Go wide or go deep
an ode to the dabblers
In social media circles, the advice is generally to niche down, get a focus, stay in your lane. The algorithm rewards consistency, and even before the nebulous, all-knowing “algorithm” took over the way we interact with the internet, blog readers rewarded consistency. We followed sewing blogs or scrapbooking blogs or writing blogs or mummy blogs. A niche was central to survival as a presence on the internet.
A few years back, my partner in crafty crime sent me a link. “Check this out,” she said, “the depth year concept might be just what we need”. Like any challenge issued in the chat in January (or any time of year, really), I was on board. Also like most challenges issued in January (or any time of year, really), I lasted a month. At most.
Every now and then it’s popped back up on our radar, but not enough for me to really dive back into. This week, we found ourselves revisiting the concept, in a conversation that I started, talking about…not a rut, but maybe a languishing. I’ll find myself going into the craft room, fiddling a bit, and walking straight back out again having not really achieved much of anything.
“I want to finish my current journal this month. But also I feel like I'm being too narrow with heaps of sketch booking. Tomorrow I might pull out my WIP box and find something to work on.”
“Go wide,” she said
It struck me in that conversation, that for all that we are encouraged to get laser focused on just one narrow area, my brain can’t do it. It also struck me, how well going deep had worked for her. My offsider and podcast partner is an amazing art journaler. She still dabbles in the occasional projects of other crafts, but by and large, her main creative outlet is her journaling. It’s probably a decade since she really went deep, and her work is showing the results of that focus. It’s envy-inducing, and I can’t help but succumb to that thief of joy, comparison. But every time I look at her pages and say “I wish I could art like that”, I remind myself that I don’t have those skills because I didn’t go deep. That growing comes from doing, and she did the doing when I didn’t.
At the minute, it feels like I’ve been getting narrow, without realising. I completed sketchbook revival. My big project of the year is a mix of scrapbooking and junk journaling, but mostly junk journaling. In November, I’m completing a daily bible journaling challenge, which again, is pretty much just art journaling. Come December, I’ll have more bible journaling + art journal advent.
I’m enjoying it, clearly - I wouldn’t continue to add them to the rotation if I didn’t. But I also feel a restlessness in my creative rhythm, and that offhanded conversation helped me hone in on what it was. I’m too narrow. The depth year concept is fabulous, and I see the merit in it, but my brain just doesn’t work that way.
Once, I would have blamed myself and wallowed in guilt that I wasn’t "doing it right”. As I’ve grown and explored my creative process, though, I’ve learned that just because it works for others, doesn’t mean it works for me. And what works for me is dabbling, going wide, trying all the things and revelling in creative play for the sake of playing.
In social media land, it feels like everywhere I look at the minute, I am seeing the work of Dr Anne Kirketerp being quoted. Her research is in support of the idea of having multiple projects on the go, so that we can pick and choose what suits our energy to better help us enter a flow state in our work. It’s so validating to see writing that not only tells me I’m not wrong, but that I might actually be working optimally. I create best, and feel more grounded in my creativity, not when I find depth in a project but when I find width in a range of projects.
And so the algorithm can go whistle. I’m not a nicher, though I admire those who can and do niche in their work and their content. My insta and my YouTube and my blog will never be huge in the way that niche content creators can be, because my content is so fragmented. My niche, it seems, is to be anti-niche. And that’s ok.
ON MY CRAFT TABLE THIS WEEK
a wee bit of journaling // catching the end of bottle brush season to try making some syrup // finally getting around to recovering my ottoman
IN MY ORBIT THIS WEEK
Watching// Territory on Netflix - I binged the whole season in like three days and loved it!
Reading// We Solve Murders, a gift from my big boy for my birthday and I’m hooked. Aiming to finish it this weekend.
Listening// to a playlist on Spotify called “Creative Writing NO WORDS”, perfect to get me in the flow for my NaNoWriMo writing!
Playing// Coin Crash with Mr 10, a belated birthday gift he got last week
INSPIRING ME THIS WEEK
I need a new wreath and love this cute but simple one // I really need to get my blending board out and play with fibre again // a discussion with
led me down a rabbit hole of camera cases & tutorialsELSEWHERE THIS WEEK
On the blog// going wide with some dabbling in new-to-me hobbies
On the ‘tube// the first week of the month is vlog week, and even though I feel narrow, it was interesting to see how wide I managed to craft in October.
On the ‘gram// finding inspo and projects when the husband insists on a Bunnings trip
On the stack// more deep dives into a wide cross section (see what I did there?) into the intersection of creativity and our minds from
in this round up postI’m listening to my brain and loading up my weekend list with a big mix of things. I want to finish a quilt, and play with my new gel plate. Write a chapter for nano, and cast on some knitting. Read my book, go for a walk, record a podcast. It’s a scorcher of a day and hiding in the cool craft room sounds like the ideal way to pass the day.
What are you making this weekend?
I'm so happy that I didn't listen to those expers telling us to narrow down and concentrate on one thing, it wouldn't have worked out for me either I think. I love too many different arts & crafts and want to explore more. :)
Thank you! I've learned to stop thinking of myself as a dabbler and to understand myself instead as a generalist. There are different ways of relating to the world and they're all needed. I craft (and skate, write, cook, oh, the things that I love to do!), and in my work-life I come from academia. There, we have folks who are deep scholars of one tiny slice, spending 40 years digging in to a specific issue; then there's others (I was one) who like to have a broader sense of a few different areas of research. We need both. Your piece this morning reminded me to hang onto myself - and never feel ashamed about the three messy and very amateur crochet projects that sit in different corners of this house!