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.
  • Laptop on desk in the living room surrounded by homeschool materials, dressing up box, shelves, boxes, clutter, and a gleeman's cloak on a dress form.

    I’ve accepted that I can’t always work in my lovely studio. So earlier this year I set up a workspace in the living room. And I am getting SO much done.

    Today I worked 3 hours here passing on copy edits for my anthology.

    Thankfully, the way my brain works, physical space becomes invisible if I can enter hyperfocus. Sound is more challenging for me, but I’m learning to work with the Zelda soundtrack.

    Read more: untitled post 156079049
  • Overhead shot of zine test prints and my green typewriter.

    Zines may seem simple, but it still takes time and iteration to get them just right. Especially for color. I took extra time this month because March’s zine features one of my exhibiting artworks. This is just a laser print, but with some minor adjustments it’s popping off the page.

    Read more: untitled post 156078207
  • Time, Time, Time ⌛

    It feels like years since I’ve written.*

    Since then…

    the Wheel of Time Season 3 trailer dropped.

    Season 3 is airing in March – just in time for my birthday.

    If you love fantasy books like Lord of the Rings… I’d love for you to give this a watch next month and nerd out with me. Even if you haven’t read the books – the visual design and performances for this show are so stunning I’d really recommend watching first and then diving into the books.

    This season is based on my favorite book in the series!

    The Shadow Rising is when Wheel of Time steps away from Tolkien and starts being it’s own thing.

    Half the characters travel to the desert and meet a complex warrior culture. The others go hunting down some very dangerous women. The layers build from there! I can’t even mention my two favorite parts because they are too spoilerific, but check this image out:

    A misty location with two figures suspended within three silver rings

    Don’t you want to know what’s happening there?

    I’m dying to see this scene. It happens “off page” in the books. 👀

    [This Clip Contains Spoilers]

    If you’re a book reader (or just don’t care about spoilers) here is the first scene of Season 3. We are starting out with a bang!


    What else happened this month?

    Well… I completely redesigned my website. 😂

    It’s still “under construction” so pardon my dust (and broken links) as you’re poking around. I hope to “unveil” the new site properly next month.

    I wrote a few posts including this one about website design as worldmaking. My old website was a minimalist website (which lives on as a virtual art gallery.) But I’m letting the rest of my site be weirder and more me.

    I hope it will sprawl and grow into a proper labyrinth.

    I’ve been having a lot of fun with visuals and texture. But my favorite detail so far is this “page not found” design, which feels very me.

    Screencap of Sarahshotts.com 404 page. "You've fallen down a rabbit hole" and Tenniel illustration of White Knight from Alice in Wonderland stuck upside down with his legs poking out of the ground. "What you're looking for is no longer at this location."

    If you want to read the boring reasons about why I’m switching web & newsletter platforms I’ve written about my online ecosystem here.


    I’m leveling up my zines!

    This month I used a printing press to make the February zine.

    You can see the process (including a timelapse video) here. You can also see a mini Wheel of Time zine I made. I’m going to print them up and leave them around town as guerrilla fan marketing. (Let me know if you’d like to do the same and I’ll share the file.)

    Now that I have a printing press I’ve added a $10 tier where you can subscribe for quarterly prints as well as zines.

    I’ve also realized that the time I’m spending on these zines has been growing each month. (Especially in contrast to the simple letters I started with.) So I’m phasing out pledges below $5. This means I have more freedom to play with color and multiple page zines if I’m so inspired.

    I’m also stepping away from Patreon and Substack to host subscriptions on my own website.†

    Everything in one spot. (Finally!)


    Works in Progress

    Here’s a peek at what else I’ve been working on this month.

    Soft sculpture of a brain made from baby clothes. One hemisphere is sewn from baby socks, onesies and washclothes. Scraps sit on a wooden table to the side.
    SOFT SCULPTURE BRAIN

    Nearly done with my soft sculpture brain sewn from baby clothes. I have two hemispheres complete and need to spend some time refining them and doing finishing work. (They’re a little unbalanced at the moment.)

    Nested rainbow hearts drawn with crayons. Rainbow sorted colored pencils and art supplies to the left.
    home education rhythm

    The transition from holiday chaos back to a normal routine is hard for neurodivergents. Here is how we’re finding our feet again and freedom within structure.


    Now that I’m integrating my various blogs into one location my archive is much larger than I realized.

    Here are a few highlights.


