365 days of writing, resetting, and feeding two birds with one scone.
Make it real first, make it make sense later.
While this adage doesn’t apply to everything in life, it applies to much of what I’ve uncovered throughout the past year.
Going from August to September always feels like some kind of New-Year’s-adjacent moment to me. You know, like a chance to pick your head up after keeping your feet moving all year while you work on stuff or while life pulls you in one direction and then another. Sometimes, I realize I’ve drifted from goals I’d set and other times I find I like the direction I’m headed but that I could perhaps use a breather.
That’s sort of where I’m at right now, actually.
Read the backstory on the Monthly Dispatch.
And, in case you missed it, here’s July’s.
So, what's happening?
August 2026 edition:
- Celebrating 365 days in a row!!!
- The latest from Unobstructed!!
- New ways to read our stuff!
1. Celebrating 365 days in a row!!!
I’m celebrating the conclusion of the MAP Year Project. This is one of those moments where the August-to-September check-in has yielded something interesting.
It only took me, oh, I don’t know... 350+ consecutive days of writing and publishing to accept that narrative nonfiction is what I’m naturally inclined to create, and that it is, in fact, a real, publishable category in the marketplace.
Go figure.
I wrote a short reflection about the whole year-long challenge. Perhaps I’ll write a longer one at some point but, for now, you can read some of my takeaways here.
The MAP Year Project, among other things, was a writing challenge. I suppose it inadvertently became a reading challenge, too, as a means of supporting the writing side of things.
In the summer of 2025, I hatched the idea to task myself with writing and publishing a new ~600 word story each day for a full year. So on September 1, 2025, and for the 365 days that followed, that’s exactly what I did. Born from the challenge itself, my daily column, Kickturn, emerged as a means of sharing that journey. Writing daily helped to surface a lot of things that later turned into essays. I actually went back through some from this past year, and found a few that stood out.
If you, like me, could use a reminder to rest rather than quit, let this be it.
2. The latest from Unobstructed.
Essays on identity, creativity, relationships, work, and adventure.
“Just Ask Already”
No one else will do it for you.
“I’d love to go to New Zealand, but I don’t know if my bank account will let me.”
Standing atop a northern mountain of the Appalachian Trail (AT), I watched as the Ranger’s eyes scanned the ridgeline. There was this… glint… to them; like there was some sort of calm aliveness stirring and settling with each breath she took.
Looking out across the many lakes, mountains, and swaths of green in between, her mouth pulled into a thin line. The corners flared upward for just a moment while she tilted her head to the side and let out a long, audible sigh. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she turned her head and met my gaze.
“Unfortunately, it might be time to get a different type of job” she said.
“Lol.”
Keep reading.
///
From Kickturn, a daily column on pivots and new perspectives:
“HAVE ONE!”
People and the power of pickup.
First there were four of us.
Then a friend of a friend showed up.
A few more folks had seen us shooting around and wandered over. So eight of us became 10, then 12. We ranged from teenagers to middle-agers, spanning genders and athletic abilities. Our goalkeeper wore jeans and sneakers, having not planned on playing soccer today.
Keep reading.
///
From Breaking Trail, a monthly column on trying new things:
“You’re Right To Push Back On That”
Asking questions and trusting the answers.
“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”
That quote’s attributed to the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. While it’s one that I adore, it seemingly contradicts how we’re expected to act in modern life.
I’ve become immensely fascinated with the kinds of questions we’re asking these days and the types of answers we find trustworthy. As the parent of a newly verbal toddler, this is also THE prevailing part of my life. Literally everything is met with a “what, where, or why” – as it should be.
As a parent I am expected to have an answer to every single one of her questions. Luckily for me, they’re all fairly simple questions… or ones I can easily answer; depending on the level of existentialism involved. Sometimes I have to remind myself to provide an answer that a 3-year-old can comprehend.
Keep reading.
3. New ways to read our stuff!
NEW WEBSITE ALERT!
In the spirit of making things first and making sense of them later, one happy side effect of The MAP Year Project was unearthing the truer shape of what Unobstructed has actually become. That process of chiseled discovery helped me rebuild theunobstructed.com into a comfier, more navigable space for folks to better enjoy all the stuff we publish. I think the new site is a truer reflection of what this publication really is. I hope you do, too.
So, without further ado…
Go poke around more of Unobstructed’s sparkly, shiny, new-and-improved website!
What’s next?
A big reason I created the MAP Year Project was to see if I could write about normal, boring, nothing-special daily life and make it interesting. If I could have fun doing that, I reasoned, I could learn to do so with anything else thereafter, too.
It worked.
In fact, I like the “me” who writes every day, so I’m going to continue writing my Kickturn column. And, at the same time, my August-to-September check-in this year led me to recognize that some things did have to shift if I were to actually get that breather I mentioned.
Well, the way I rebuilt theunobstructed.com is already helping in that regard. Restructuring the publication around filterable sections and columns is just one of a few ways that I’ve alleviated a ton of administrative energy for myself. I hope it makes things more enjoyable for you, too—whether you’re reading this in your email, on Substack, or directly on theunobstructed.com.
I love “feeding two birds with one scone,” as they say.
Anyway, thanks for being here!
Whether you’re focused on finally making something or you’re making sense of something that’s been percolating for a while, I’m rooting for you.
onward.
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