And June Rabbit Holes 🐇🏳️🌈💫
You’re receiving this message because you’ve opted in for emails from me – Sarah Shotts. I’m in the midst of a redesign so things may look a bit different from week to week until the dust settles.
In Ye Olde Internet speak we called this… “under construction.”
I won’t bore you with the details unless you want them. But I’ve been doing a lot of reflection and testing of different internet platforms and all of that is slowly coming to a close. (If you’re curious about this part skip to this footnote.)1
Rather than wait until I’m “ready” to reintroduce the new direction / name / plan for my newsletter I decided to just jump in before I can overthink it.
Moving forward I’m planning for things to be more scrappy and more “messy middle”. If and when I write long form posts I will publish them first to my blog and copy them here. Otherwise, it’s just a bit of redecorating.
I hope you’ll stick around, but if you need to go there’s no guilt.
I don’t look at unsubscribes.
Before we move into the next phase, here’s a look back at what I was writing last summer…
What if we didn’t assume people were straight?
Wait, is this a coming out post? 🏳️🌈
I had a great response to this one – except someone close to the family who reached out to my husband to see if he was “okay.” 🙄
If you’re new around here and didn’t realize… I’m nonbinary. I always have been, but finding the language explains a lot and has helped me understand myself better. (Similar to identifying as autistic actually.) I’m not taking questions about gender, but I linked a bunch of resources in the post above.
I don’t make a ton of content about being queer or nonbinary, but it’s as much a part of me as my autism and neurodivergence. I mention it from time to time to help people realize that more people are queer and gender non conforming than you may realize.
If you have a problem with this kindly see yourself out without announcing yourself. Strangers on the internet are humans and there is no excuse to be needlessly cruel to someone even if you don’t understand them.
I wrote this post last summer. It went low key viral (for me) which honestly pulled me way off track because I started thinking I “should” write what people wanted and expected. Which was kind of the opposite of the point. (I know.)
I also wrote this follow up based on a comment from someone who fundamentally misunderstood my first post. I really believe strongly in the distinction between “branding” and “artistic style” and if you’re feeling pressure to present yourself in a palatable or market-able way I hope you find this helpful.
Last one, here’s a post that was previously locked for paying subscribers and is now free. (Did I mention I’m in the process of removing the paywall?!?)
Creative Compost
Before you go, I’d also like to introduce my Creative Compost Heap to those who haven’t seen it yet.
This is my take on a Digital Garden. It’s an imperfect home for bits of research, observations, and creative inspiration. This process is integral to my Creative Ecosystem.
You’ll find notes on books I’m reading, research on various subjects, movies I watch with my kid, and ideas I am unraveling. 🕸️
Everything is tossed on the heap.
There it can decompose & form new connections. 🪱🐛🍄
Right now I’m actively researching…
The Internet (before it became a capitalist hellscape)
The Medium is the Message by: Marshall McLuhan
Black Mountain College (an inspiration behind )
Speaking of Neurokind I’ve just announced a new collaborative project open to anyone who identifies as neurodivergent. All you need is yarn / fiber / or strips of recycled plastic or cloth and a paper plate (or embroidery hoop.)
I hit a couple of obstacles with Neurokind recently (for example: all the submissions for the next issue got corrupted) 🫠. But those are almost sorted out and you’ll be hearing more from me over there soon.
And… I revealed the cover art for my anthology project about creativity and motherhood. Over 30 mothers are involved in one capacity or another and I’m so excited to bring this project to life. (Preorders opening this autumn.)
Also, final final call to submit a prompt for Ember the accompanying workbook / art journal for mums.
(Ignore the deadline. If you submit this week you’ll squeak in under the wire.)
Ok, now I’m all caught up so we can start fresh next week.
If you want to support me you can…
Leave a comment. (It’s free!)
Pledge on Patreon or Substack
Buy my book or gift one to a friend!
Now it’s your turn.
What have you been up to?
Are you the same person you were last year? Or this morning? 🦋
Let’s discuss.
Cheers,
Long story short I’ve returned to Substack (although I no longer use the app and manage my own subscriptions via RSS.) None of the other options I’ve tried meet my needs as well – particularly when it comes to a robust comment system. I’m working on a post about my new “tech ecosystem”, but the short version is that I’m writing for my own blog / website FIRST and then copy / pasting that content to Substack for future newsletters. This works surprisingly well and allows me to keep a copy of all I am writing archived on my own domain rather than living behind a silo. More changes are coming including snail mail for paying supporters twice a year. 🐌💌
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