    This time in 2015

    This time in 2021

    This time in 2024

    February seems to be a big month for me!

    It’s all that energy from surviving the holidays and getting back into a rhythm.

    (You can browse the February archive here.)

    I’m planning to move the archives month by month. Motivated in part by sharing this time hop with you. Which means (if all goes to plan) I’ll be done by next February.


    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 copies of my zines with the coolest postage stamps I can find.

    Not About TETRIS zine on a wooden table. The title is letterpress printed and three printed blocks in purple pink and yellow are arranged as if to pile up.

    Not into snail mail?

    Here are other ways you can support.

    • Share with a friend. (It’s free!)
    • Art swap! Let me know if you’d like to swap your art for a zine.
    • Buy a book or zine from my (new!) shop.
    • Link to me in your newsletter.
    • Send me a recommendation for something (book, blog post, movie, recipe, you name it!)

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

    I’d love to hear from you.

    Hit reply to email me directly.

    Let’s talk web design, printmaking, or Wheel of Time. 🥰

    Thanks for being here.

    I appreciate you.

    Sarah signed with a swoopy S

    Compost Heap Illustrations by

    Gracie Klumpp of Leave the Fingerprints. 🐞


    Footnotes

    * To share the Neuro Nest Retreat. The workshops were all recorded so you can still join in here. I’d love to have a weaving from you. (Yes, you!)

    † Substack supporters will continue to be charged through Stripe. Patreon has been shut down so anyone supporting there will need to resubscribe. (You should already have emails from those platforms, but if you have any questions at all just ask.)

    ‡ Something I’ve learned by moving blogging platforms a couple of times is that something always goes funky. Formatting is strange. Photos are hotlinked. Multimedia elements (audio, video, embeds) are missing or broken. And hardly anything has alt text. I’m using this chance to dust all the cobwebs before making posts public.

    Read more: Time, Time, Time ⌛
  • Not About TETRIS

    Zine made imperfectly on my typewriter reads: Have you ever played TETRIS for so long that you see falling blocks in your daydreams? This experience is so common it has a name: THE TETRIS EFFECT It's a lot like having an ear worm. A song that pops into your head repeatedly. But more fun. Back in my early 20's (when lots of kids go out partying) I hung out with theatre nerds clustered around a desktop computer taking turns playing TETRIS. I think we were all seeing TETRIS blocks in our sleep. I was one of the best. My hand eye coordination is not that great, but I do have excellent pattern recognition (thanks autism) so I am a deft hand at TETRIS on PC. Or I was. Last year, I started playing TETRIS with my kid. Not real TETRIS. A mobile version where you place tetrominoes" into a square grid. No falling bricks No time limit. You play at your own pace. It's basically TETRIS style tangrams. You might have expected I'd be a bit rusty, but my brain immediately accessed endless hours of TETRIS experience & favorite strategies. BUT when you're taking turns with a 4 year old games become somewhat chaotic; you find yourself in situations you'd never have put yourself in. it wasn't long before I realized my strategies weren't working. *Yes, there is a real name for TETRIS pieces.
    Green, yellow, purple and blue TETRIS pieces fall beside the following text (as if to pile up to a game over.) But it wasn't because of my Player Two...
I was applying old rules to a new game.
Classic TETRIS requires that you play from the top down. If you make a mess it takes up valuable space and is hard work to correct.
Mess up enough and it's GAME OVER.
This new game allows you to place pieces anywhere. And rows clear both horizontally & vertically.
I was playing in one plane and suddenly there were two. IT may sound simple, but it was working against every instinct I had.
My kid, not having the baggage of traditional TETRIS, picked up on this nuance much more quick ly... putting blocks thatt were "wrong" and clearing rows.
Sometimes multiple at once.
I was determined to wrap my head around the new dimensions.
So I started playing by myself in the evening,
My score grew higher & higher as I broke through mental blocks to see new possibilities.
    This new TETRIS game isn't about perfection.
It is about making the best moves you can with the blocks you have.
Mess and all.
This zine isn't about TETRIS.
February, 2025
A KINDLE CURIOSITY ZINE

    Zine Shop

    Past zine issues are available for purchase in my zine shop.

    Subscribe for Monthly Zines via Snail Mail! 🐌 📬

    Virtual Zines via Email

    Open airmail envelope with blue and green stripes
    Read more: Not About TETRIS
  • Bright Spots for Your Day

    I’m still writing a novel so I’m keeping this short and sweet.


