New release · 100 delightfully avoidant puzzles

Your brain hasleft the meeting.

Give it something better to do. Meet the slightly unhinged puzzle book for adults avoiding everything else.

Paperback · 8.5 × 11 inches · Pencil recommended, ambition optional

Cover of This Counts as Doing Something, featuring a sleepy cartoon brain in a coffee cup
WORD SEARCHESCRYPTIC THOUGHTSMAZES WITH NO MEETINGSSARCASTIC SCRAMBLESCOMPLETE ANSWERS
001 / THE BOOK

Department of Questionable Focus presents

This counts as doing something.

A screen-free hiding place for adults running on caffeine, sarcasm, and a suspicious number of open tabs.

  • 100 original puzzles
  • 5 satisfyingly different styles
  • 134 gloriously nonproductive pages

A tiny warm-up

Unscramble your priorities.

Put these letters back together. No performance review will follow.

ACFFEINE
Reveal answer
CAFFEINEObviously.

002 / PEEK INSIDE

Pick your favorite
distraction.

Every puzzle was built for grown-up brains that need a break, not a lecture.

Sample word searches page from the book01

24 puzzles

Word searches

Find the words. Forget the inbox.
Sample cryptograms page from the book02

24 puzzles

Cryptograms

Decode thoughts that should have stayed private.
Sample mazes page from the book03

20 puzzles

Mazes

A route with fewer meetings.
Sample word scrambles page from the book04

16 puzzles

Word scrambles

Put the letters back. They have been through enough.
Sample odd one out page from the book05

16 puzzles

Odd one out

Finally, being judgmental is productive.
This Counts as Doing Something paperback cover

Your next highly defensible break

Look busy.
Feel accomplished-ish.

Perfect for coffee tables, waiting rooms, desks, trips, gifts, and meetings that absolutely could have been an email.

100 puzzles8.5 × 11 large formatAnswers included
Find the paperback on Amazon The Amazon listing will appear after publication is approved.

003 / ABOUT US

We make books for brains that need a better excuse.

Pencil Break Press is an independent publisher of funny, clever, low-pressure books for adults who deserve five minutes away from whatever is blinking, buzzing, or marked “urgent.”

Pencil Break Press

Next brain break

Currently being avoided
with great care.

More oddly satisfying books are on the way.