Hello? Heeelllllooooooo? Right, then. Imma be the light.

I found out yesterday that somehow the RSS feed for this blog has been borked for about three months… which explains why no comments since, like, June… sigh.

It’s been a busy summer for me, though, and I haven’t always had time to do the WiP Wednesday post, the Friday 5 post, and some sort of other post in there somewhere as well. I have this list of topics, you know, that “they” say I’m supposed to blog about to keep your interest… but “they” also say that writing those posts should take me no more than 20 minutes including time to make both an Instagram and Pinterest-ready graphic enticing the masses to come check out the regurgitated info from twelve other blogs that “they” say is what I’m supposed to be writing about (with a bit tacked on at the end about what I’m trying to sell you).

“They” also say that I’m supposed to give you a click-baity title, something that implies you’re doing something wrong and/or a list of quick fixes for a problem you have (and/or a problem you didn’t know you have but actually do, because “they” know you do even if you do not)… and then I’m mostly supposed to give you that blog post in bullet-points (I guess that’s why it only takes 20 minutes to write?) and don’t forget that bit at the end about what I’m trying to sell you.

“They” also say that I’m doing something wrong – I’m not blogging enough, here are tips to improve my Snapchat, I don’t have enough Instagram or Pinterest followers (but follow these three steps to get more!), and don’t forget to work with taste-makers or high-profile bloggers and send them my stuff to crow about so that there will be talk on the Interent about what I’m trying to sell you.

You know what business articles I don’t see? I don’t see just straight-up “how to juggle home and work when you work at home but sometimes feel that you live where you work”. I don’t see posts on how not to panic about doing quarterly sales tax (and what to do when you get a nastygram that you did it wrong). I don’t see posts on how to decide that a craft show “they” all think you should do is just not your style of show or how to work time into your already packed schedule to figure out new product development when every waking moment is spent trying to sell what you already have. I don’t see posts on how to calm down and relax when you constantly feel like Michigan J. Frog, that dancing frog from the Looney Tunes cartoon, dancing across the stage with a top hat and cane, singing your heart out for the masses.

So I’m going to write a few like that. Just random, stream-of-consciousness blog posts about work and life and work-life and life-work and I’m going to just put that out into the universe. If you can’t find it, be it. And I won’t even try to sell you something at the end of the post, like a workbook or a class on how to do everything (and more, because I left out one little secret so that I could sell you something!) that I put in the post. Instead I’m going to give you a sense of community, or give you an insight about what it’s like to be a working artist, and I’m going to give it to you for free because I know that out there is just one person who needs to hear it, and I hope they find it and feel better for reading it.

Welcome to Monday Musings, a new series of posts on what it’s like to be an artist who works at home… or happens to live where she works.