Nobody likes to read scribblers gripe about writing blocks and motivation and production anxieties, and lord knows I have already kvetched thusly in earlier posts. But you know things are getting bad when you get an email from Substack letting you know that you have a bunch of new subscribers and you haven’t done jackshit for a couple months and you might want to get off your lazy ass. They don’t actually say “jackshit” or “lazy ass” but the message is pretty clear.

So apologies, particularly to those who have ponied up cash to keep me going on a regular basis. For all the new folks bedazzled by my recent LSD essay and wanting more, I am also sorry, though less so, because you probably just forgot about it. I would like to note that Burning Shore is only sorta topical, so you might actually enjoy poking around the archive. I promise that there are some vibrant perrenials in there, like the poison oak piece, or “Freaks of Color,” or the Eden Ahbez appreciation “Dharmalands.”

I kept hoping the burnout alluded to in recent posts would burn itself out, but life has thrown me some more curveballs this summer, including the death of my father, and an unusual exhaustion following the completion of the LSD blotter book, which I am nonetheless pretty tickled with. So though I have cool ideas for new pieces but they keep not happening. Something is off in the engine room of motivation.

So I have decided to pull down the blinds and put Burning Shore on pause for the rest of the summer, including September, which is maybe not so summery, but does happen to be the time when I will be traveling in merry old England for a number of weeks. (I will delivering the keynote at the Trans States para-conference.) For you paid subscribers this hiatus means that payments also will be on pause, and I won’t unpause them unless I am ready to return to a steadier flow. If you want to unsubscribe for any reason, even just cuz, it’s fine — here at Burning Shore we now post everything for free, so you won’t be missing a word whatever happens.

Long time Erik Davis followers will remember the last time I hit a summer pause. Three years ago, after a decade of nearly weekly work, I took a hiatus from the Expanding Mind podcast. To the disappointment of more than a few, I have yet to take it up again. I still toy with the idea of returning to podcasting, which I really enjoyed, but I toy with a lot of ideas, and that is part of the problem. For now I just need a break, and to focus my lagging energies on other dimensions of body and soul. After a few months I will have a better sense of where I am at, and will make a more definite call accordingly. I hope you are still here to hear about it.

Thanks for reading and keeping the faith. Ta ta for now.