loveMELT Newsletter #035: Here to Stay, Creativity for the Long Game

Photo by Andrew B. White at Seven House

Hi there,

In the letter I wrote you last, I shared the reality of my situation. I lost my job last year and have worked one-off jobs to get by for a while. However, I want a long-term strategy in place that I can build toward. So, I laid out potential options for myself:

• Return to serving/bartending to focus on my art during the day and not deal with the ‘round-the-clock stress of a 9 to 5.

• Improve my digital design skills to find a job in Textile/Surface Pattern Design, in hopes of finding creative overlap, and continuing my art at night.

• Return to serving/bartending while I improve my digital design skills to build my own business and license my textile and surface pattern designs…while continuing to make art

With these options in mind, I planned my week, letting my creativity lead the way and submerging myself into digital design apps.

CURVEBALL! After two weeks of doing this while thinking and reflecting, I realized my options were missing something. They were missing loveMELT. Writing to you is something I truly enjoy. It doesn’t feel like creating social media content, it’s not a drag, a timesuck, or demeaning. It’s a place to dig deeper into topics I’m passionate about and want to beat the drum louder on.

While I will continue social media in some capacity, my focus is now developing loveMELT. I prefer critical thinking, deep dives, vulnerable letters, real conversations, and ownership of my creativity. I also like opening my art process, progress, thinking, and questioning to you. It’s part of me seeking to tear down walls in the art world.

In the past, I started a podcast for a sustainable apparel company I co-founded, Fibre Athletics. I recorded remote audio interviews in my closet for better acoustics and loved every minute of it. I had the opportunity to converse with interesting people doing impactful things. I’m bringing various types of dialogue back into my repertoire, interviewing and conferring with intriguing individuals in art, tech, design, speculative design, future thinking, sustainability, music, poetry, and more. It’s going to be a good time because I can’t do much without playing and laughing. Speaking of play, I’m letting creativity lead loveMELT’s evolution. It will not be solely letters and discussions with people. It will ebb and flow into different things, different modes of creativity and sharing. I’m excited to see how it grows.

On that note, is there anything you want to see more of in loveMELT? If so, drop a line in this form!

I want to hear what piques your interest. Or, if there’s someone you want me to chat with, or maybe you wanna chat with me, write their name(s) or your name down. Substack is now offering more modes for sharing, including podcasts, live videos, notes, chats, and the ability to read a loveMELT newsletter audibly to you if you’re on the go. I’m into this because, if you’re not already using the Substack app, it’s a breath of fresh air from the digital noise pollution (aka misinformation, marketing, memes, and viral clips using tons of energy and flooding Instagram and TikTok (RIP?) with dumb, addictive, distracting noise). It’s people thoughtfully writing and discussing topics of interest. I aim to continue pushing it in that direction.

Going forward, I will moreso delineate what is available to free and paid subscribers. Artists have minimal ways of generating income as they build their careers. And one must be a single-person orchestra in pursuit— a skilled artist churning out their best work yet, a stand-out application writer, a friendly networker, a killer salesperson, an organized project manager, a professional promoter, and an avid content creator…constantly bending to the new ‘rules’ of social media and its algorithms…somehow maintaining a steady income alongside…my god, it’s demoralizing. Units of creativity are increasingly devalued and more is continuously being asked of the individual. I have a feeling you can relate to my sentiment. I’ve heard artists be considered delusional for pursuing what we do in the current ecosystem, but we keep at it because we still dream of changing reality. Because the reality is that the society we’re supposed to acquiesce to is delusional. It’s incredibly bleak at the moment…it desperately needs to improve. This is why I’m dedicating my time and energy to loveMELT: to amplify creativity, explore alternate ways of being, and foster genuine dialogue—online, in physical spaces, within the art world, and beyond its echo chamber.

Equally, if I don’t take the plunge for myself, I will be playing the person who has a full-time job and does art on the side for who knows how long, hoping one day, somehow, just the right person will come along and change things for me. I can’t wait for that moment. I’m pushing forward myself. If I can’t believe in myself, what am I to believe in? And if not now, when?

If you’re excited for more loveMELT and want to journey into imaginative, thought-provoking, joy-fueled worlds, become a paid subscriber, and we’ll endeavor on this escapade together.

Couldn’t sit myself in a square
with all my treasures yet declared
waiting for some Robert
to loot me

—Excerpt from my poem, ‘Love Lies, Love Lives, Love Lies, Loves Lives’’

Here we go!

Xx

Sadie

PS—