Hi, everyone! I wanted to write a bit about some of the projects I’ve been working on, and what else I’ve been getting up to.

Because I study online, I’ve spent a lot of time finishing out some college courses for my Health Science degree. Both of them have been really interesting: they’re philosophy and biology. I actually found through the philosophy course that I have a deep interest in ethics, which is making me think about my future path. Maybe down the road, I could get into more philosophy stuff!

I also liked biology because it helped me understand more about how life functions on our planet. It gave me a respect for the way everything in the natural world works together in a fine-tuned ecosystem. I was surprised by how species I could think of as harmful or annoying (such as fungi or even viruses) actually serve a positive purpose, too. For example, scientists have found some viruses can actually be used in targeted forms of therapy to attack cancer cells!

In March, I went to an art meetup at West Windsor Arts, where I really feel at home. I love this place so much, because its goal is to make the arts accessible. And you can tell everything they do is focused on making art an experience for everyone. There are many free events open to the public, including the annual art walk, exhibits, and more!

The art meetup is where artists can gather and share their work, talking about their experiences or challenges they face. One of the most meaningful experiences I had, though, was outside the art meetup itself.

Right next to our hotel, there was a Barnes and Noble. When I went inside, I was amazed by what I saw, because I was greeted by vinyl records from some of my favorite artists. The Beatles, the Police, and so many other great albums were there. I was fascinated looking at them, and I was so happy to see vinyl was making a comeback. I’d listened to records years ago as a kid, because I enjoyed just sitting by the record player and hearing the music play.

The books had a big impression on me, too. I was amazed to see books on all my favorite topics - outer space and the potential for cosmic life, scientific exploration, spirituality, music, and some of my big inspirations, including Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, and Muhammad Ali. Seeing those books made me feel I was right where I needed to be.

I've been spending some time working on this newsletter, Creative Destiny. I'm trying to find a balance between sharing my work publicly on social media platforms, and having a direct way to reach my audience. Today, I'm going to share what I've learned so far.

There are many newsletter tools you can use, but I decided to go with Buttondown because it's simple and easy to use, and the customer support is really good. I've been a fan of newsletters for a while, because I enjoy signing up for them and getting information and creative stuff right in my inbox. But for some reason, I never thought about making my own until recently.

I was partly inspired by Social Media Escape Club and Seth Werkheiser, who runs his site as a way to help creators and artists think beyond social media sharing. After all, we all know that while social media platforms might help you reach your audience, you're still at the mercy of those platforms if they change their algorithms or lock you out. It's also challenging to keep up a steady "posting schedule", which can quickly become exhausting and distract you from creating the art itself. (Not to mention all the ethical issues around social media's design.)

So, the newsletter is kind of my answer to reaching my audience in a more direct way. I'd like people to learn more about the behind the scenes process in my work, and I considered options such as running a membership, but I knew that would be hard for me to run consistently. Although memberships can be great for people who have time to devote to it, I'm not able to start one right now.

I like to work on a lot of different things, mainly because I have many ideas. I really enjoy getting into a creative state and bringing those ideas out of my head into the real world. In fact, I have some upcoming projects I’m looking forward to completing. But one of the things I've realized is that I need time to rest, too.

Sometimes I push too hard and try to put out lots of stuff at once. It's always been a habit I've had. I would write stories even when my wrists were aching, because I had all these ideas that were begging to be released.

But over time, this started taking a toll on my health. I was reluctant to take breaks, because I felt they might waste valuable creative time. But my body couldn't withstand the constant output, and I would feel burnt out and lose all my ideas. I’d even deal with physical injuries from using my wrists too much (in writing and drawing, for example).

Now that I've grown older, I've started to slowly appreciate the importance of rest and relaxation time. It's still a challenge for me to take a break sometimes, because I feel I should always be doing something, but I see there's value in taking time off. I’m learning how to lighten my schedule, so I can give myself some breathing room!

One of the things I really enjoy doing is collaborating with other artists and creative folks. I know every artist is different in how they approach collaborations: some artists are really open to sharing and working together on a project, while other artists may want to have total control over their output. But I like learning from other creative people and seeing how they put things together, so I really enjoy collaborations.

One of the recent collaborations I’ve taken part in is the Human Acceptance Project with James, from Non Zero Sum Games. He liked an art project I made called “Human Acceptance”, which focused on accepting our humanity. We decided to work together, and he created a lovely page where other people can share their human acceptance projects, too!

This is one reason why I really enjoy collaborating with other people. I love to see other folks' take on my art and what they can do with it. As long as it's respectful towards the original purpose I have for the art, I really like seeing how people put their spin on it.

I've also been doing a fun collaboration, a "Mer May" project, with another artist (RosyDumplings). She invited us to send in our drawings of how we'd imagine mermaids! I think this will turn out beautifully, too. (I want to add that Rosy recently published the Mer May collaboration, with everyone's mermaids in the scene. It looks awesome!)