March is all over but the crying, like the song says, and for me March has had plenty of tears: a death in the family, a child with pneumonia, a few writing gigs that went south, a negotiation for a cool new project that blew up in my face like a trick cigar. March 2023 is not a month I care to repeat any time soon.

Which explains why this is my first post here this month. March has not been one of those months that is conducive to finding space for reflection and writing. Instead, it's been the kind of month you spend braced for a crash landing.

But now that I'm on the other end of most of the awfulness, it feels useful to stop for a second and look back on the things that actually did work this month, because there were a few:

• The TRYING patches I released late last month sold out in 24 hours, despite manufacturing a couple hundred. So I ordered a much larger quantity and, after two weeks of filling orders twice a day, those are now on the verge of selling out as well (though not quite yet, if you order in the next few days). And in stuffing those patches into envelopes and sending them around the world I was reminded how much I love the simple act of shipping. Putting something in an envelope, sticking a stamp on it, and sending it off to someone else is such a wonderful, hopeful thing to do.

• The ongoing investigation of former president Trump by New York DA Alvin Bragg and his possible indictment for the hush money paid to adult star Stormy Daniels back in 2016 got me to dust off my old impeachment.fyi code and launch indictment.fyi. Remembering how I'd built that site and newsletter and rewiring the backend to be ready to go if an indictment drops has been a nice way to exercise some old muscle memory and if you haven't already signed up over there to get the newsletter, you should. The philosophy of those newsletters is always to only update when there's actually news and to treat your inbox with the respect it deserves, so this engine will only get revving if an indictment happens (which, honestly, ????).

• And finally—and most excitedly—this whole month I've been plugging away at an ambitious, fun, and almost-ready-to-share collaboration between myself and someone I haven't worked with in a long time. It's been thrilling to step back into a routine with a person I used to work closely with and to re-forge old patterns of working together while also finding totally new ones as well. But mostly it's been thrilling to build something totally different and I can't wait to share it with you super soon. Yes, this is totally a tease. Haha.

When I first made the TRYING patches, I made a single one for me. And honestly, I made it for a month like this: one where I had to keep reminding myself that in spite of waves hands in all directions I had to keep trying. I'm glad to have tried, happy to have actually gotten real things done, ecstatic this month is over, and excited for what comes next.

Here's to April's showers washing away the awfulness of March and to spring and sun and new beginnings.