If you have followed me for any length of time, you will know that for the past few years I have felt more than a little conflicted.  Everywhere you turn online, you are told to niche down, pick your niche, you have to have a niche.  I don’t have a niche.  I have never had a niche.  I have never seriously examined what I want to do, how I want to do it, anything like that.

My why is pretty easy.  It’s what I do, create.  It is what I have always done, in one form or another, since I was young.  I make stuff.  I draw stuff.  I write stuff.  I get bored easily.  I move from project to project.  I have always shared online, but I have never find that niche that garners a following.

Beginning at the end of this March, the beginning of this April, I started to dig into what I really wanted to do, where I really want to go, what I wanted to focus on, and what made my heart sing.  I wrote and wrote and wrote.  I made mind maps.  I asked questions of myself. I dug in and I picked my own brain to pieces.

What it came down to, that final question for me, was, am I a full-time artist or am I a full-time writer?  All the other stuff that I do can sit at the side no matter which one I chose as my main focus.  I knew that from the get-go.  But my main focus?  Be true to my Inner Child who drew or be true to my Inner Child who wrote?  Which one wanted to work the hardest?  Which one wanted to be exposed to the outside world the most?  Which one had the loudest voice, the scarier scream?  The one that demanded it be her and not the other one?

My Writer self.  There is no denying her.  I have been writing since I was about seven years old, perhaps longer.  My Artist self may have more drawing experience, but it is my Writer who shrieked the loudest and made the most demands to be in command.

My creative practice, my creative focus, is now and from here on out, is my writing. Writing frees me inside and offers me transit into other worlds.  Art has a similar benefit but it hasn’t the passion; I haven’t the passion for art the way I do writing.

And so, here I am.  A writer.  I am still also an artist, a knitter, a bookmaker, a sewist, and all the other things, but they are more side projects for me, hobbies.  Writing is my core.

Welcome to my wild side.  I hope you enjoy the ride.

If you want to see more of my writing, I publish every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on Medium here. I publish every Wednesday on Substack here.