This Substack Really Tied My Sabbatical Together

Happy birthday to Speak Now Regret Later!

You are now reading the 53rd installment of this Substack, which means we just passed the one-year mark of this little corner of the internet. Happy anniversary to all those who celebrate. If you’ve been with me since the beginning, my condolences. There are over 3,000 of you now.

When I decided to start the Substack, I didn’t really know what to expect. I mean, I knew a few things: I had opinions that I wanted to share and I generally enjoy writing. But, to write a new post every week for an entire year? That seemed—and in fact was—a lot. But I had a yearlong sabbatical ahead of me and made next to no plans about what to do. So, writing a weekly Substack was my major sabbatical goal. My other goal was to start playing pickleball, and that too was gratifying, though in ways that were truly unexpected. But really, my sabbatical was mostly about writing.

My sabbatical is now done, which means that a lot more of my time will be taken up by teaching.…