<div class='beehiiv'><style>

.bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: ‘Montserrat’,‘DejaVu Sans’,Verdana,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:‘Trebuchet MS’,‘Lucida Grande’,Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; }

Log in to access the Subscriber Printable library.

100 Submissions Printable - Reward yourself each time you submit your work or apply for an opportunity.

SS-100Submissions.pdf

91.89 KB ā€¢ PDF File

Download

100 Days - Alternate version to track your 100 Day Project.

SS-100Days.pdf

91.92 KB ā€¢ PDF File

Download

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.

Januaryā€™s Zine

This monthā€™s zine is a collaboration between 38 year old me and 13 year old me. I made it with stickers and journal entries from my millennial time capsule - created in 1999.

To celebrate waiting 26 years to open this time capsule Iā€™ve made a full color zine this month! To go with the Crayola vibes I used rubber stamps instead of my typewriter this month. Sometimes itā€™s nice to get your hands dirty.

Patrons watch your mailboxes. The rest of you can click here to read online.

I was SO sure there was a Tamogotchi inside! But the only ā€œartifactsā€ were a dried out gel pen (Iā€™m 90% sure it was dried out before I put it in) and a McDonalds Beanie Babies Happy Meal bag. I remember being really confused about what to include that I wouldnā€™t somehow miss in the next 26 years. šŸ˜‚

What would you have put in a time capsule to represent the year 1999?

Green crayon shaped Crayola time capsule with robot and clock stickers.

In the Studio āœ‚ļø

Something I realized during NaNoWriMo is that I want to make my noveling process more interdisciplinary. My first step was printing out images from my novelā€™s mood board. Holding these in my hands and moving them around was incredibly regulating after an overstimulating holiday season.

Printed images in a pile on my desk including maps, trees, spirals, artifacts, hag stones, reflections, etc. My typewriter and antique keys are also on the table.

10/10 would recommend paper mood boards.

Iā€™m planning to pin these on a cork board so I can continue to move them around rather than gluing them down. I may even use string. (I have a long standing thing for conspiracy corkboards.)

The added benefit will be keeping my story visible to my conscious and unconcious mind throughout the year. Hereā€™s a time lapse since Iā€™m not on Instagram anymore.

Over the last month Iā€™ve realized (reading Ray Bradbury & Dorothea Brande) that my creative ecosystem needs more time for dreaming and ideation. So my word of the year is Reverie and I made this phone wallpaper as a visual reminder. The painting by John William Waterhouse is titled Boreas.

Wallpaper featuring John William Waterhouseā€™s Boreas. A figure is buffeted by the wind and looking deep in thought. They are wrapped in a swathe of gray cloth over their clothing which billows out in the wind.

Iā€™m also starting a ā€œwriting from lifeā€ practice - separate from my self reflective journaling - to keep up my prose writing throughout the year. I both need space to think about my novel and space to write. Iā€™m using this gorgeous spreadsheet to track my progress. Something I love about it is that you track time as well as words. Time researching, writing, prepping all counts. Thereā€™s tons of flexibility in setting goals and the spreadsheet even encourages you to allow for missing days.

My kid is 5 1/2 years old and this feels like the first time Iā€™ve had the energy and capacity to stay up late writing most nights. (Brain fog in the morning means waking up early never worked for me.) Iā€™m so grateful to home education for giving us the flexibility to set our own hours.


My Reading Nook šŸ“–

I posted my 2024 reading wrap up to my blog.

My favorite reads wereā€¦

Seaborn by Michael Livingston

Pirates, magic, queer characters, and grounded historical details bring this world to life. The sequel Iceborn comes out later this year!

Seaborn by Michael Livingston

All of the Discworld books I read by Terry Pratchett.

And these books on the writing process:

Zen & the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett

Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

Reading these together really formed a constellation of creative process. Observing what overlapped and what differed. I learned years ago I canā€™t use another creative process wholecloth, but reading about other peopleā€™s experience can help demystify the process. Studying early drafts of Tolkien and Sandersonā€™s work is really doing that for me as well.


Regarding my blogā€¦

Hereā€™s the breakdown of my online ecosystem if you are curious.

Mostly, I wanted a tidy photoblog when I quit Instagram.

You can follow along via RSS or Bluesky (if youā€™re into that.)


