Happy Holidays
Today is December 23rd, and before I heit the road and head out to join Mary and my stepdaughter for Christmas, I wanted to take a moment to check in with you all.
It has been a year of incredible highs and incredible lows, with no middling in between them. 2025 was the Year of Extremes. Everything was done at 100 miles per hour, and I have never minded going that fast. Indeed, I have lived my entire life at that speed. But, with each passing year, it gets harder and harder to recharge from that pace, and I find that the time to do so is now a few days, rather than a few hours.
The first few weeks of next year will be a blur -- final shooting for DEAD FORMAT and also a race to transfer remaining stock to the warehouse. That latter needs to be completed by January 31st. Once it is done, things should be significantly easier, and I'll be able to find and settle in to a daily schedule that consists mostly of writing, with perhaps one or two hours per day spent on shipping Vortex's online orders. (With luck, DEAD FORMAT shoots in February should only be a weekend or two, and then we can fully enter post).
Later in 2026, things will get nuts again. My youngest graduates high school in May and heads to college in August. Shortly after that, our landlord wants to turn the house into an AirBnB and move into a retirement community, I can't blame her for this desire. I've lived over a decade (indeed, it's closer to 14 years now, I think) and most of the homes along the river are either being converted into AirBnBs or bought up by out of state millionaires. So, there is a move in the cards during the second half of next year.
I realized last night, shortly after exchanging presents with my youngest son and my ex-wife, and talking on the phone with Stephen Kozeniewski, and cheering Laurel Hightower's kid's hair style choice, and then sitting down to begin assembling a DJ mix for Koz's NYE party, that I need a little break. Because all of those things yesterday were wonderful, and I need more little wonders like them for a few days. As the end of the year approaches, I find that I am wiped out -- physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and creatively.
So, I'm going to take a few days off. Log off the internet and not worry about writing or any of the other things adjacent to being a professional creative, and am instead going to immerse myself in little wonders and recharge my batteries for the next 100 mile per hour run.
Regular broadcasts will resume on or around next Sunday, December 28th. Thank you for your understanding, and have a safe and wonderful holiday season. I appreciate each and every one of you. If you are a Patreon subscriber, this 5 day period will be a great time to catch up on the over 5,000 other things in my Patreon archives that you have access to.
Peace,
