# The Otter and the Dust Bin A new job is a gravity well. It ate the calendar first, then the evenings the side projects lived in. The [[Project - Vibe Reader/The Product Diary|voice-first reader]] has a product plan and OKRs. The [[02.10.26 - RingConn and the Case for Dumb Hardware|ring plumbing]] had real momentum in February. Both went to the dust bin anyway. Turns out well considered doesn't save a project from a new job, it just makes the shelving sting more. Ionesco has the line I keep coming back to: "A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing." Swap writer for builder and it still holds. Agatha Christie put it with less drama: "The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." And that's where the projects actually are. They aren't dead, they're underwater. The project, like a character, is always occupying some mental space, surfacing above the water curious and otter-like when the right association bobs along. A feature idea in the middle of a standup. A fix, appropriately, while doing the dishes. I'm not building right now. I'm still working.