Digital Foraging šŸ


Time Travel header with spinning hand drawn TARDIS time machine

This time last yearā€¦

Hello from a Human Jungle Gym is a reflection on time and energetic capacity. I had similar goals last year, but continued to sink too much time into Substack. Iā€™m hoping that making the big jump to Beehiiv will help me realize some of these intentions.

Weā€™ll see what happens long term, but I had twice the open rate on my last email as I have on Substack recently. People are starting to treat Substack like a social media and posts get lost in the feed.


Ways to Support header with white rabbit hopping by flowers

The Compost Heap is handmade without the use of AI. šŸ

Support doing things the old fashioned way by joining my Patrons ($3+) and I'll send paper copies of my zines with the coolest postage stamps I can find.

Not into snail mail?

Here are other ways you can support.


Let's chat header with hand drawn tin can telephones

Iā€™d love to hear from you.

Hit reply to email me directly. Or ask about doing an art / zine / book swap!

Thanks for being here.

I appreciate you.

Sarah signed with swoopy S

Compost Heap Illustrations byĀ Gracie KlumppĀ ofĀ Leave the Fingerprints. šŸž

Cover of Zine says Time Capsule. Sarah Hickox Shotts. With three hand colored sticks depicting a robot, a millenium bug, and a sign that says Do Not Open til 2025.This time capsule was prepared by Sarah Drue Hickox. In the year 1999. Drawings from a younger me in magic marker of my home (a white house with brick veranda and green bushes) and a blue tin building labeled Miller's Gymnastics. When I grow up I'm going to be a gym coach.Cars will look like this. Drawing of a streamline blue minivan. People will communicate with a computer used like a phone with a microphone and camera. Drawing of video call on a laptop with mouse, webcam, and microphone. Two yellow stars.Hand stamped A Kindle Curiosity Zine. Faded letters are stamped all around.

Archived Zine Embedded version of zine hosted at archive.org. On a desktop you can see the page spreads as designed.

Zine Shop Past zine issues are available for purchase in my zine shop.

Support via Patreon

Subscribe

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.

I made you a zine!

Because The Medium is the Message Iā€™ve given up weekly blogging and Iā€™m making monthly zines instead.

Hereā€™s how it works.

First, I noodle around with an idea. I type up a few notes on my phone and mull it over.

I might browse are.na to find some images or I might use a photograph.

Next, I do 2-3 rounds of edits. This process is powered by my kidā€™s hyperfocus when playing Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Then, I go out to my studio and load up my 1950ā€™s Underwood typewriter.

Green and gray Underwood typewriter sitws open on my desk. Library drawers int he back.

Unless thereā€™s a big problem (like above: when I loaded my typewriter ribbon backwards) I do my best to type the zine in one go. The mistakes and typos are part of the zine aesthetic and show it was made by hand.

I actually love when the letters print twice or a little crooked. It feels punk rock in a world with AI.

Then I add any images with double stick tape. Iā€™ve decided to go full analogue and not do any digital touch ups.

I Xerox the final product on my laser printer and send physical copies to my patrons (pledges starting at $3 on Patreon.)

But you donā€™t have to pay to read. Iā€™ll be sending a virtual zine every month to YOU.

If this works.

Iā€™m not sure how well the zine will read on phone screens so this is a bit of an experiment. You may have to pinch and zoom.

Or read on a computer. You can click here to read on archive.org. Itā€™s pretty cool over there because you can flip the pages and see the spreads as they were designed.

Otherwise Iā€™ve popped the images directly below.


Exit, Pursued By the Algorithmā€¦ This is a photo copy of a black and white zine. Accessible version is linked below.
page 2. Accessible version is linked below.
page 3. Accessible version is linked below.
page 4. Accessible version is linked below.

Accessible Version (for screenreaders)

Bibliography (all of my research linked on are.na)


Algorithm Free Portals

Websites cost money. If we donā€™t pay directly they are making their money by selling our attention (ads) or mining our data (for advertisers or to train AI.)

Here are some algorithm free websites I have been enjoying. I am happy to chip in my support for the services they are providing.

are.naĀ 

Like Pinterest for art nerds. I started with a free account and quickly fell in love. Thereā€™s also an educator discount.

Hereā€™s a peek at the mood board for my fantasy novel.

micro.blogĀ 

A simple microblogging platform. This is the passion project of Manton Reece, author of Indie Microblogging. He created micro.blog as a simple solution to own your own microblogging content. I could write a whole post about how great this is (for $5 a month), but Iā€™ll try to keep it short. You can use it to build a website, make a blog, or microblog (like a Twitter or Instagram alternative.)

