I have suddenly decided to jump off the deep end. I’m relaunching this blog. I’m going to charge full-force into the blogging world and become a real blogger. A consistent poster. A creator of rich decadent content full of things you want to know. Informative, entertaining, unique. You heard me say all that.
Welcome to UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com!
I didn’t just decide to do this today. I’ve been working on this relaunch for months—brainstorming, setting goals, trying to organize my chaos into something new and exciting. I bought a new laptop, I cleaned and redecorated my desk and told myself it was time to focus.
This blog has been creeping along, wanting to become something for years. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to commit to a real plan, but here we are. UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com is Stardriftnights.blogspot.com reborn to be something it’s always wanted to be.
A Quick Note on the Name:
Stardriftnights was a reference to my debut into the noveling world, The Stardrift Trilogy. Since it’s been a while since Stardrift was published, it’s no longer my flagship, I wouldn’t say. No hate to the magnum opus of my teenage years, but I wanted to rename the blog to be more relevant to my current work. Unsweetened Darjeeling is the title of a poem I published in my little collection Songs from the Small Hours. I liked the idea of using a poetry reference for the title. I thought it suited the mood. Also, tea. By the way, don’t drink Darjeeling unsweetened. It’s not too good.
So, what can you expect from Unsweeteneddarjeeling.com? The former Stardriftnights.blogspot.com was mainly a writer/author blog. Anyway, on Stardriftnights.blogspot.com I posted about half-and-half writing how-to and author updates.
- Writing (fiction, mainly)
- Visual art (my first love)
- Creativity in general (and being multipassionate)
- The relationship between creatives and their audience (and how to improve it)
- And the relationship between creatives and God (the source of all creativity)
So, yes, you’re still going to get a lot of great content to help you sharpen your fiction-writing skills. Studying, practicing and helping other writers achieve better fiction-writing is definitely a major passion of mine. I’ve been doing it for about fourteen years now, and I’m showing no signs of slowing down. So, definitely expect writing-centered content on the regular.
My main foci, starting now, will probably be as follows:
Writing
(And the majority of my old content is still available on this blog, so check out some of the links at the end of this post for further reading.)
Visual Art
I mentioned that visual art was my first love, and I’m not kidding. Long before I started writing I was doing other things with pencils. Sometimes on walls. Actually, I didn’t even like writing until I learned to type. Pencils were for art.
Maybe partially because my parents didn’t mind my drawing on the walls, I never gave up art. My favorite medium now is a combination of graphite and fine-liners. I also play with oil and acrylic paints sometimes and am hoping to expand my skills to include digital and as many other media as possible. I’ll let you guys watch my progress and share anything I learn along the way.
Creativity
There’s a lot to being a creative person. Artists have different struggled than normal people do. We see the world differently, make decisions differently, value different things, have different needs and wants. It’s easy to feel alone and misunderstood as an artist.
I want to help other creatives navigate and understand what they go through. There are times when the mainstream is going to fail you when you need somebody who understands. With as much introspection and observation of other artists as I naturally engage in, I might as well share what I discover and find ways to help you.
Creators and Their Audience
Most people who dedicate a lot of their time to creative work sooner or later try to show it to people. This is important to the function of human society. Art is a very deep form of communication and there are a lot of nuances to that communication.
From the more philosophical side of that discussion to the very practical issues modern creators face with trying to gain traction and grow a community on the internet, I want to explore that, as well.
Creators and God
Disclaimer: this is a Christian blog. I am a Christian creator. I believe that God is the ultimate artist, writer, musician, etc. and art that comes from a heart that is deeply in touch with God is the most powerful and beautiful art of all.
The most important thing we can do with our creativity is open windows to let God’s light pour into the suffering world we live in. To do that, we have to nurture and try to understand the relationship between our art, ourselves and God. I’ll be looking at practical ways to do that as well as providing some food for thought now and then.
And now, a quick Q&A to give you a few more answers on what to expect from this blog.
Q: How often can I expect posts?
A: My aim is twice a week—Mondays and Thursdays. For now. I’ll test some things and see what works best.
Q: Who is this blog for?
A: Christian creatives of all kinds, but especially Millennial and Gen Z authors and artists feeling alone and trying to get their footing in this weird new reality we’re dealing with.
Q: Will you still be posting author updates?
A: Yes. I definitely won’t be keeping you in the dark about my author activities and will definitely be taking about my WIPs and new releases—but it will probably be a lot less than half the time. I don’t want to bore you.
Q: Where else can I find you?
Please give this blog a follow on Pinterest. I’m also on Instagram as an author @albuehrerauthor and as an artist @thewhisperingsketchbook. And this is my Goodreads profile.
One more thing!
Finally, here are the links to some of my older content you might have missed. I recommend reading Writing for Christ, a series I wrote for Christian fiction writers. It covers some rare topics like how to write good pastor characters, and some classics like avoiding preachiness. Also, check out 5 Myths About Christian Fiction.
For general writing advice there’s fun stuff like 15 Ways to Add Color and Depth to Character Relationships and 5 Reasons Your Writing Needs Humor.
And lastly, if you want to learn more about my current WIP the Dronefall Series, check out what inspired it in this three-part blog series.
Thanks for reading this. If you’re seeing this within the first week, or even month of it being published, you’re among the first to celebrate the relaunch. Thanks for the pageview! It means a lot at this point.
If you’re feeling at all compelled to support me in my efforts with this blog, any of these things would be great.
- Follow me on Pinterest and pin a couple of posts
- Follow either of my IG accounts
- Share about this blog anywhere and recommend it
- Join my email list! (Okay, you’ll have to wait a second while I get this one set up. Coming soon, though.)
Thank you!!