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Notes on pivoting my website

Going back to what I really wanted to do.
Looking to switch up my website.

Music and drawing are two things I've done since I was in grade school. I learned to draw snoopy in first grade to impress my friends. As far as music goes, most of the kids in my neighborhood were older than me and talked about their favorite music they listened to. And I think that's why by the time I was in 5th grade, I had started my first band.

So drawing and making music have been what I've wanted to do for most of my life.

When I started my website

So in 2017, I had decided to start my website here, intending to draw more and start making comics again -- and I did.

Created an art podcast

I also wanted to try to connect with other artists where I live here in Madison, WI. So I started an art podcast to meet other local artists and to learn about their creative process and how they support themselves through art.

And that's what I did for several years on this site, But, while I was making my comic and my art podcast, making music was still my main creative outlet and I felt like I couldn't talk about it on my own site for some reason.

It wasn't a personal site anymore

I had created this website to post my interests, artwork, and other creative ventures I was trying out. But I was now focusing so much time on the art podcast that it was taking over the site. And after several years of doing the art podcast, I was really focusing more and more on music projects.

Then I stopped making the art podcast and stopped posting here for a while. Mostly because it felt strange posting about things that had nothing to do with the art podcast on my website. Which is silly because that's why I started my website!

So...

I'm going to focus on my own interests:

Music, tech, video & art

That brings me to the main point of this post -- How I'm pivoting my personal website here.

I already have dedicated websites for my different projects: My band, Lorenzo's Music, my vintage reselling business, The Pop Culture Roadshow, and soon a website for my cartoons called Homemade Cartoons.

On those sites, I already post the things I've finished -- music that was released or things I have for sale. But I spend my whole week working on those things, creating them, and testing out new ideas. I also obsess over new software or internet tools for these projects.

So on this site that's what I'm going to post about. I'm going to post about my creative process for making those different things, managing them, the tech behind them, and things like that.

I actually tested this concept out a few months ago with a few video vlogs. I liked doing those because to me talking is easier than typing.

I also liked doing the vlog because I edit a lot of videos for my other sites. So I may talk about what I'm actually doing to produce those videos as well. And that right there... See that's what I mean, I want the site to be more about this type of stuff!

I want to get "tech-y"

I've also been very involved in open-source software and creative commons for many years, and I am currently heavily invested in federated platforms like Mastodon, PixelFed, and my latest obsession, self-hosted platforms. So you may hear some things about owning your own creative work that you were unfamiliar with!

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Location: Madison, WI, USA

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