    In the Studio ✂️

    When I finish a big project (like crowdfunding Entwined) or have a lot of big feelings to process I like to make things with my hands.

    After my first book I started my first bricolage The Mental Load.

    This month I made The Mental Load II. This sculpture is roughly the size of my child and includes broken toys and the detritus of motherhood.

    Don’t worry. We have two Elmo figures for some reason and this one was all scratched up.

    More photos here.


    Exciting updates to Self Pub 101! 📖

    Just a reminder this course is completely free.

    This is not a funnel.

    It’s not a marketing tool.

    It’s just me paying it forward to help other indie authors.

    This month there are two new guest speakers!


    Many thanks to Nathaniel Roy of A Book Designer’s Notebook for generously recording How to Collaborate with a Book Designer.

    There is also a new indie author spotlight featuring fantasy novelist B. S. H. Garcia (Part One & Part Two.)


    Stop everything. 🍁

    Before you go back to the real world open a new tab and watch this short video of Mr. Rogers visiting Eric Carle’s art studio.

    (If you didn’t already know Eric Carle is the illustrator of many classic children’s books including The Very Hungry Caterpillar.)

    If you want to live in the warm and fuzzy for a bit longer hop over to Eric Carle’s blog and read what he wrote about the program in 1997.

    And drop by Mitchell Volk’s metaphorical seed swap. 🌱


    Profits to Charity ☕️

    Tis the season for gifting.

    Two of my favorite authors and educators (John & Hank Green) founded good.store which donates 100% of profits to charity.

    Over the past year they have donated 9 million dollars to support maternal mortality and tuberculosis treatment in impoverished countries.

    If you’d like to gift loose leaf tea, coffee, soap, or quirky socks, swing by good.store and use my affiliate code SARAHDSHOTTS for 25% off.

    I don’t do much affiliate marketing, but I really love good.store’s mission. And the Keats & Co. Breakfast Tea is my new favorite. ☕️


    The Compost Heap is free to all. Thanks for exchanging your time and energy. If you’re feeling particularly generous here are other ways you can lend your support.

    • Leave a comment (it’s free!)
    • Restack or recommend on Substack.
    • Buy my book.
    • Forward this email to a friend.
    • Or pledge support via Patreon ($3+) or Substack ($7+).

    Join during November to get this zine in your mailbox!

    If you missed my last post I’m planning to shapeshift this newsletter into a zine in 2025. This month was an experiment and I really loved making this. I’m definitely leaning into analogue in the new year.

    Meanwhile you are welcome to reach out, but I am unlikely to respond in a timely fashion. November is for noveling.

    Cheers,


    This newsletter is a curated collection of tidbits from my overgrown Compost Heap (or digital garden.) Rummage around, turn the heap, and see what you can find for yourself. 🪱🐛🌱

    Illustrations by Gracie Klumpp of Leave the Fingerprints. 🐞


    Originally published on Substack November 20, 2024

    Read more: Bright Spots for Your Day
  • From the kitchen table to NYC 🗽

    Flashback to four years ago…

    It was Christmas Day and I was sitting at the kitchen anxiously trying to finish a weaving to submit to an exhibition about motherhood.

    Here’s a video showing the weaving process. I made data weavings recording each time I was interrupted by tying a knot.

    I barely finished and photographed that work in time for the deadline. Looking back that first weaving (smaller and less textured than the one in this video) wasn’t a strong piece and I’m not surprised it was rejected.

    But the rejection stung because I was also told off for being unprofessional by photographing my work on a wall that wasn’t white. I felt like the art world was a secret club I didn’t have the passcode for. *

    The next year I submitted another weaving to another show. No snooty response, but it still didn’t connect.

    One submission a year clearly wasn’t working for me.

    So my 100 Submissions project was born.

    This was an energetic shift from holding each submission so closely to casting a wider net.

    I managed 11 submissions last year and the strangest thing happened…

    100 Submissions printable with 2 gold stars on a desk with a date stamp and two keys

    Grab yours here.


    Every submission connected.

    11 out of 11.

    There’s some bit of luck in submitting the right piece at the right time.

    But I think the real magic was putting myself out there without worrying if I had a “chance.”

    This led to…

    – exhibiting my art for the first time

    – speaking at my first author event

    – my first publication in an academic journal


    That’s a lot of firsts!

    I’m going to share this process – not to brag – but to encourage you to put your own work out into the world.

