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@activeselflove

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💫 |we are all artists.
📚 | author "Thoughts that became poems" 👇

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Inspired to share some poetry/writing prompts with you today! I’ve been needing a push to write lately myself, and will be using the prompts alongside you. Simply use the prompt to spur/direct your writing and see where it goes. There are 23, just enough for each day for the rest of this month. Words/phrases taken from my own recent writing, experiences, observations or reading. 📖

And to make things interesting, I will be giving away one copy of my book, Golden Threads, to one person who completes every prompt! Two others will receive a discount code to purchase a book! Names will be drawn in early February. You do not have to share your poems online, but if you’d like to, please tag me! Hope this can be a fun way to start off 2025 for us! Let me know if you’re going for it and share with your writer friends :) Wishing you easeful and nourishing days 🤍

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I’d like to take this moment to shout out all the incredible artists, writers and publishers who have supported my book launch over the past (7?!) months by donating their own art. I first started contacting people about collaborating in February this year to prepare for the mid-March Kickstarter launch. These creators offered up their incredible creations with such enthusiasm and generosity to support in spreading the word about Golden Threads and introducing her to the world.

Dear @igkristyn @activeselflove @kate_henke_art & @ritakovtun - my ride or dies through this journey…your love and support will never be forgotten. I am so grateful to you. Thank you for creating and for sharing your own creations with the world. My hope is that through this process, a few more people have been introduced to your art and will be touched by your beauty and the lens through which you see the world.

To @theiabirthkeeping @aaronlelito @wildroofjournal @carolina.muse & @jtimbermusic I am so grateful to you and your willingness to collaborate and share your incredible art with us. Your ways of being have each touched me deeply and it makes me so happy to know that our creations will reside together in the homes of the giveaway winners (and anyone else who wishes!!)

I have about 7 more packages to ship before all orders - Kickstarter & otherwise - are fulfilled for now. Copies of my book can be purchased at sydneycrutch.art and PLEASE CHECK OUT the accounts & sites of my friends here and support their small biz’s 🤍🤍🤍 Kristyn Lee is the only one here without a public account and you can find her books on Amazon under this name 🌞

[The work of @jtimbermusic & @theiabirthkeeping are not pictured as I did not have their water color paintings & CD at the time of photographing.]

Love you all so big. Thank you for teaching me the true meaning of community and making me feel much less alone in this process. We rise together.

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And just like that, she’s here. My heart and soul on paper. My debut book. Golden Threads. Has arrived in the flesh. My life has been leading to this moment for many years. The threads pulling me forward through the dark, asking me the big questions, guiding me through the unknown, realigning, remembering what I am here to bring.

These poems are about the journey we take home to find ourselves. The book is centered around the process of metamorphosis, traversing themes of healing, hope, self-exploration, surrender and connection to the natural world. These pages invite us to come home inside our bodies, remember who we are on the deepest of levels and rise to meet the life that is waiting on the other side of fear.

Over the next several weeks, I will be mailing out orders to all of those who have bought their copy. If you are local to the NC Triad and would be open to picking up your book, get in touch.

Golden Threads is now available to buy only on my website. www.sydneycrutch.art 💫
These are limited first edition copies made with 100% post-consumer recycled paper and soy/algae ink. Additional print runs will depend on demand.

Thank you for all of your support through this process. I am so excited for you to hold and read her. She is all of ours now. May you find a sense of solace, connection and freedom within her pages.

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BOOK UPDATE (In backers’ inbox & Kickstarter page) 💫

Heyyyyooooo! June book update coming to you live from Greensboro, NC. I’ve been working hard behind the scenes these past couple months to finalize all that’s been needed to bring Golden Threads into physical form.

There were some final formatting edits / poem changes and additions that I decided to make and I am truly so so happy with the final result. She’s ready for you.

I designed the back cover and spine, and made a few changes to the front. Ensuring the formatting (page numbers, page breaks, margins...) was correct took many many unforeseen hours and next time I will most likely not be doing it through Microsoft Word. It seemed like the easiest option at the time, the platform I am most familiar with...but turned out to be a huge learning curve and presented challenges that wouldn’t be present on another program. Although, now I (think I) know what I’m doing!

