A New Creative Year

Some new direction for this Substack for 2025

I have been struggling recently with the direction of this Substack. You may have noticed from our Archives that it’s been quite a bit since we’ve made a post here. Sam and I went through so many cycles of deciding what direction to go. We’ve shared personal art, stories of professional artists, writing advice, and essentially any other thing we could think of—and then we got stuck.

We got stuck in the ol’ creative blackhole, the place where creative productivity goes to die: obligation. And so, we’ve shorn all obligations and gone back to our roots. We’re having fun again, baby.

So this is just a post to say that we’re going to be playing it fast and loose from here on out. I am so excited about this direction—to take back the creativity and more importantly, the fun. Can I be completely honest with you guys? Okay, I thought so. To be completely honest, I have, in recent months, experienced a great deal of burnout.

I know, of course, that this experience is not new to me. In fact, I hope by sharing it, I can find some solidarity in this creative community. Naturally, when you experience any amount of unproductiveness, you begin to spiral into silly little negative self-talk. Art isn’t Easy, Art is Very Hard, and other dumb things like that.

But then I realized: I just needed to try. And that doesn’t always mean creating beautifully crafted poems, or writing the best short stories of all time. It simply means being honest, and sometimes it means reaching out to people, sometimes it means collaboration.

So first of all, thank you for sticking around while I figure all this out. And secondly, I hope that you enjoy reading all my fast and loose, silly and anecdotal stuff!

I’m realizing my creative process is just that: a process. And the only way through is to write (and read!). So here’s to many new posts in 2025, and hopefully many more productive months ahead. I love you all.