    I meant to share this process in real time, but I quickly became overwhelmed at the amount of admin work involved (emails, mailing art, etc.) and I couldn’t keep up with writing Substack posts too.

    Here goes!

    I kept track of everything in Notion. If you have the bandwidth I found this really useful because you can resuse / adapt submission materials instead of starting from scratch each time. This way you can build up some momentum.


    Submission #1 – NWA Book Fest

    Venue: NW Arkansas Book Festival

    Cost to Submit: None

    The first acceptance I had was to do a book reading and signing at a local book festival (NWA Book Fest). It was a great learning experience which I wrote about here.

    Takeaway: Author events are a massive energetic drain.

    What I learned was I simply I don’t have capacity for book festivals at this time. This was a very short appearance and it took me quite a long time to recover. So paying to be a vendor for a full day (or weekend) event would definitely push me past capacity.

    Here’s a clip of actual footage of me after the event. †

    “Success” isn’t worth it if it pushes you into burnout.


    Submission #2 – Carve Out Time for Art

    Venue: Instagram

    Cost to Submit: $25

    I considered this application to be a complete shot in the dark.

    I was stunned at the invitation to takeover Carve Out Time for Art on Instagram. This one gave me big imposter syndrome, but was actually a delight. This was one of the first acceptance emails that came in, but the takeover itself didn’t happen until much later in the year.

    Screenshot of Carve out time for art on Instagram

    The takeover is pinned to @carveouttimeforart’s highlights if you want to see.

    Takeaway: There are more people out there.

    Before I did this takeover I pretty much thought “everyone who wants my book already has it so I should stop talking about it.” It’s easy to fall into this trap when growth is slow or nonexistent. Reaching people beyond my normal subscribers brought a breath of fresh air. I made some new friends who followed me here! *waves* And sold a couple copies of my book. Not loads, but it broadened my horizons.


    Submission #3 – Stay Home Gallery

    Venue: Art Gallery (Paris, TN)

    Cost to Submit: $10

    Next, my textile piece Maternal Mental Health was accepted to an art exhibition about paradox in caregiving. Here’s a statement from the curator Tara Carpenter Estrada,

    “In Together/Alone, the paradox of emotions between “never alone” and “very lonely” felt by caregivers is given the spotlight. The societal devaluing of care-work places the responsibilities of care (and self-care) on individuals. Without structural support, a tension can arise between love and devotion, and resentment or anxiety— the need for alone time, and the need for togetherness.”

    An embroidery frame holds a cross stitch that reads "I'm Fine". A second image shows the reverse which is a tangled mess of navy blue thread.

    Maternal Mental Health / 2022 / textile / 11” x 15” 17”

    Stay Home Gallery is now closed, but you can see the show archived here.

    Takeaway: Try to align your expectations with reality.

    Because this was my first time exhibiting art outside university I really wanted to travel to the gallery opening. The whole situation was confusing because it was a hybrid show. On one hand it was a physical exhibition at an artist retreat – so I had to mail my work. But the main exhibition was on the Stay Home Gallery website. The physical location was not open to the public and was only seen by the artist residents. So there was no opportunity to visit and see the work in person. I was a bit heartbroken, to be honest, because my expectations weren’t aligned with reality. But it was my first tiny baby step into the fine art world.


    Submission #4 – Ought

    Venue: Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture (Grand State University, MI)

    Cost to Submit: FREE

    The next thing I knew I was being published in an academic journal. My piece, The Benefits of Asynchronous Friendship, exploring my collaborative project with

    Claire Venus was accepted to Ought: Volume 4, Issue 2 (2023) The Internet.

    I wrote a short introduction to the article here.

    Black and white diptych shows two photographs. One shows feet on an oval rag rug with LEGO DUPLO and a grabber. The other shows feet in sandals beside a train track.

    I have a lot to say about this one that should probably live behind a paywall, but I found this process very challenging. I’m an academic – my day job is teaching university theatre courses – but I’m a theatre instructor. (Not an autism researcher.) And I’ve never written for an academic journal before.

    Takeaway: Academic writing = time consuming revision.

    The challenge came from writing a piece that was “too academic” to be creative and “too creative” to be academic. The editor didn’t quite know what to do with me. They literally said, “it is neither beast nor fowl.” 😂

    In the end, we decided to treat it as a creative piece, meaning I had to strip out the research I’d done and root the writing in my lived experience. It was a stronger piece afterward, but the timing couldn’t have been worse. Trying to edit this piece whilst also running a crowdfunder almost killed me.