Once everything was set, I placed the official order (for 250 BOOKS!!!!!) last week and have been tweaking the digital soft proof with the fine folks at Greenerprinter. As soon as the soft proof is good to go, it will take about 8 days for the books to be printed and shipped to me!

I’ve been researching eco recycled paper packaging and believe I’ve found a great option with EcoEnclose. I’ll be speaking with them on the phone this week to finalize and then placing the order. It tends to take more time to do things in a responsible way, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. To know that my book is coming to you in a way that supports a circular, less wasteful, more intentional system, and companies that are built on this same ethos feels very aligned.

As many of the tiers have my poetry & photo cards included as rewards, I am placing a big order of cards tomorrow with the ma & pop print shop outside Taos. That being said, if you would like to add any additional cards to your order, you can do so on my website. TODAY ONLY they are discounted, you can mix & match — choose whichever cards youd like and you get free shipping. I will mail them to you with your book order…

👇🏽continued in comments / you can also read via Kickstarter link in bio 💫

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april poetry // some favorites of this month from my prompts & otherwise

which words do you connect most to?
post one of your april poems in the comments!

10 more days of poetry month! join in writing a poem a day. prompts are pinned 📌

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#poetrymonth #aprilpoetrymonth #aprilpoemaday #poems #sydneycrutchprompts #goldenthreads #aprilprompts #aprilpoetryprompts #poemsbyme

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Orders for my debut book, Golden Threads, close tomorrow, Sunday 4/14 at 4 pm ET. I hope to reopen orders after preparing and mailing out books in May/June to those who have already purchased their copies.

Availability, stock and additional print runs will depend on many factors. The more orders and support I have up front, the more books I will be able to print and the more copies I will have available when orders reopen.

If you want to ensure you receive a copy of Golden Threads, please order your copy before 4pm tomorrow!

You can now also order through Venmo if you prefer. Instructions are on my site. www.sydneycrutch.art

Watch my “LAST CALL” video (posted earlier today) with next steps & face to face gratitude for you all.

Thank you for supporting me in bringing this book to life. Thank you for supporting my art. I cannot wait for you to hold her. 💫

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This is the first book. Of what I know will be many. These are the beginnings.

There are few things in my life that seem to stand the test of time. Few passions, purposes, people, places. I’m a wanderer, a traveler, an explorer. I leave. I change. I expand. I outgrow. And I wouldn’t have it any other way because this is who I am born to be. At least for now 😉 But words and writing and poetry and lyrics have been there since my beginning. Back in the early days of social media and statuses. My MySpace and Facebook were filled with quotes of my favorite authors and the lyrics from my favorite songs that touched something in my preteen curiosity. I copied and pasted these paragraphs onto word documents and printed them out to keep before I ever had my own computer. My journals from elementary school — alongside the juicy narratives about various crushes I had to whom I never revealed my feelings — they’re all filled with song lyrics, poetry (many about said unrequited crushes).

And that was all before I really understood that this is who I am. Like travel, like natural, wild spaces, writing runs deep in my blood. There is no stopping it. And this book is a testament to how far I have come. How much I have grown, unlearned, remembered. How much I have come to know about what art truly is and why it is so important. It tames the crazy and gives us wings and calms the storm and holds our hand all at once. It looks us in the eyes and cradles us like a child and explains the big questions that no one else could. It gifts us the answers we desperately craved all of our lives. Through art, we can see ourselves clearer. Through art, we are more true.

I trust that this book will make it into the hands and eyes and hearts of the ones who are ready. And I know that my life is better for writing this story. Whatever you do, be sure to stand up and tell yours.

Orders close in 3 days.
sydneycrutch.art 💫

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In excitement and gratitude for all of your support thus far I am doing an epic Golden Threads GIVEAWAY with some of my absolute favorite artists!!

Winners will be announced on TUESDAY 4/9 💫
There will be 3 winners. All will receive a signed copy of Golden Threads and a mix of the beautiful offerings below.

