’t anyone tell me? All I’ve ever heard was that my self-worth came from what I produced! Turns out that’s a crazy way to live.
On this magical day off, I sat with my coffee at my desk and stared freely into space. “Why isn’t all work structured like a school year?” I thought to myself. Back in college, summer break and winter break was a valuable reset that helped gave the future a gloss of opportunity and possibility. Without that break, the future is bleak. Dull. Everything becomes stale.
Obviously, bills are probably the main reason why school-style breaks vanish the second we make a break for our school’s nearest exit. But I’m self-employed which means that no one wants to pay me to do anything in the summer or around Christmas anyway. Spring and fall are where the action is, and the summer and winter are often just wastelands of time where I question my self-worth.
I’m taking a summer break. I need more time to freely stare into space and play around. (My daily postcard poem project will continue every day though, don’t worry. There’s a couple available right now actually!) I’m sure I'll still post sporadically, but I’ve got some experiments to run and I don’t need my usual deadlines breathing down my neck. I’ve got one more podcast to put out about my Postcards from Nowhere project, and I’m finishing up a zine, but once those are out I’ll be largely disappearing until early August.
(Also, it’s summer movie season so I’d rather be in a dark, air-conditioned room right now anyway.)
When you’re itching to write a substack or make a Youtube video and you find that all your ideas consist of talking about making a substack or a Youtube video, it’s time to pack it in. You’re cooked. You’ve got nothing left. Time to take a break. And wouldn’t you know it, I ended this talking about my posting schedule. THE WORST.
I’ll see you a couple more times this month, but then I’m Audi 5000.
See you next school year.
Oh, btw…here’s my latest video:
Ooof. Good luck. Sounds like you very much could use a break! Looking forward to your return.