    If I submit in the future it will be a visual artwork which wouldn’t require revision.


    Submission #5 – Cut, Torn & Mended

    Venue: Spilt Milk Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland)

    Cost to Submit: Free to Members

    Cut, Torn & Mended was an open call for members of Spilt Milk Gallery including a virtual exhibition and printed zine. I submitted my bricolage, The Mental Load, which I created as a self regulation process after publishing my first book.

    A visual cacophony of broken toys and the detritus of motherhood fill a bamboo cutlery tray mounted on the wall. Most easily visible are a plastic snake, foam Pac Man, fishing pole, red tube, DUPLO train, caution tape, and bubble wands. There are also various candy wrappers, stickers, crayons, small toys, and broken objects throughout.

    The Mental Load / 2023 / broken toys, detritus of motherhood / 28” x 25” x 8”

    Takeaway: Virtual exhibitions are perfect for large or heavy works that are hard to mail.

    There’s no way I could afford to ship this piece due to it’s size and fragility so a virtual exhibit & zine was a perfect fit.

    View the virtual exhibition or purchase a copy of the Cut, Torn & Mended zine here.


    Submission #6 – Anthropology of Motherhood

    Venue: Three Rivers Art Festival (Pittsburgh, PA)

    Cost to Submit: FREE

    Anthropology of Motherhood Culture of Care was curated by Amy Bowman-McElhone, PhD and has traveled from Pittsburgh Three Rivers Art Festival to Dyer Art Center at National Institute for the Deaf.

    This is also the only exhibition I participated in that had funding to pay the artists.

    Still frame of 360 VR experience. A white play button floats over a nursery. Dark red yarn is strung around the room.

    Experience this work in 360 with the YouTube app.

    The work that was originally submitted was my 360 VR piece From Where I Stand. Once we started talking about the logistics of the VR headset the curators asked to show My Brain on Motherhood instead. It felt like a double acceptance because they considered both works worthy of exhibition.

    I also learned that this work was not the physical object itself, but the video. This makes sense in retrospect, but wasn’t obvious to me until they asked to exhibit the video. I changed the details in my portfolio to list this as a video piece.

    Takeaway: Video works are low cost. They don’t require framing or postage and are always “ready to hang” if a screen is available.

    I have a few other video WIPs I need to finish up and get into my portfolio. I’m also keeping an old iPad to display works as needed.


    Submission #7 – WoT Idol

    Venue: The Dusty Wheel, YouTube

    Cost to Submit: FREE

    This one was just for fun.

    Every submission was aired, but for me this submission was about putting myself out there and doing something for myself outside of my “professional” portfolio.

    If you’re new around here I’m passionately dedicated to the Wheel of Time and have recently reconnected to the community. Last April I submitted a WoT Idol parody video turning Wheel of Time characters into Sesame Street style puppets. I wrote about the experience here:

    Purple muppet style puppet with fluffy fur and ears


    Submission #8 – Spilt Milk Member Exhibition

    Venue: Spilt Milk Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland)

    Cost to Submit: Free to Members

    Do you hear us… are you listening? was “curated through an open submission to members, without a defined theme, nor a selection process. All members were invited to have their work included. The process of removing the selection committee allowed for a more democratic way of exhibiting our artists’ works, free of judgement or censoring and for all voices to be heard with equal importance.”

    For this exhibition, members were invited to submit two works, and I submitted Meltdown and Meltdown Prevention. It felt like a nice opportunity to exhibit these works together and both were included.

    If you’d like to see this exhibition it is archived here.

    Takeaway: Exhibitions and open calls can come in many forms.

    The way Spilt Milk Gallery includes both curated and member exhibitions is a big inspiration in how I’ve decided to structureNeurokind.


    Submission #9 – Euphoria Quilt Project

    Venue: Instagram

    Cost to Submit: FREE

    When I saw this project by

    Euphoria Quilt Project I knew I wanted to submit a block, but I didn’t know if I had time to make one. Eventually I realized I could utilize the crazy quilting skills I’d developed while making my gleeman’s cloak and I made a quilt square from textured scraps.

    Crazy quilted square of textures like silk and velvet jewel tones sewn with golden thread and frayed edges

    This piece will be included in a quilt representing gender expansive joy organized by Eliot Anderberg. You can see some of the squares that have been submitted over on Instagram.

