Hi First name / love,

 

Happy Friday! Summer came early to Nebraska this week, and when the temperature crossed 90°F my desire to work evaporated entirely. 

 

This seems to happen to me every May, and in the past I've channeled that energy into writing about how to work when I don't want to. But this summer I think I might just put on this song, give in to my petulant inner teenager, and play hooky. 

 

I need a break! Maybe you can relate? 

 

Speaking of my inner teen, I remember my teenage summers fondly and with a lot of rose-colored nostalgia. In my memory, I was lucky and in love every summer. I worked just enough to pay for gas and snacks, and I drove my friends around on silly adventures in rural-ish North Carolina.

 

Because I spent my twenties in grad school, those nostalgia-fueled summer breaks lingered with me longer than most. From 2013 - 2019, I stretched my tiny academic stipends toward summer travel, sticky nights out, and wild August escapades. If romanticizing your life had been a thing in those years, I would've been great at it. I was already smiling into my front-facing camera and documenting every heartbreak wistfully along the way.

 

Try as I might, I haven't been able to hold on to the magic of summer since 2020. I love my garden and my tiny backyard pool where I pass July and August, but I think I spend more time grumbling about being sweaty than I do really relaxing in these mid-year months.

 

Last year especially, I let work become grueling in the summer. I toiled long days into long nights. I never took Fridays off. I don't remember why I was grinding, but somehow I became transfixed by my own hustle.

 

This year, I don't want to do that. 🙅‍♀️

 

For one, I don't have as much work to do. Business has been slow in 2025, and I haven't had the energy to make it otherwise. 

 

Also, there's just so much going on in the world. I haven't caught up with the new babies in my life or my beloved elders who have died. Let alone processed the multiple ongoing genocides and global conflicts, or the painful anti-trans and anti-abortion legislation being proposed close to home.

 

So what's a girl to do???  Really!  I'm asking!

 

Everyone I know seems to be stressing, struggling, or in some kind of liminal state. I've never had so many friends between jobs, deep in grief, or frozen in place. And looking to the astrology… I'm not sure that's going to shift anytime soon.

 

 

I guess all of this is a very long and non-marketing-friendly way to say that later this month I'm teaching a class on running a creative business during a recession. 

 

I'm not doing this because I have all the answers (I obviously don't if you've read this email), but more because I want to bring together some amazing people to talk about how we're making it through this period and also to inspire each other to stretch toward what's next.

 

I've been going back through my old notebooks, reconnecting with my new-biz-energy, and gathering inspiration from my community to guide us through a three-part process for sticking with our work and art. So far, it's something like: SELF-SOOTHE, STEP BACK, EXPAND. And I've got lists and menus of ideas for each phase.

 

If you'd like to commiserate about life lately, feel free to reply to this email and let me know how you're coping!

 

Or if you'd like to come to class on May 28th, you can click here to learn more and sign up for only $25.

  

I don't know what the summer holds for us, First name / my friend, but I hope we'll make it through together. Thanks for being here and reading this.

 

Until next time, take care. ♡

xoxo, Amelia

 

P.S. This week I was also the first guest on Becky Mollenkamp's new podcast Assigned Reading! We discussed the essay “Abolition Can Mend Our Democracy” by Angela Y. Davis, and together we explored:

Here are the links to listen and subscribe: 🎧 Apple 🎧 Spotify 🎧 YouTube

 

 

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