I am playing around with a photo blog which automatically publishes to Bluesky. You can also subscribe to it via RSS.

micro.blog is the way the web should work. It can be integrated with so many different things. Iā€™ve even set up Beehiiv to automatically archive itself at sarahshotts.blogĀ 


Yes, I did mention bsky.app.

Bluesky is a public benefit corporation with the mission to ā€œto develop and drive large-scale adoption of technologies for open and decentralized public conversation.ā€ (Source)

This is a radical experiment in prioritizing the open web over commercial success.

You have so much control over your experience there and you can even follow Bluesky feeds through RSS or on other platforms (like the micro.blog app).

Iā€™m going to be honest Iā€™m mostly there for Wheel of Time (Season 3 is coming SOON yā€™all!) But I also made an artist / writer account and weā€™ll see where it goes. If you sign up let me know Iā€™d love to connect with you there. Another cool thing about it is that they use domain names (if you have one) so I am https://bsky.app/profile/sarahshotts.com.

Come on over to blue skies. Claim your name at least!

Dorothy opens farmhouse door and walks into Munchkinland.

My biggest frustration the last time I tested Beehiiv was the friction in the comment system. But I overlooked the simplest solution.

Iā€™ve turned comments off.

Just hit reply to message me directly (or text me if you know me.)

So much cozier.

Sarah signed with a swoopy S

P.S. I should probably port over my ā€œways to supportā€ banner, but itā€™s nearly midnight and we are drowning in sales emails this month anyway. Iā€™ll put it back in January.

Exit, Pursued by an Algorithm

Black and white zine. Fully accessible version linked below.Black and white zine. Fully accessible version linked below.Black and white zine. Fully accessible version linked below.Black and white zine. Fully accessible version linked below.

Bibliography
Links to are.na documenting my research on early Internet and algorithms.

Archived Zine
Embedded version of zine hosted at archive.org. On a desktop you can see the page spreads as designed.

Accessible Typed Version
Typed version with alt text for images.

Zine Shop Past zine issues are available for purchase in my zine shop.

Support via Patreon

Subscribe

The Medium is the Message

A few years ago I started making artwork with a gallery setting in mind (rather than Instagram.) That completely changed the kinds of things I was making.

I started the series My Brain on Motherhood and have been in over 10 fine art exhibitions. That never would have happened if I kept making art “for” the Internet.

The medium is the message.

The platform that we create for work for informs the work.

Earlier this year, I stopped writing paywalled posts for paying supporters and started sending letters in the mail.

Changing the medium of the message has made that work feel more personal and also more like human connection and less like work. So I’ve been wondering how to bring that energy to what I’m making here.

I’m contemplating the ways in which I might go analogue with my newsletter in the new year.

To test it out I’ve typed up I am not a brand. I’m a human. as a zine.

This will be going out to my paid supporters this month as an experiment. (You can sub for as little as $3 a month via Patreon.) I’ll might alternate letters and zines depending on what I have to say.

What’s interesting to me is how much this is about intention.

Once made the work with an art gallery in mind - I can then share it on Instagram. (My “I’m Fine” cross stitch actually went low key viral.)

But the frame in which I formulate ideas changes what I make.

So when I say I’m going “analogue” I’m thinking of creating physical zines on my typewriter. That’s the medium. I’ll send paper copies to paying supporters (a sliding scale starting at $3 a month.)

Once I’ve made that I can then archive digital versions of that zine on my website or Internet Archive (like this). I’ll send fewer emails (monthly or quarterly) that point directly to my website and / or compost heap. So the email newsletter becomes a channel to share my work and not the medium of the work itself.

(How does that sound Seth Werkheiser?)

I’m less and less comfortable having the work that I make live on someone else’s platform and this is an experiment I am excited to try.

I’ve been circling around this idea for months now and I finally discovered Mail Blog and it inspired me to give it a go.

If you’re considering how creating for the Internet in general is informing your work I’d really recommend the book The Medium is the Message by Marshall McLuhan.


In the Studio āœ‚ļø

Meanwhile here are a few updates from my creative ecosystem.

First up, Entwined has gone to the editor!

I’m also taking a course on sensory regulation with my partner. David and I are painting these sensory regulation cards and I’m very excited about them. (I don’t have it handy, but let me know if you’d like an affiliate link.)

A lot of creative energy is also going into creating spaces for learning.

