knit some new stuff this month, so I updated my craft log

New blog post about my morning and evening routine for working from home effectively (insights from your own routines are very welcome, I'm super new to this!!!): https://lostletters.neocities.org/2025/07/20/new-routines also started two brief crafting logs: knitting (https://lostletters.neocities.org/knit-crochet/) and sewing (https://lostletters.neocities.org/sewing/)

new blog post: my coping strategies for mentally rough times because your goblin has been going THROUGH IT lately https://lostletters.neocities.org/2025/04/05/coping-strategies If you've got any healthy, free-ish coping strategies that you'd recommend, let me know. I could always use more 🙃

If you didn’t read my last blog entry, I’ve been lacking a creative passion for quite some time, and I finally decided this past week that I’m no longer going to be passive about it. Since it has been almost a week since I started gently tending to my creative pursuits again, I wanted to write up a brief progress update as a commitment to the practice.

link to new blog post: https://lostletters.neocities.org/2025/03/10/tending-to-creative-pursuits

New blog post about rekindling creative passion (or at least attempting to): https://lostletters.neocities.org/2025/03/04/rekindling-creative-passion if you've gotten out of a creative rut recently, I'd love to hear how.

it helps me to force myself to do a little of something most days (I don't do well with daily🫠). I try to think of the scaffolding for my ideas and focus on that. for example if I want to write more blogs, I write nonsense more often to exercise my writing brain. or use my time to learn code before deciding how to put it on my site later, etc.

it's sadly not fool proof and I still have dips but I also try to view blocks as part of the creative process, rather than a failure of creativity. sometimes you're in a moment where you're consuming/inputting, rather than creating/outputting, and that's on

ugh. ok*

That's such a kind way of framing the blocks, I'll take that to heart for sure. Thank you!

not focusing on the outcome i think is the best way! doing it for the journey not the destination. you can make stuff for yourself, small things. maybe write a small d20 loot list or make a wordsearch out of code. you don't have the share the things if that piles on the pressue for it to be 'perfect'. creativity is in the process. do it for the joy :) you've got this xx

i have an approach that i've sort of hodge podged together into my own thing from a few different idea sets i've seen over the years, but basically, i hold myself to a weekly deadline for an achievable with good effort "published" writing that i post to the site. this works for me because a) i view creativity as a habit that gets stronger with reinforcement and b) it creates a streak that i do not want to break

it's not fool-proof (i am a fool, after all) but it really makes me not feel so precious about certain ideas i've logged away to "work on some day" and also makes me flex the creative muscles even when i don't want to, like, at all. i know it's something i view as good and productive for myself so i'm fine with this sort of background badger in my brain saying "hey saturday is coming you need to write something"

i used to think good ideas, creative efforts, and my own capabilities were this limited resource that i had to choose to use sparingly for fear of running out. now i believe the opposite is true. "hold nothing back, the well will refill" to quote robert d. richardson

I really need to work on getting better at practicing even when I don't want to do it at all as you mentioned. I'm going to try to work on building that muscle!

played a lot of non-D&D5e TTRPGs in Feb, here are a few highlights: https://lostletters.neocities.org/2025/03/03/february-ttrpg

I just ran the Stygian Library last week, such a fun module!

I am dying to get my hands on a hardbound copy because it was soooo fun!

Valentine's day blog post: I met my younger self for coffee - https://lostletters.neocities.org/2025/02/12/coffee

Have you heard of the book 'Before the Coffee Gets Cold', your writing (and the topic obv) reminds me of that book

I learned about it from your comment and started reading it. I’m flattered!

New blog post, reflecting on how different life is after one month in the US compared to life in Japan (pics at the end): https://lostletters.neocities.org/2025/02/06/one-month-in-us

also updated the default theme to "Trans Love Letter" because trans people always deserve love, but especially right now + it's InCoWriMo! https://incowrimo.org/

glad you're enjoying the states again and just wanted to echo the ease of veganism here; so many delicious options!

when i moved back to the states from japan a few years ago, i was shocked at how easy it was for me to open a bank account. i had been afraid of doing it for weeks after my harrowing experiences in japan, but it only took like 25 minutes... so i completely understand how you feel!