The Spark's first birthday

How is it a year already??

I looked at the calendar this morning and suddenly realized I started The Spark a year ago. (How is that possible??)

Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

I wasn’t planning to do three retrospective-ish posts in a row, but once you’ve noticed something like that, it’s hard to ignore. I’m gonna keep this one short, though!

I started The Spark as a way to give myself a place to put my writing and thus encourage myself to do more of it. I had no real expectations beyond that. No idea what I might end up writing about, except that I wanted to write what I felt called to write, not what I felt like I had to write. It was an experiment, with no particular end or finish line in sight. Instead, I’d mostly—if not completely—be following my own curiosity. And that felt fitting.

I’d say it’s been a worthy experiment so far. I’ve met some great people here on Substack, and been as surprised as anyone by what I’ve wanted to write about. It’s also been interesting to see where internalized pressures from the outside world have tried to have their say about when and how and what I write. I’ve fought off the urge to follow my “usual” schedule on more than one occasion when it would have been unrealistic for me to produce something, or when I’d have been writing something for the sake of writing it rather than because I felt like I had something to say, or a need to write it—or, preferably, both.

The most interesting thing, to me, may be the fact that people have taken to this little experiment. It’s gravitated toward creativity-related topics for a while now, but you still never know what I’m going to come up with next (and neither do I!). And yet, people still come along for the ride. I genuinely wasn’t sure anyone would be interested when I started, so it’s been wonderful to be proven wrong.

So, since that’s you, if you’re reading this: thank you! Thanks for taking the leap of faith and keeping me company here, and for sharing my writing with others.

If you haven’t come to an Unconventional Inspiration Circle or a workshop yet, I hope you will at some point. The next one is on Wednesday evening, and you can sign up here.

Speaking of events, my thanks to the folks who voted in Friday’s poll. The votes in favor of a Friday announcements post won, so I’ll start adding that post when there’s upcoming stuff to share.