New Beginnings

A short introduction of 'I've Been Thinking About Life'

Hello Everyone!

First of all, thank you for being here. This blog is a way for me to stay in touch with you when everything else may fail. In this way, we still have opportunities to connect with each other and continue sharing bits and bobs of our lives. So much is happening in the world and on social media, and the various options to stay connected are becoming more fragmented and expansive. I hope that through this blog, I can still keep in touch with you in an accessible way.

A Blog for Everyone

It's important to note that everything I write is for everyone. Whether you are a free or paid member, everyone gets the same content. Initially, I wanted to offer an option to become a paying member for just 1 euro, but unfortunately, the lowest amount you can enter on Substack is 5 euros. This option is simply for those who wish to support me and my work with a donation now and then. For 5 euros, for example, I can buy two pencils, three Neocolor II crayons, or a paint marker. Who knows?

Paid Subscription Options

To enable the paid subscription, I also had to set up a price for yearly annual paid subscribers and for the founding members. In my view, these options exist only because Substack required them. If you would like to donate, I recommend choosing the monthly subscription and canceling it immediately afterward. This way, you’re not tied to anything, but maybe you’ll enjoy contributing to everything I create and share, once in a while.

Important: Please, no hard feelings if you want to join for free or only donate once. I want my newsletter and work to be accessible to everyone, and that’s why everything I share is the same for everyone. This also gives me the freedom to share and write about what I enjoy and when I feel the need, without outside pressure.

What to Expect Here

On this platform, I want to share more about my personal life, what it’s like being an artist, my sketchbook work, illustrations, experiments, art supplies, favorite colors, favorite paper, anything really. Maybe I’ll share some photos or videos too; the possibilities are endless. But I also want to open up about living with my limitations. How it feels to not be able to speak properly anymore or to no longer be able to eat or drink, my other (invisible) limitations, and how my life has become divided by hospital visits. I’ll talk about accessibility and inaccessibility, too.

I'll also share about making pottery, baking bread, my cats, parenting, the progress of my work (spoiler: I had to stop) in the field I was initially trained for, and what I’m now going to do with my life, which is so different from what I once imagined.

A New Beginning

This first newsletter is an important starting point for me. A new beginning, letting go of what once was and looking forward to what is to come. And I’d love to take you along on this journey. I hope we can continue to find each other in this process, so please feel free to comment, ask questions, and share your thoughts. Over the past two years, you have been a huge support to me, and I want to cherish that for as long as I can.

Diving Deeper: Personal Insights

Here on the blog, I’ll be going more in-depth with personal topics. While I’ll still share on Instagram, if you want to get a deeper understanding of my journey, this is the place to be. I’ll be opening up more than I do on my other platforms, and I’d love for you to join me in exploring those deeper parts of my life.

Consistency & Expectations

Don’t worry, I’ll try to write a blog post once a month, maybe more sometimes, maybe less. It’s a work in progress. But the most important thing is that it will be a personal blog, and that’s exactly what you can expect. So, download the Substack app and become a free member of my Substack! I’m really excited about this!

Next in Malu’s world: I have some big news to share about what i’m going to do creatively this year

Love Malu

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