Crumbs, in this economy?

Well, I ate the frog. That is to say, I started a newsletter, which is something I’ve been toying with for some time. In reality, I’ve been craving a creative outlet but was waffling between what kind (Instagram account, Etsy shop), what I would sell or talk about (I have too many hobbies to niche down, and did I really want to monetize them), and would anyone even care, or worse, would they judge me? Ah, the age-old fear of being perceived.

Then, I came across this blog from one of my favorite Instagram follows, @spacetimeproductivity. It talks about why a newsletter can be such a great creative outlet for creatives of all specialties, not just Very Online People or People With Influence. Regular old me could get something out of this, too.

So obviously, with all of my indecision around about how, where, and when to do something creative, I waffled about what to call this pursuit–whatever it ended up being. Long-time friends may remember my college blog “With Love, Grace”, where I reviewed products, did DIY tutorials, and asked “is this X product sustainable?” Or, you might remember my short-lived and very niche Pop Studio Instagram account when I got into dot collages. And for the real MVP’s, you’ll remember the clothing business I dreamt up as a preteen called “The Pink Chameleon” when I woke up at 5am on a weekend and sewed a kimono out of my bedroom curtains. Yes, yes I did. I think The Pink Chameleon was my favorite because it was just so weird, and it did teach me (and everyone I ever had to spell my first email to) how to spell ‘chameleon’. But With Love, Grace was a solid contender, too. I mean I sign every card with “love, Grace”, and it just felt good to me. Pop Studio was kind of a miss in my opinion, even though we loved the idea, so we don’t have to talk about her anymore.

I have a friend who is a PR and branding genius and something she said offhandedly has been stuck in my head while I’ve been thinking about a name for this thing. To paraphrase, she said “What’s something you say a lot that people could associate with you? Or just something super off the cuff?” to which I replied: “A can of grapes??” (reader, this was my off-the-cuff example, and yes I’d had a few glasses of wine.) I couldn’t for the life of me think about a saying I had other than the names I call my dog and this one random grape example. So one night as I was brushing my teeth it finally came to me. Not something that I say a lot, but some things I think about a lot. Mary Oliver’s “Don’t Hesitate”, “The Orange” by Wendy Cope, and this excerpt from the book “Bad Days Are Also Part Of A Very Good And Sexy Life” by Victoria Margrethe Benscik. And thus, No Crumbs Allowed, with a little orange image, was born.

I hope to pop into your inbox or web browser once a week with oodles and noodles of what has been bumping around in my head that week. Thank you for being here, being along for the ride, and hanging out in my corner of the internet!