I haven’t posted here since the end of 2019. Back then, things were different. You could breathe public air without fearing for your life. Witnessing strangers didn’t leave you with a general feeling of disgust. World affairs didn’t suck the life from you on a minute to minute basis. Overall, existence still felt lite and fun. Innocence had not been lost.
I have to move forward and come up with what’s next– even if I don’t have any solid goals or plans right now. My mental state is unstable at best. I don’t really know who I am. But hey! This chaotic (be it unpleasant) atmosphere might yield some distinctly new and exciting creations! (gasp)
I’m not entirely sure why I stopped writing. Sharing my process in this blog format was once my favorite thing to do as a creator. I secretly blame more immediate and easy-to-consume formats like YouTube and TikTok for distracting me away from writing. It’s not that I use either as a replacement, I just assume that no one reads blog posts anymore. Even if they don’t, I shouldn’t let that stop me from throwing my stone into the pond.
This isn’t a promise that I’m getting back on the horse, or intend to post regularly. This is a statement of intent. While leaning into the chaos that is now, I intend to start documenting my work with build logs once in a while. I also expect that I’ll dump some thoughts about my life occasionally; to let out steam and sort my head.
I’ve been gardening (a lot), sewing clothing (also a lot), and starting new projects in robotics with no noteworthy progress to share (yet). If I say anything at all, it will be about these topics. Even the gardening and tailoring have an element of electronics worked into them- as it is my way.
I hope the past few years have gone well for you to spite all circumstances. Keep making awesome things out there, and thank you for being here <3
-Sarah (the mouth of sprinkles)
I get it. The longer I don’t-blog for, the harder it is to get started. It’s not just inertia (though that’s a big part of it), it’s… pressure. Like: if I’ve not blogged for so long, everybody must be expecting something spectacular out of me, next!
If you haven’t seen it yet, Brendan Dawes’ “Permission to Write Stuff” really helped me get back on the horse (whatever that means: it doesn’t have to mean “regularly”!).
But as for “I just assume that no one reads blog posts anymore”; I ocassionally assume this too, and every time I do I turn out to be wrong. Webcomic SMBC used to include micro blog posts after each comic; then they sort of petered-out and stopped. But when they came back for a one-off, earlier this year, along with a comment to the effect of “but nobody reads this anyway”, it was met by such an outpouring of love for the return, in whatever form it took, of this extra content that its’ creator has been trying to include more and more since.
For most of us, though – y’know, those of us who don’t write world’s-top-10 webcomics – we don’t get that kind of feedback. But it doesn’t mean people aren’t reading what we write. A great thing about blogging is its content is timeless: you can look back at blog posts from the naughties or even the nineties and still get value from them, and you can read them at your own pace and they’re just… gentle and unpressuring. And re-editable. And accessible. And persistent. They’re just great.
I don’t have a point to this essay, except to say that whether or not you continue to blog, and whatever level of frequency suits you, isn’t for me to judge. You do what’s right for you! But I hope you continue to post here, and I can promise you that for every reader that comments to say you should (that’s me!), there’ll be dozens of lurkers waiting quietly in the background.
Thank you for taking the time to say this.