Not too long ago, I did something I thought I’d never do when I first opened the Legion's squeaky gates:
Taking Sundays off.
It went against everything I set out to do.
My goal was to indoctrinate… to drown out the other (boring) newsletters that were bloating your inbox… and to have more opportunities to sling my wares.
All things I proudly achieved, but there was a downside to this that I didn’t foresee.
The main one being I was “always on.”
Always thinking about what to write, oftentimes at the expense of tasks around the house, and more importantly, being present for Lady Laura and — at the time — Master Liam.
This bothered me for obvious reasons.
Yet for weeks, I persisted.
Stubborn in my Watson ways.
Until a shocking event on September 10th rocked the world and, in turn, forced me — and I imagine many others — to answer questions I’ve been putting off for a while.
I’m talking about the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk.
He was a young father of two.
At the time, I was a father of one.
Sixteen days later, that would change to two.
I love my Patrons.
I love the Legion and everything we do here.
I love reading all of your replies — and even the trollish ones.
But for longer than I wanted to admit, this came at the expense of family time. For even when I was with Laura and Liam, I wasn’t really “there,” if you get me.
So, I decided to cease emails on Sundays.
(Which popularly became known as my Silent Sunday Sermon.)
And you know what?
After a brief spell of guilt, things improved.
I was far more present.
I felt more “at ease” on weekends.
I was getting stuff done around the house that I had put off for months. And let me tell you, Sunday morning coffees sure tasted better when I didn’t need to rush off to my writer’s corner.
Another pleasant side effect:
My other emails got better.
I had more ideas (strangely) and an insatiable desire to write them.
So, I hereby announce that until the end of the year, I will be trialling Saturdays off to see if there’s more juice I can squeeze out of this lemon.
Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, and that’s exactly what I'll find out.
If that means returning to Saturdays come the new year, fine.
If not, then Monday to Fridays will be the new opening hours of the Legion, and I can pledge to you right here, right now, that it will be the last significant change you see around these parts.
I’m on a mission to not only entertain, but to encourage us all to be more present, spend less time on screens, and more time with those we love.
After all, a full life is still a short one.
And with that, I bid you a fond weekend, Legionnaire.
DJJW
P.S. Should you seek entertainment this coming Saturday and Sunday without the screens, then you will find The Divided Region paperback bundle here: