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.
  • My zine making area with Spectrum and Chaos Gardening zines, paper cutter, and watercolor wash circles.

    Restocking the zine shop!

    Read more: untitled post 156079127

  • “On the Spectrum”

    When we talk about autism or neurodivergence we often mention a spectrum. Sometimes this is misunderstood as a range of intensity from “more” to “less.”

    Gradient fading from pink to white

    But you cannot be “more” or “less” autistic or neurodivergent.

    The spectrum is better represented by a color wheel.*

    Digital color wheel with gradients of all colors fading into each other in a circle.

    The spectrum is a reminder that every neurodivergent person is unique. Each color represents a neurodivergent trait: differences in sensory processing, language, socializing, focus, etc.

    But even the color wheel is too static.

    This is my attempt to illustrate the complexity and nuance of the spectrum of autism and neurodivergence.

    Watercolor illustration of the autism spectrum. A rainbow of colors blending into one another like a color wheel.

    For example, sometimes a person is described as sensory seeking or sensory avoidant.

    Opposites on the color wheel.

    But most of us are both.

    Here is an example from my own spectrum. I experience water in my face as overstimulation… a sensation that, for me, is worse than physical pain. My nervous system completely floods with sensory input and enters a state of distress.

    Bright red ink wash in a red circle with a small pink area near the center where red bleeds into white. There is also a cracked area where too much ink pooled in one place.

    On the other hand, in the context of a warm bath I am “sensory seeking”. The feeling of being (almost) submerged in warm water calms my nervous system and helps me self regulate.

    Bright green ink wash in a circle darker on edges and fading to white left of center.

    This is the same element.

    Water.

    But my internal experience is vastly different depending on the context. Supporting this sensitivity includes baths over showers, no sprinklers, pool splashing, or going underwater. When I interact with water on my own terms I find it deeply regulating and soothing.

    Then we have a trait like focus. ADHD is often perceived as a deficit in the ability to focus (it’s right there in the name), but both people with autism and ADHD can experience hyperfocus.

    This circle represents my hyperfocus.

    Deep purple ink wash in the shape of a circle bleeding to white in an irregular shape toward the center.

    I often enter hyperfocus when I am in creative flow or engaged with topics I am passionate about. Yet, I cannot reach hyperfocus without the necessary environment or supports.

    This circle represents my difficulty focusing.

    Bright yellow ink wash circle with drip bleeding off bottom edge and very little white in an irregular shape toward the right middle.

    My ideal environment for focus is quiet and solitude. (For others it could be music and company… or body doubling.)

    When I don’t have that I need supports like: a swivel chair for stimming, noise cancelling headphones, and more time. Because without access to hyperfocus I have to accept that tasks take more time. I can also become dysregulated by working in an overstimulating environment.

    The spectrum becomes infinitely more complex when different traits overlap and intersect.

    Watercolor washes of blue green and pink bleed into one another creating a deep blue toward the left with feathered edges of pink and green creating an incomplete circle.

    Not only is every neurodivergent human unique, but our spectrums may present differently from day to day and moment to moment, based on a variety of internal and external factors.

    Some spectrums of neurodivergence may not fit the criteria for a diagnosis, but that does not make them any less valid.

    Watercolor wash circle of blue bleeding into green. The shades infuse into one another and create rivulets that are reminiscent of the planet earth.

    Our world is technicolor.

    Let’s stop imagining it as black and white.

    Grab some art supplies and reflect on neurodiversity as you play with color. If you are neurodivergent what colors would you assign each of your traits? If you’re neurotypical how can you use this framework to support the spectrums in your life?

    Watercolor washes of blue and purple with deep purple toward each edge and feathery blue across the center.
    My zine making area with Spectrum and Chaos Gardening zines, paper cutter, and watercolor wash circles.

    Love snail mail?

    These watercolor washes were originally created for the Spectrum zine for my monthly subscribers. If you’d like a printed copy you can:

    order a zine

    Want to learn more?

    Check out my posts about autism and neurodivergence.

    What is autism?
    Neurodiversity Affirming Resource Library

    Keep in Touch

    Subscribe for love letters to creativity and neurodivergence.

    Open airmail envelope with blue and green stripes
    Footnotes

    * I believe this concept was first represented by autistic artist Anouk here (@autistic_sketches on Instagram.)

    † Another visual I love for the spectrum of neurodivergence is this moving spectrum by Felipe Pantone on Instagram.

    Read more: “On the Spectrum”

  • Chaos Gardening & Neurodivergence

    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.

