I released a new zine! “How to Deal with Small Talk” is a collection of tips for how to handle small talk conversations. Maybe you’re like me and small talk drags you down. And maybe, like me, you have to put up with it anyway. Hopefully this zine can help. Available on Etsy (U.S. and international) and Big Cartel (U.S. and Canada only...

One thing I like about creative work is seeing people's processes for how they make stuff. In-progress photos on Instagram. Detailed blog posts about how they create. Video walk-throughs of their process. I love learning from other people's work. And I think it's something that we don't have enough of in the workplace. Or at least, thi...

No matter your role; no matter the company. 1. Figure out what you should focus on and stick to it. Limit distractions as much as possible. 2. Do the things you say you will do. If you can’t, tell people sooner rather than later. 3. Believe people are doing their best unless they give you a reason not to believe that. 4. Stay humble. W...

Three weeks ago, I deleted the Twitter app from my phone. I was checking Twitter too much, too often, and I ended up doom scrolling. I wanted to stop doing that, and the simplest solution was not having such easy access to Twitter on my phone. Twitter has been useful to me in the past for following topics and news, connecting with peop...

The irony of writing this on HEY World. I know, I know. 😆 One thing I love about the internet is connecting with people all over the world. But as everyone knows, there is SO MUCH online. A lot of noise. And it can be difficult to filter through that noise when you want to reach people who share your hobbies and interests. Add social m...

Another month, another log. Did anyone else feel like September flew by? 🍃 🍂 This is what I do for a monthly log in my bullet journal. One page as an overview. I use the CO (“Creative Output”) column to mark days I’m working on creative projects (zines, drawing, writing). You could use the column to track anything, and even add columns...

All stickers in my Etsy shop are 30% off this week, through Sunday October. 3! Can you tell I like outer space? 😉 The sun flower (sun...flower, get it?) and astronaut stickers were originally hand-drawn. Then I drew them digitally so the lines are cleaner for stickers. The camera is a digital drawing. I thought of an idea where the len...

I finished a new zine! “Vignettes From Camelot” includes glimpses into the lives of Arthurian characters: Merlin, Morgana, Arthur, and an unnamed messenger. The zine is 16 pages long with 4 original stories and hand-drawn illustrations inspired by nature and magic. It’s printed in black and white. I couldn’t decide on a blue or white c...

I've been selling zines on Etsy for one year! 🥳 To celebrate, everything in my shop is 20% off through August 31! A year ago when I started listing my zines on Etsy, I wanted an easy way for people to get paper copies of them. It's not a side hustle (I dislike that term) and definitely not a part-time or full-time job. I'd be making zi...

A few years ago when I was learning how to do customer research, my manager at the time said it's just as important to know when to be quiet as it is to know which questions to ask. That applies to interviewing someone, for sure, and it applies to any time you're talking to someone with the purpose of learning from them. You get more a...

In school and up through college, I got frustrated when an instructor required an outline before writing a draft. Outlines as an assignment bugged me because usually I was in one of two circumstances: 1. I already had a solid plan in my head for what I wanted to write. Creating an outline with the same information felt like an unnecess...

I added a few listings to my Etsy shop for zines and one sticker, so here's a rundown. You can check out the links below for more info and preview images. :) "Photographic Memories" is a 20-page, black and white zine with illustrations and writing related to photography. I drew a camera with a starry sky in the lens and made it into a ...

Before cell phones were common place, we had limited options for how to pass the time while in line somewhere or in a waiting room. Depending on where you were, maybe there was a TV to watch. Magazines to read. People watching is a great option. Or, you could just zone out and spend some time inside your head. But now when we’re waitin...

When I started a new job last month, I was surprised (and strangely delighted) that the employees didn't use any kind of instant messaging. No Slack or anything like it. The company has a flexible work culture. Some people work in the office every day, some work remotely, and some do both, with a few days in the office and a few days w...

March 25, 2021, marks 200 years of Greek independence, and I made a zine to celebrate! I’m sharing this zine under a Creative Commons license, so anyone can download it for free (and you can share it for non-commercial purposes). Download the PDF and see instructions for printing and folding on my website.

Lots of writing advice goes along the lines of "write for your reader" or "know your audience." That's the guideline for how to frame your writing, what voice to use, and what level of detail to include. But what happens if you don't know your audience? Or if your writing isn't meant for a specific group? What if you're writing an emai...

These days, when I want to discover new music, this is what I do: 1. Open Spotify 2. Search for an artist, song, or genre 3. Start the radio based on what I searched for 4. Let the algorithm do its thing It works well enough. I find music that's new to me with very little effort. Sometimes I come across songs I want to save to a playli...

About a year ago, I started making zines. It was something fun to share with friends, but then the pandemic hit, and we all stayed home. I couldn't share my zines in person, so I started posting them to Instagram. I had no expectations for how people would respond. People seemed to like them, so every time I made a new zine, I posted i...

I have a love/hate relationship with categorizing blog posts. Things I love: - Organizes information around common themes - Offers a way to navigate posts that’s not chronological and not a search - Can help me think deeper on a few subjects, if I stick to a small number of categories Things I hate: - Limits topics I post about, unless...

When I use a new thing on the web, I have two questions up front: 1. What can it do? 2. What is it for? The first question is easier to answer. I click around. I go through the settings. I find what other people are doing with the new thing. The first question is about curiosity and exploration. The second question, though, can be toug...