    I wrote the following about my square, “Embracing into my neuroqueer and nonbinary gender identity means leaning into the fact that I may appear eccentric. I explored that in this project by using the “wrong” side of several fabrics and improvising a “crazy quilted” design. Gender expression is also tied up in sensory experience for me so I also included some soft stimmy textures.”

    If you’re new here and didn’t know I was nonbinary maybe give this a read

    Sketchbook with hand drawn Pride flag surrounded by crayons

    Submission #10 – HNDL Magazine

    Venue: Instagram

    Cost to Submit: FREE

    HNDL stands for Highlighted Neurodivergent & Disabled Life and is a “magazine featuring the work of creatives who identify as neurodivergent, disabled &/or chronically ill”. Give them a follow over on Instagram.

    My piece Domestic Archaeology was included in HNDL Issue 2 (Fall 2023).

    Small toys arranged by color including red beads, marbles, bracelet, orange golf ball, carrots, beads, yellow spoon, cog, LEGO DUPLO, trophy, beads, K'nex, brown round DUPLO, wooden beads, drumstick, purple plastic shapes, k'nex, and beads.

    Domestic Archaeology / 2023 / lost items

    This was a piece I created with things we found under the couch. I wrote a bit about the process here.

    Takeaway: Virtual publications are a very accessible way to share work without printing and framing.

    I’m also noticing how this magazine has flexible deadlines which inspired the rolling deadline I implemented over at Neurokind.


    Submission #11 – Queer Anxiety

    Venue: All Street Gallery (New York City, NY)

    Cost to Submit: FREE

    After such a wild run of acceptance I was sure that this one was going to be my first rejection of the year. You’ll notice this is the second work I submitted to a queer space. I’m a baby queer – only openly identifying as nonbinary, ace, and neuroqueer as of last year. So I felt some imposter syndrome stepping into these communitites, but I’ve been embraced into these spaces with open arms.

    There’s something about exhibiting in NYC that feels like a right of passage. Even when I was packing up my work to mail it didn’t feel real. Luckily I had some friends who visited the exhibit on my behalf and documented that it was. (Thanks to everyone who sent me photographs and videos. You can see my work in situ here.)

    White child sized t shirt on a silver clothes hanger covered in clothing tags of various brands and sizes.

    Meltdown / 2023 / shirt & clothing tags / 16” x 20”

    QUEER ANXIETIES was curated by Blair Simmons, Eden Chinn, Sarah Hallacher, and Shuang Cai.

    “Through sculpture, the 13 exhibiting artists make objects that stand outside of normative interpretations of usefulness and conventionality, thereby expanding our worldview and possibilities for engagement. If queerness is an act of making things strange (or challenging norms), strangeness identifies potential points of rupture within social conditioning.”

    Takeaway: Submit the maximum amount of works possible (if you can.)

    I actually created a new piece specifically for this call, but when I saw that there was the opportunity to submit 3 works I also included Meltdown and Unravel. It’s always nice to give the curator choices.


    Some people have asked how I know about opens calls.

    The truth is by serendipity.

    Over the years I’ve connected with a variety of artists with similar overlapping interests. Many of them generously share opportunities (often on Instagram stories) which spark my interest.

    Huge shoutout to these lovelies who often share art exhibitions and residencies:

    Jocelyn Mathewes, Lauren Frances Evans, Catherine Reinhart, and Ashley Jane Lewis.

    And Tamzen Bryant who shared the local book festival.

    I’ve also really loved being a member of Spilt Milk Gallery who hosted 2 of these exhibits.

    I hope I’ve demystified the process and inspired you to submit your work.

    I wish you the best in making work and putting it out into the world. The next one I’m working on is a piece about roots for Motherlore Magazine. And if you’re neurodivergent I’d love to see your work submitted to Neurokind.

    It’s not scary. We’re all people making things happen.

    Cheers,

    Sarah signed with a swoopy S

    P.S. I’m rubbish at marketing, and this has been on my “to do” list for over a year. But I finally made a new footer to remind people I wrote a book / have courses / love comments. 🥰


    I’m a Renaissance Soul so I always have lots of irons in the fire. Here are just a few of the ways that we can connect. (Psst… comments and shares are my favorite. And they’re free!)

    1. Leave a comment!
    2. Share this post.
    3. Sign up for Self Publishing 101.
    4. Subscribe or submit work to Neurokind.
    5. Read my book Discover Your Creative Ecosystem (Curious what I mean by creative ecosystem? Start here.)

