10 years of newsletter writing + Artist?

This past Tuesday, I celebrated a decade (!!!) of newsletter writing. It's been through several transformations, and if you've been a witness to them, thank you for sticking with me. I knew when I stopped writing about marketing, there would be a drop in subscribers, and then another when I stopped writing a lot about coffee. I would liken this kind of adjustment to when some local indie band puts out a self-produced EP, then gets signed and records in a studio, then produces a sophomore album that feels more polished and less gritty than what you originally loved about them. I'm not saying that this newsletter has grown in fandom in the same way, but rather that it's a natural evolution of anything in life, really.

I usually like to do a recap post, but I actually hate when apps do those yearly reviews at the beginning of December. What about December, Spotify? Is it a free-for-all Bermuda Triangle where nothing I listen to will make it into any Wrapped stat?

This year was the year I started being called an artist. It wasn't initiated by me, and actually, I don't think I would've ever reached this point by myself. Apparently, I had a narrow definition of what an artist was, and as someone who can only tolerate a little bullshit, I felt like I couldn't embrace the "here's this big existential interpretation of this art piece" component. The immediate thing that came to mind was a series of four canvases by different artists in a modern art museum. All four were painted white, and each had some explanation I couldn't understand. Obviously, art is subjective, and that set was not it for me.

Speaking of white paintings, if you haven't heard already, Pantone's color of the year is white. Excuse me, Cloud Dancer.

From Pantone's press page:

At this time of transformation, when we are reimagining our future and our place in the world, PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer is a discrete white hue offering a promise of clarity. The cacophony that surrounds us has become overwhelming, making it harder to hear the voices of our inner selves. A conscious statement of simplification, Cloud Dancer enhances our focus, providing release from the distraction of external influences.

The memes about it have been excellent.

The Collectress wrote a detailed post about it being a dog whistle, and I am inclined to agree. Pantone's color of the year may not seem to matter much to you, and there are always haters of whatever the color is. If I don't like it, aesthetically, I move on. But white? That's a new one for them. Pantone used to have a lot more influence in the design world, and the color of the year would appear everywhere—furniture, appliances, clothing—so even if you didn't know, you were still affected in some way.

Vanity Fair wrote:

Much of Pantone’s predictive power has been diluted by social media. Instagram, TikTok, and X, in particular, have altered the way we collectively consume and interact with content and news, but they have also fragmented the cultural monopoly companies like Pantone used to have.

However, they still have sway. Their featured collabs on the page include Post-it, Command (strips), Joybird, Play-Doh, and Mandarin Oriental—a wide range of industries. It seems disingenuous, at this current time in history, to name white as a color and also explain it as "providing release from the distraction of external influences." Everything is political, including design trends.

During my winter break, in the awkward space between Christmas and NYE, I plan on doing my annual review. I was also thinking of hosting an IRL event to be around others who are also doing annual reviews, so I assembled info & examples of reviews. I thought I'd share those resources here, too. The folder contains a one-pager & some templates to use. A lot of reviews out there are personal life-only or have a tiny category about your career, employed by a company. There are not many for business owners, let alone creative solopreneurs, so I mashed a few together for my own review template.

I hope the last few weeks of the year are gentle for you & I'll see you in 2026!