A little update

On slowing down this summer and what that means for my Substack.

Hi friend. Life has been happening fast lately. Well, actually, that’s not the right wording. Things have slowed down dramatically over here — I pulled back from work so that I could take my kids full-time this summer. It’s something I did for half of the summer last year and decided to do for this entire summer. You’re welcome to go back and read more about why I did, how I do it and what I’m focused on this summer.

To be honest, I have felt a lot of relief in this slow-down. I’ve realized how much I have been juggling for far too long and it feels so good to let most of it go and to focus on my kids. Almost every day I’m waking up to no meetings, no calls, no need to track down new business. It feels amazing.

Instead, I’ve been sneaking in walks most mornings. I’ve been doing just enough on the work front. And I’ve been non-stop writing my novel!!! It has brought me so much freaking joy it’s insane. I’m thinking about this book constantly, sneaking in words when I can (like frantically typing down a scene in my Notes app at a red light) and playing out scenes when I sleep at night. This is what I have been aching for the past few years — to be immersed in this story and to finally get it all out on paper. I’m realizing I just needed to slow down, to quiet all the other things to make it happen.

At this exact moment, I’ve written 18,535 words since summer started, taking me to a whopping 82,836 words in total for my novel. I’m so close to writing “the end” on my first draft and this is the summer it’ll happen.

I get about two hours of “work time” during the weekdays, when my kids are at camp. Some days that time goes to work, other times it goes to my novel. The rest of the day? I’m 100% with my kids. All my time, energy, focus is going to them. We’re going on adventures, hitting up the library, playing outside and just living that summer life.

Since I only have about two hours a day to work, it feels like things are moving insanely fast. Things are happening and moving on without me. I recognize how much I’ve had to slow down my businesses to make this happen, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel it. My ambitious nature likes to take over at times, making me feel like I’m behind or that I need to be doing more.

I keep telling myself that I have time to catch up or finish things once the kids go down for bed, but here’s the thing — I’m almost three weeks into the summer and I haven’t worked one night. Except for the occasional nights where I open my novel to keep writing, I’m too drained at the end of the day to do anything except sleep, read or watch some mindless TV. I’m finally accepting the reality that work will not be getting done at night this summer. And I’m 100% okay with that! In fact, I really freaking love it. All of my client work and Foundership to-dos are getting cranked out during camp, so we’re good there. The thing that keeps falling to the bottom of the list is my Substack.

I’ll be honest, it’s been hard for me to show up here lately. For a few reasons:

• I’m stretched very thin on “work time” which is where Substack technically falls on my to-do list

• I used to do my Substacks at night – 98% of the time – and, like I said, nighttime work is just not happening right now

• I have loved doing my Substack the past year because it scratches my itch to write. But now that I’m deep in my novel and wanting to be in that story constantly (which is what I’ve always wanted to be doing anyway!!!), my urge for writing anything else has disappeared

• I’m struggling to stay motivated with my Substack because the constructs I originally put around it are no longer aligning with me, and I don’t know what the solution is yet

How I’m feeling lately about my Substack

I launched my Substack last June. One year ago, almost to the date. And I have loved everything about it — I still do. I looked forward to my Tuesday and Thursday nights because I knew I’d get to sit and write about whatever the heck I wanted. I loved sharing entrepreneurship advice on Tuesdays and then giving you a peek into what I was doing personally on Thursdays. I really love the monthly What’s Got Me Hooked recaps that I write. I look forward to them every month.

The past year (+ some) has been a big evolution for me on the biz front. I’ve written about it before here. I came into 2026 thinking I had finally come out of that sticky middle of an evolution, but I’ve realized that I haven’t. I’ve actually needed this summer to slow down to figure out what I want to be doing. Where I want to go. What my businesses look like. What I want future-me to look like.

I had hit a creative block. A big one. And it’s not until I slowed down and stripped everything away these past few weeks that I can finally feel that block breaking away. Inspiration is slowly making its way into my life again, I can hear it whispering. And my entire body is screaming for it, wanting more.

I want more creativity, more inspiration back in my life — but I also want clarity. When you’re busy doing all the things, you get too wound up in it all and lose clarity on what’s next. I’m starting to catch glimpses of what that is for me, but I know I haven’t fully discovered it yet. And I feel completely at peace with that. I still have 2.5 months left of the summer, of this slow-down that I needed so dang bad.

But it’s left me in limbo with my Substack — a feeling that I’ve hated. So I’ve been doing some thinking around it.

What’s next for my Substack

I’ll be honest — I don’t know what’s next. I know I want to keep showing up here but I don’t know what I want it to be or how I want it to look. And I’m finally giving myself the grace for that to be okay.

I’m removing the constraints I set up for myself a year ago where I need to post founder advice on Tuesdays and personal stuff on Thursdays. As I’ve pulled back from work, it feels like I have a ton of personal stories. Which makes sense, right? It’s 95% of my days right now! The founder advice is harder to come by when I’m not deep in my business.

Plus, I hate the idea of pulling myself away from what I really want to write (my novel) to something that I feel I’m supposed to write (my Substack). And removing these constraints helps remove that friction.

So, instead — this summer, I’m going to show up when it makes sense. When I have something to say. That might be on a Sunday or a Wednesday. Or, heck, it might not be at all. We will just have to see what comes. And if you don’t hear from me, you’ll know that I’m living life with my kids, I’m busy writing my novel and I’m sitting deep in inspiration, figuring out what’s next for my Substack.

This isn’t goodbye, it’s just a break. A good ol’ summer break. One that I’m taking in pretty much every facet of my life right now. (My brain is screaming to write HAGS right now, like I’m signing your yearbook on the last day of school.)

As I slow down in this space, I’m pausing my paid subscriptions. If you’re a paid subscriber, that just means your billing cycle will be paused. You won’t be charged until I start publishing paid content again — and I’ll let you know when that’ll be + what that’ll look like when the day comes.

I still plan on showing up here, when it aligns with my Summer with Mom life. And whenever I do, it will be with free posts for everyone to see (said like Oprah giving away free shit to her audience).

I hope you’re having an amazing summer and have a chance to slow down yourself. It truly is the best.

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