Non-Slop Fun Subscribe

About Non-Slop Fun

There’s life beyond your job.
Are you living it?

Non-Slop Fun is a weekly newsletter for burned-out creatives and knowledge workers who want a more creative, curious life beyond the 9‑to‑5.

Collage: Alpine mountains under a deep blue sky, a torn-out photo of a log cabin among autumn trees, oversized red lips, a strip of newsprint, a camera, a motorcycle, and a statue with a red X over its eyes

Why this exists

Work was never supposed to be the whole point.

For a long time, my life was mostly work. Roadmaps, meetings, metrics, and a phone that followed me home. Whatever energy was left at the end of the day went to scrolling, because I was too fried to do anything else.

That’s what burnout looked like for me. Not one dramatic collapse, but a slow narrowing. The books, the writing, the making: all the things that made me feel like a whole person got crowded out by KPIs and quarterly goals.

Non-Slop Fun is where I’m widening my life back out, one essay at a time. Making room for curiosity, creativity, and a sense of achievement that has nothing to do with a performance review. You’re invited to come along.

What you’re signing up for

Non-Slop Fun is

Irreverent
Colorful language included. Not for kids.
Reflection-driven
Written from lived experience as a busy professional juggling too many demands on my attention.
Proudly nerdy
Pro-book, pro-writing, anti-brainrot.

Non-Slop Fun is not

AI-generated
Every word is written by a human. It’s in the name.
New-age self-help
No quick-fix hacks and no productivity porn. Just the real, disciplined work of making things.
Blake Reichenbach smiling in a selfie next to his white dog

Who’s writing this

Hi, I’m Blake.

I’m a writer, product manager, dog dad, and gym rat based in Kentucky’s Appalachian foothills.

I’ve spent 8+ years in tech learning systems thinking, hypothesis testing, and how to optimize just about anything. Here, I point those tools at a better question: how to build a life that doesn’t GAF about creating shareholder value.

Build a life that’s bigger than your job.

One free essay a week to help you reclaim your curiosity, make more things, and find the kind of satisfaction a performance review can’t give you.

Go be rebellious. Read a book.