And I’m also using our new laser printer to design our own handwriting sheets. (We’re saving the paper for a recycled paper bookmark project I’ve been ideating for about 5 years.)

I also made this Wheel of Time inspired snowflake for WoTtober


In the Garden šŸŒ±

Our garden is completely feral.

But these volunteer tomatoes are VERY happy.


Books šŸ“–

Inspired by Hayley Dunlop I thought I might share more of the picture books we’re reading. This one has been a big hit. (No loose teeth yet, but we’re preparing to understand when it does happen.)

Bear’s Loose Tooth


Digital Foraging šŸ


You can see another example of The Medium is the Message by these flashbacks to the time I was a “YouTuber.” I’m exhausted just thinking about trying to mask as much as I did in 2016.

Seven years past.

How to Make Leaf Rubbings on YouTube

Eight years past.

October Favorites 2016 on YouTube

via Double Double Toil and Trouble an October roundup post on Substack from 2022.


The Compost Heap is free to all. Thanks for exchanging your time and energy. If youā€™re feeling particularly generous here are other ways you can lend your support.


The Internet is like a tin can telephone. Itā€™s just a rusty can until someone talks back.

What are you making? What are you growing? What are you finding inspiring?

Hit reply and let me know.


This newsletter is a curated collection of tidbits from my overgrown Compost Heap (or digital garden.)Ā Rummage around, turn the heap, and see what you can find for yourself.Ā šŸŖ±šŸ›šŸŒ±

Illustrations byĀ Gracie KlumppĀ ofĀ Leave the Fingerprints. šŸž

Iā€™m still writing a novel so Iā€™m keeping this short and sweet.


In the Studio āœ‚ļø

When I finish a big project (like crowdfunding Entwined) or have a lot of big feelings to process I like to make things with my hands.

After my first book I started my first bricolage The Mental Load.

This month I made The Mental Load II. This sculpture is roughly the size of my child and includes broken toys and the detritus of motherhood.

Donā€™t worry. We have two Elmo figures for some reason and this one was all scratched up.

More photos here.


Exciting updates to Self Pub 101! šŸ“–

Just a reminder this course is completely free.

This is not a funnel.

Itā€™s not a marketing tool.

Itā€™s just me paying it forward to help other indie authors.

This month there are two new guest speakers!


Many thanks to Nathaniel Roy of A Book Designerā€™s Notebook for generously recording How to Collaborate with a Book Designer.

There is also a new indie author spotlight featuring fantasy novelist B. S. H. Garcia (Part One & Part Two.)


Stop everything. šŸ

Before you go back to the real world open a new tab and watch this short video of Mr. Rogers visiting Eric Carleā€™s art studio.

(If you didnā€™t already know Eric Carle is the illustrator of many classic childrenā€™s books including The Very Hungry Caterpillar.)

If you want to live in the warm and fuzzy for a bit longer hop over to Eric Carleā€™s blog and read what he wrote about the program in 1997.

And drop by Mitchell Volkā€™s metaphorical seed swap. šŸŒ±


Profits to Charity ā˜•ļø

Tis the season for gifting.

Two of my favorite authors and educators (John & Hank Green) founded good.store which donates 100% of profits to charity.

Over the past year they have donated 9 million dollars to support maternal mortality and tuberculosis treatment in impoverished countries.

If youā€™d like to gift loose leaf tea, coffee, soap, or quirky socks, swing by good.store and use my affiliate code SARAHDSHOTTS for 25% off.

I donā€™t do much affiliate marketing, but I really love good.storeā€™s mission. And the Keats & Co. Breakfast Tea is my new favorite. ā˜•ļø


The Compost Heap is free to all. Thanks for exchanging your time and energy. If youā€™re feeling particularly generous here are other ways you can lend your support.

Join during November to get this zine in your mailbox!

If you missed my last post Iā€™m planning to shapeshift this newsletter into a zine in 2025. This month was an experiment and I really loved making this. Iā€™m definitely leaning into analogue in the new year.

Meanwhile you are welcome to reach out, but I am unlikely to respond in a timely fashion. November is for noveling.

Cheers,


This newsletter is a curated collection of tidbits from my overgrown Compost Heap (or digital garden.)Ā Rummage around, turn the heap, and see what you can find for yourself.Ā šŸŖ±šŸ›šŸŒ±

Illustrations byĀ Gracie KlumppĀ ofĀ Leave the Fingerprints. šŸž


Originally published on Substack November 20, 2024