    Read more: Chaos Gardening & Neurodivergence

  • Chaos Gardening: Tips from a Chronically Ill & Neurodivergent Gardener

    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.

    I think I’m finding my groove with zine making. I had a lot of fun going analogue this month and in addition to my typewriter I also incorporated collage and nature rubbings.

    BUY A ZINE

    Or subscribe for zines delivered to your mailbox every month.

    The back of the zine. You can read some text typed on my typewriter and see peony leaf rubbings. The text reads: VI. No dig• A few strategies I use to minimize pain are: No dig garden beds (areas with soil piled on cardboard). Cardboard lined raised beds. A low gardeningstool (B to avoid back pain & dizziness). Suppressing weeds (minimizing weeding) with cardboard or spare paving stones. Anything that will block sunlight & not blow away will do. A Kindle Curiosity Zine. May 2025.

    Read more: Chaos Gardening: Tips from a Chronically Ill & Neurodivergent Gardener

  • I love seeing my zines land in your life!

    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.
    My Not About Tetris and I'm Fine zine lay in a pile with an Angel Oak postcard, hobbit hole magnet, dinosaur connect the dots, and paperback of Notes on a Life by Eleanor Coppola.

    Thanks for sharing your photos!

    Read more: I love seeing my zines land in your life!

  • “Hey, I work with college students often. Do you know what brings their attention back to the surface after years of Zoom classes, Generative AI cheating, and smart phone usage? 

    Zines. Freaking zines. You put a zine in an undergraduate’s hands and say “Someone like you made this. You could make this. All you need is some found images, paper, scissors/glue, and your own imagination. No chatgpt necessary.” 

    They light up, every single time, without fail. They start to recognize how little Generative AI serves them in the long run. They’ve called zines “Anti-AI” to my face and gleefully showed me their first zines with thought, intention, and inventiveness. 

    Critical thinking isn’t dead in the land of zines. It’s thriving. Academia has to pivot, as much as I loathe that corporate term.”

    Abigail Schleifer via Substack Notes

    See also: What Are Zines? by Abigail Schleifer

    Read more: untitled post 156078879

  • “The best time to establish alternative, non-algorithmic networks of communication & affinity was five years ago.

    The second best time is today!

    Over the years, I’ve distributed many zines through the mail. Those have been one-off productions, which is to say, pageants of minor chaos, always with the sense, as the last zine went out the door, of skidding into home plate.

    The best time to estab­lish alternative, non-algorithmic net­works of com­mu­ni­ca­tion — to forge durable links in phys­ical space — to insist upon the demo­c­ratic neces­sity of a muscular, uni­versal postal ser­vice — was five years ago.

    The second best time is today.”

    Robin Sloan

    Read more: untitled post 156078831

  • A Very Merry Unbirthday 🎶

    I’m still celebrating!

    Last week, on my actual birthday, one of my favorite chapters from the Wheel of Time was adapted to screen. So I am having a great month.

    As my gift to you, anyone who joins the zine subscription this month, will get a bonus Wheel of Time mini zine. 🥰

    If you want to print any of these zines to hype the show you can download them here.

    The “I’m Fine” Zine

    This month I wrote about creating safe spaces and regulating nervous systems in “unprecedented times.”

    You can read the digitized version here.

    An embroidery frame holds a cross stitch that reads "I'm Fine". Back cover shows the reverse of embroidery hoop which is a tangled mess of navy blue thread. Text at bottom says March 2025. A Kindle Curiosity Zine.

    The work on the cover has been exhibited in several different galleries and is part of the My Brain on Motherhood collection as part of my ARIM.

    Sculpture

    I’ve also spent a substantial amount of time this month working on a sculpture called Bloom Where You’re Planted from a dead cherry tree.

    You can read about the process here.

    Here I am cleaning mud off the root.

    My hand using a Swedish washcloth to remove a final layer of mud off a twisty tree root.

    Time Blind Supports

    I’m making a concerted effort to spend more time creating and less time on admin this year. One of the tools I’m using for this is logging my time with spreadsheets and charts.

    As someone with time blindness I can very easily sink time into something without realizing.

    Seeing time visually has made a huge difference for me!

    Pie chart. Web 59%, Zines 21%, Other 10-%, Mawd 4%, Picture book 3%.

    If you’re curious about this process you can click here to read more about what I’m doing and what impact it’s having.

    Bar chart showing admin going down and create time going up from Jan to March
    time spent on admin vs. creating in jan, feb & march (so far)

    The LOST podcast episode.

