Happy New Year!

2017 was a bit rough for me, but I’m thankful for a lot, not least of which is this blog. I had been toying with the idea of starting one at the beginning of the year. Then, due to my freelancing workload going down, I found myself with a ton of extra time on my hands that I tried filling with painting, playing with makeup, going for bike rides etc. And eventually figuring out how to get a small corner of fulfillment in my life by going back to some of my favourite hobbies (I have many) that I had put by the wayside in the past couple of years, namely writing and photography.

It may not be a cultural revolution I’m orchestrating here, but I take blogging pretty seriously. It’s been a continual learning process on how to produce good work that is marketable and consumable, while staying true to my interests, voice and aesthetic. It’s a fine line of treating this blog as a job, and creating something I can be proud of while having fun, not just ” doing work.”

At the end of the day, I think of Eclectic Spark as a personal journal that yes, is edited and filtered, but contains attempts at living honestly through sharing myself with the world and make connections with other people, however fleeting. I think about what other people might like to see and appreciate, but I never post anything I’m not proud of. Every post means something to me. Some more than others.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I just want to thank all you people who take time out of your lives to go on this journey with me. I mean, there are literally 982,376,172,788 cat videos on the internet. Yet here you are, reading my drivel, checking out my photos…I really appreciate it.

And shout out to my lovely husband, Kyler! He’s my second opinion, when I’m having trouble editing, my photographer for the 10% of the time I can’t focus the camera myself, and one of my biggest cheerleaders and supporters. This blog wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.