From the Compost Heap header. A pencil style illustration of a compost heap with flowers and plants growing around it. A bee buzzes by and a white rabbit hops by.

Chaos Gardening & Neurodivergence

Chaos Gardening black and white zine among blooming daisies in my garden. The title is cut out magazine letters and peony leaf rubbings are overlaid. The subtitle readers: tips from a chronically ill and neurodivergent gardener.

This month’s zine is Chaos Gardening: tips from a chronically ill & neurodivergent gardener.

You can buy a copy or subscribe for monthly zines.*

If you want a peek at my own chaos garden I’ve posted several photos and videos on my microblog.†

Here is the wild bunny that’s taken up residence under my art studio (which I named The Rabbit Hole before this beauty moved in.)

How it Feels to Me

Here’s an update, on How it Feels to Me, the picture book about neurodiversity I’m co-creating with illustrator Gracie Klumpp.

We’ve reached the proofing stage! I couldn’t be more excited to share a peek our progress.

Click here to see more!

Cover design test for How it Feels to Me - a cream cover with swatches of colors: blues, greens, oranges, the title and a dark skinned human standing at the center surrounded by a halo of objects: tokens, leaves, a traffic cone, seashell, and more color swatches. Written by Sarah Shotts. Illustrated by Gracie Klumpp. Proof #1.

Unfortunately, this book is needed more than ever.

Harmful information is being spread by the US government categorizing autism and ADHD as epidemics. Neurodiversity is not a broken brain! It is a brain that experiences the world differently and this picture book shows how.

If you’d like to support the project you can preorder or donate a copy to a school, library, or a neurodivergent family in financial hardship.**

PREORDER OR DONATE A COPY

What is autism?

If you missed my last email I wrote a post called What is Autism? that breaks down sensory processing and autistic differences.

Two brain scans. The one on the left is a rainbow web reaching into all areas of the brain. The image on the right is a rainbow ribbon traveling along the language center of the brain.
The brain on the left is autistic.
we process a lot more information in any given moment.

I end the post with this footnote,

“Being neurotypical just means that your brain is processing the world like most others. This means the dominant culture has been made to support the way your brain processes the world around you. You are surrounded by supports for your neurotype every single day.”

This is a concept I’d like to explore further. It really turns the idea of supports on it’s head.

Click here to read the whole post.

Novel Writing

I finally finished the mood board for my fantasy novel.

I’ve hung this right in my living room so it can stay in my consciousness.

You can see the timelapse where I make it here.

I’ve come to the conclusion I need to free up some mental capacity to really delve into this world in the way that’s needed. Turns out proofing three separate books for self publishing is kind of a lot. I’m being patient with myself. There’s no rush on this.

Here’s a peek at my writing workspace.

Laptop with yellow hobbit hole wallpaper. An edison bulb lamp sheds a dim golden glow on a goddess vase filled with pens. The workspace is otherwise shrouded in darkness.

I set this up in the living room when it was too cold to be in the studio (and soon it will be too hot.) It turns out that extreme heat and cold trigger migraines so I’m afraid I am a fair weather studio artist. Accepting that my body needs what it needs means making spaces that work for me.

I love seeing my zines land in your life.

Here are a few photos you’ve sent me recently.

Oh, did I mention I’ve started printmaking again?

My I'm Fine zine, Wheel of Time mini zine and a campfire linocut print lay on a table by a row of blue and green books.
A hand holding my Choose Your Adventure zine while wearing colorful yellow pants, striped shirt, and yellow shoes.

Shoutout to A. Wilder and Paige Meredith Ray. You should visit their blogs.

Ways to Support drawing of a white rabbit hopping into flowers

The Compost Heap is handmade without the use of AI. 🐝

Support doing things the old fashioned way by joining my Patrons ($5) and I’ll send paper zines each month with the coolest postage stamps I can find.

Drawing of a tin can telephone and the words Let's chat

If you’re reading this in your email inbox you can just hit reply to message me directly. I’d love to hear what you think. It makes it worth the time I put in.

Thanks for being here.

I appreciate you.

Sarah signed with a swoopy S
FOOTNOTES

* I’m no longer digitizing zines. Due to chronic migraines I’m attempting to cut down on screentime. I wrote a bit about that here.

† What is a microblog? Basically a social media style blog feed that I archive on my own site. I’m working on setting this up to autopost to Bluesky. I call my microblog scraps – evoking both a scrapbook or commonplace book and also the bits of kitchen scrap that end up in the compost heap.

** If you donate a book we are happy to find the book a home or to send it to the school or library of your choice.

Cross Pollinate 🐝