    Last month, in all my excitement about The Wheel of Time, I completely forgot to tell you I published a ramble podcast. I’ll be doing these on an ad hoc basis moving forward. (If you enjoy listening let me know!)

    I haven’t managed to migrated podcast episodes off Substack yet.

    Listen here for now.

    This is essentially a brain dump I recorded in January reflecting on my creative ecosystem, closing loops, and my intentions for moving into a new year.

    When I migrate off Substack I’m thinking of calling this a “Brain Dump Podcast” to remind myself it’s okay to be messy. Here’s some possible podcast art. Not my normal color palette, but maybe my kid’s love of all things rainbow is rubbing off on me.

    Drawing of brain with colorful paint splatters over the top

    Wait, there’s more!

    Of everything I’m sharing I spent the most time and energy on this.

    If you’ve struggled to learn a second language later in life – it may not be for the reasons you think. I’d love to know what neurodivergent folks think of this post.

    Learning a Second Language as a Neurodivergent Student (Child or Adult!)

    I also wrote some thoughts about From Where You Dream. A book about storytelling from your unconscious.

    From Where You Dream
    Time Travel banner. Hand drawn illustrtation of TARDIS in space surrounded by swirling lines and stars.

    Just two posts in the TARDIS time hop this month.

    If you have time to check out my 360 VR work I’d love to know what you think.

    This Time in 2023

    Making 360 VR with a 3 year old collaborator ✨
    More Reaching Than Rooting

    While I was at it I also created a landing page for free resources and printables.

    https://sarahshotts.com/free
    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 copies of my zines with the coolest postage stamps I can find.

    Overhead shot of zine test prints and my green typewriter.
    Test PRINTS FOR MARCH’S “I’m Fine” ZINE

    Not into snail mail?

    Here are other ways you can support.

    • Share my blog with a friend. (It’s free!)
    • Buy a book or zine from my (new!) shop.
    • Link to me in your newsletter.
    • Art swap! Let me know if you’d like to swap your art for a zine.
    • Send me an email and let me know what resonates.
    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

    P.S. One downside to emailing each month instead of weekly is that there is SO MUCH to cover. I’ve almost given up on sharing links because I have too many to narrow down. But the 15 hours a month I’ve recovered to spend on other projects seems worth the trade off.

    If you want a suggestion… Watch the Wheel of Time. 😉

    A misty location with two figures suspended within three silver rings

    Read more: A Very Merry Unbirthday 🎶

  • I’m Fine

    SURVIVAL TIPS FOR UNPRECEDENTED TIMES Make time for things that regulate your nervous system. 1. Go for a walk. 2. Compose a photograph. 3. Write a letter. 4. Blow bubbles. 5. Paint. 6. Plant seeds. 7. Read a book. 8. Breathe slowly. 9. Bake. 10. Curl up in a blanket burrito. 11. Watch the clouds. 12. Hold hands. 13. Dance. 14. Watch a children's 15. Doodle. film. 16. Start a compost heap. 17. Brew a pot of tea. 18. Write a poell. 19. Squeeze clay or dough or putty. 20. Build blocks. 21. Learn something new. 22. Text a friend. 23. Trace your hand. 24. Buy a box of crayons. 25. Go stargazing. 26. Make a collage. 27. Listen to music. 28. Draw a rainbow. 29. Watch a bird or an insect. 30. Take a hot bath.
    MAKE SAFE SPACES FOR YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM 1. Choose a specific time & space (alternate account, RSS app, separate enails or devices) to consciously engage with current events. 2. Make another space (account, RSS, email or device) exclusively for interests that light you up. 3. Don't cross the streams. This creates a space for your nervous system to reset. Social media has tricked us into muddying our own creative watering wells and we've forgotten what safe spaces feel like. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF If you want to show up for causes you care about you need to look after yourself & to protect your capacity. What is one small kindness you can show yourself today? How can you weave kindnesses to yourself & others into your days?
    Back cover shows the reverse of embroidery hoop which is a tangled mess of navy blue thread. Text at bottom says March 2025. A Kindle Curiosity Zine.

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    Open airmail envelope with blue and green stripes

    Browse the Zine Archive

    Want to see more? Click here to enter the zine archive.

    Photograph of two black and white zines. The top says "I'm a brand not a human" with a photo of a typewriter. The bottom has a collage with typewritten words and an image of a spiderweb.
    Read more: I’m Fine
  • 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