Friday, January 17, 2025 →

Don’t tell other people what to write about. 🙄

When I changed email platforms someone reached out to tell me that I should stop writing about the algorithm - and dude - I’d love to. But I write what I’m interested in. If you don’t like it get out!

Reader, I blocked him.

I truly hope I’m done with this topic. But the reason my brain (and therefore my writing) has fixated on algorithms is the negative impact they’ve had on my creative process and mental health. The time I spent researching my Dirge to the Old Web was not wasted. It was essential to my autistic processing and enabled me to make big shifts to my online experience.

Fingers crossed this is the last you’ll hear about algorithms from me for a long time. Because I’ve escaped.

Tuesday, December 31, 2024 →

Storygraph Wrap-Up 2024

Storygraph Wrapped for 2024: Mistborn Secret History, Christmasaurus, Sunlit Man, Defiant, Longs Chills & Case Dough, Seats of London, Dawnshard, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, Sourdough, Ajax Penumbra, Microblogging, The Starless Sea, Filterworld, Moonbound, How We Might Live, Guards Guards, Eric, Legends & Lattes, Internet for the People, The Gift, This is My Home This is My School, Wonder Walkers, Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Way of Kings, Night Watch, This is How You Lose the Time War, A Slip of the Keyboard, Witches Abroad, Meandering, Jung, Seaborn, Ray Bradbury Essays, Eye of the World, What’s in Your Pocket, Small Gods, Wind and Truth, Ways of Seeing, Becoming a Writer.

Saturday, December 28, 2024 →

Winnie Holzman (who wrote the Wicked screenplay and the book for the stage musical):

There were so many conscious and unconscious ingredients. The writing process has a mysterious quality and who really knows how that happens?

Source: Interview

Saturday, December 28, 2024 →

My creative ecosystem needs more unstructured time to dream.

So reverie is my word for 2025.

Here’s a wallpaper I made to remind myself.

This is Boreas by John William Waterhouse. It is named for the Greek God of the North Wind.

Wallpaper featuring John William Waterhouse’s Boreas. A figure is buffeted by the wind and looking deep in thought. They are wrapped in a swathe of gray cloth over their clothing which billows out in the wind.

Saturday, December 28, 2024 →

Author Amie McNee holds a large hand lettered sign that says “Artist, build a community not a following.” She is smiling dressed in cozy black sweats with a royal blue scarf draped around her neck. Beyond Amie you see the English countryside blanketed in fog.

Amie McNee gets it.

I can’t wait to read her book.

Image Source

Saturday, December 28, 2024 →

I’m making some shifts in my online ecosystems for 2025.

After testing both Obsidian and Micro.blog for a year I’ve decided to go all in on Micro.blog rather than paying for both. There are some really great features here that allow cross posting (both to and from Micro.blog.)

Here’s what I’ve set up:

Blog Archive is crossposted from my Beehiiv newsletter.

Photo Blog is an Instagram alternative that cross posts to Bluesky.

Oubliette is a true microblog where I can posts links, quotes, and photos that cross posts to Bluesky.

I could have put everything in one blog and used categories, but this was the simplest way to set up a photoblog that was separate from blogging images. Each URL also has it’s own RSS feed.

I may make some changes, but it feels like I’ve taken a lot of friction out of posting and sharing. Moving into 2025 I’m creating work that is archived and lives on my own site versus creating within walled gardens like Instagram or Substack.

I’ll continue using Obsidian for my daily artist log, but not paying extra for Obsidian Publish.