    Mockup of Discover Your Creative Ecosystem book by Sarah Shotts. A silhouette of bird in flight shows a landscape beyond.

    Footnotes

    * We don’t have white walls in our house so I purchased a large sheet of white hardboard from the hardware store. There is a small hole drilled that lines up with a nail in Davy’s nursery where I often hang works to photograph them. I also have a smaller board I can set up on an easel and photograph in the backyard. Light is almost always the problem so I tend to use a tripod for portfolio photos even though I hate them. I also have a small white IKEA table I use to photograph 3D works. Here’s a peek at my set up. It’s a relatively inexpensive solution. If your work is small and lightweight you could probably get away with a piece of foamcore and a pin stuck in, but my larger works have needed a nail to hang from.

    White hardboard leaned against a wall in my child's room propped up by a small wooden stool

    † (That’s Odo from Star Trek Deep Space Nine.) It took a lot out of me.

    Read more: From the kitchen table to NYC 🗽
  • My Year of Making (January Recap)

    When I started my year of making I had intentions for writing weekly updates for my blog or newsletter. Then the month unraveled, our whole family got sick, and I shifted into survival mode.

    So I’m giving myself some Brownie points for being flexible (not easy for an Autie) and picking up the pieces to write monthly check ins instead.

    The month started by easing in with baking and journaling and photos for Davy’s first (half) day of Montessori school.

    Digital collage of First Day of Preschool toddler in yellow raincoat

    Then I tried to calibrate my new Cricut. (It was a hate-hate relationship… in the end I returned it and used the money to buy electroforming supplies instead.)

    And the second week we came down sick. First Davy, then the whole family. It was his first time having a fever for anything besides teething. The first few days I kept track of making soup and tea and macaroni out of a box. Then my own fever went up and it was all I could do to just keep us going.

    It’s a tribute to what I’ve learned through motherhood that I was able to let that go and look back with empathy instead of self judgement. It was hard.

    A couple days out from February we started coming alive again and I resumed my making quest. The final day of January was my first proper day making art in my new studio. I returned to an art project I started in February 2, 2020 and had been on the shelf ever since.

    Digital collage of photographs printed on fabric and ironing set up

    My takeaways from this month?

    Sometimes you honor your inner artist by resting and healing. Sometimes making what you need for survival is enough. Other times you have the energy to pick up a long lost project and you stitch two timelines together through the metaphysical magic of time travel.

    UPDATE: September 2021

    I hid this blog post when I stopped writing monthly updates. At the time I was discouraged because we were sick every month from January – May and my year looked nothing like I had imagined. Looking back I can see how I did keep making (in small and simple ways), but I didn’t have the time or energy to document. Then in June (the first month none of us fell sick) my creative world expanded. If you’re finding it hard to create at the moment I see you. Don’t give up. Take the small moments you can. They count even if no one else is seeing them.

    Read more: My Year of Making (January Recap)
  • My Word for 2021

    Gold scissors and baby clothes on a blue blanket

    I didn’t choose a word last year. Or the year before that. I’ve been in a metaphorical hibernation since Davy was born. Snug and still even before 2020 locked us all down.

    These 18 months have been a time of dreaming and ideation. I have had more creative ideas during postpartum than any other time in my life.

    Yet, action came in waves.

    Small lapping pond waters.

    Occasional crashing whitecaps.

    Doodles and book drafts.

    It was inconsistent, but it kept me afloat. The ideas I didn’t have time or energy to complete I gathered up and squirreled away for another time.

    I’ve chosen the word MAKE for 2021 because I want to establish a daily creative practice. To put those ideas I’ve collected to use. 

    I want to make more art, but gently. I need flexibility to tend a sick babe or adjust my pace to avoid burnout. Some days I might paint or weave and others I might make beans on toast. Both are equally valid.

    It’s an invitation to create everyday and a curiosity to see how that unfolds.

    If you’d like to follow along I’ll be writing about my year of making in my newsletter. I’ll drop an opt in box here to make it easy.

    P.S. After drafting this post I did a search for “year of making” and rediscovered Kim Werker who I followed what feels like a lifetime ago. I must have been riding some subconscious inspiration. Kim’s year of making was in turn inspired by Miriam Felton so it’s one big beautiful swirl of inspiration. 🌀 

    If you want to join in just use their hashtag #yearofmaking.

    Read more: My Word for 2021