Changing Horses . . .

A new name and a new mission statement . . .

I have not posted for close to two months. Every time I would start to create a post, I would stop before getting very far.

Why?

Newsletter and blog writers are very seldom forthcoming about how it feels on the creative side of a publication, so I will be. We can look at statistics on each post, and I have been very pleased to see that I have an “open” rate that is three times the average. That tells me how many readers actually open the email. Thank you for opening!

I have no idea if anyone also reads it, unless a comment or email response comes back. And they don’t. Nada.

But a newsletter or blog is a conversation.

Just like a real life conversation. I want you to think about sitting at a table with someone and talking with them about different things. And they look at you as if they are listening, but they never say a word in response. How weird would that be? How long would you keep talking? This newsletter has been mostly that experience.

Now, I am a person who talks to herself a lot!

I like it.

In fact, it was the subject of one of my first newsletters here on Substack. So, when I have started to write a post recently, I just think to myself - “Why go to all this effort to talk to yourself, when you can sit right here and do that with no effort at all?” That last was an example of how I talk to myself.

It’s a mystery what to do with this newsletter.

But I am going to try one more approach before blowing it off. I am going to narrow the scope and make this Substack about “Sketching My Life” which is my major passion. Having been involved in the sketchbooking community in many ways for many years, I do know that art supplies and how to use them generate more conversation than anything else. Having been a sketcher and sketchbook teacher for more than 20 years, I have a lot I can share on those topics.

I teach over 30 classes on Skillshare and most of them are about sketching our life stories. But the classes have specific subjects and there is no room for a lot of stuff I would like to talk about. And, of course, no product or book reviews or link suggestions or any of the stuff you could put in a newsletter. I also have some ideas that run contrary to common ones in the online “art world”. These are fun to talk about too.

If you don’t keep a life sketchbook, I hope you will be encouraged to start.

And for those of you who have been around a long time because you like my stories, this subject certainly does include those - because they are the little adventures that I chronicle in my sketchbooks.

This subscription will remain free for subscribers.

Substack will be down for an hour’s maintenance between 9-10pm Pacific Time tonight, Tuesday Aug 13. So if you have any problem being able to read this on their app or their site, that’s why.

Your next email from me will will reflect the name change to “Sketching My Life”. Look for it soon.