To enter:
✨ Comment why you would love to win this giveaway!
✨ Tag a friend! (Each additional tag counts as one entry - unlimited entries!!)
✨ Follow ALL of the accounts below 👇🏽

@sydneycrutch Signed copy of “Golden Threads”
Kristyn Lee’s Book - “Sunlight Through the Cracks”
@activeselflove Book - “Thoughts that became poems”
@kate_henke_art Art Cards
@ritakovtun Photo Postcard
@jtimbermusic CD of his New EP “Drink the Music”
@theia_birthkeeper Watercolor Painting
@carolina.muse Print Copy of Carolina Muse Literary & Arts Magazine
@wildroofjournal 1 year Substack Subscription to Wild Roof Journal
@aaronlelito Chapbook - “A Half Turn”

For an additional 5 entries:
✨Share this post to your stories (tag me so I see it!)
✨Be on my email list! (Sign up via the link in my bio - takes 5 seconds & you can unsubscribe at any time)

Shipping address must be US / MPO.

Happy entering!!! Thank you for supporting artists and our creations 🙏🏽💫

Even if you don’t win, I hope you’ll still consider grabbing a copy of GT before orders close on the 14th! sydneycrutch.art

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APRIL POETRY PROMPTS ARE UP! Celebrate Poetry Month with me (and the release of Golden Threads!!) through a fun devotion to YOUR ART. Write a little something with the day’s corresponding prompt in mind every day this month! Even if it’s just a few lines or for a few minutes, this is a big step if it’s not part of your normal routine! It’s this repetitive consistency that helps to take our art from back burner to prioritized habit.

These prompts are the titles of the first 30 poems in Golden Threads! So that feels pretty cool knowing that more art gets created through my art 💫

Get creative, put your own meaning to the words, think outside the box and stretch yourself to create something new every day in April. It doesn’t have to be “good” and you don’t need to share it if you don’t want to. That’s not the point. The point is to write because it feels good, to gift yourself a therapeutic mode of expression this month. Eclipse season is here and the energies are a-swirl. Writing definitely helps ground me and I’ll be doing it with you!

There are several epic poetry accounts that have released prompts for April. @sonjaringo @amykaypoetry @letsescapril Check out theirs too and choose the ones that resonate. The biggest thing is just to prioritize writing. If you miss a day or 5, pick up where you left off, or do 2 a day to catch up.

Tag me @sydneycrutch or use #goldenthreads if you share your work, I’d love to read & repost!!

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From the newsletter 💫

Ladies and gents & all folx we have officially passed the halfway mark on the book’s Kickstarter!!! Less than 1 week in and you have already raised $1,129 of $2,200 to get this book printed and out into the world. I am truly blown away by the outpouring of support and love from everyone. Thank you for backing my dreams, believing in me and being there to bring Golden Threads into physical form 🦋

Swipe to see the current tally, newsletter news & reviews of the book by @wildroofjournal & @igkristyn 🌹

$1,071 and 23 days left to go before book orders close on 4/14/24.

ENDLESSLY GRATEFUL.

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I want this book to be a fcking permission slip. To open the gates for your creative force to flow. I do not want Golden Threads to be perfect. Whew. Speaking these words is so liberating and so triggering. “I want you to see the imperfections and to let that drive you in your own creations.” Perfection is unattainable and it can paralyze us if we let it. I am embracing my humanness in this process of writing, editing, formatting, designing, copywriting, marketing, packaging… all the hats I could possibly wear to bring forth my book. And this might be the most important hat of them all. Advocator for imperfection, for loving grace and acceptance of my art and its inherent flaws. I trust that this book will reach exactly those it is meant to. I trust that I am in exactly the right place to be sharing it with the world. May we release our need for perfection and embrace the rawness, the realness of our creations and the huge permission slips they are for others to make the jump, write the book, paint the canvas, record the song, share their face, love themselves enough to do the thing that their soul is calling them to do.

Golden Threads is here and orders are open through 4/14/24. If you want to be one of the few to hold a first edition of my very first book, now’s your chance.
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#goldenthreads #permissionslip #poetscorner #artistlife #readmybook #loveyourself #theartistsway #openthegates #artheals #arttherapy #artisbeautiful #writersunite #writersuniverse #poetrycommunity

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And here we are. My debut book, Golden Threads, is NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER. Ahhhh!! 💫

Head to my website to read how to order!

Golden Threads is a collection of poetry about the journey that we take back home to find ourselves. It deals with themes of loss, healing, hope, courage and remembering one’s voice. It carries a cord of our connection to the natural world throughout. It’s about the metamorphosis we undergo when we release past parts of ourselves, that cocooning of uncertainty once an old life dissolves but before our next chapter has fully formed.

Extra rewards & perks for the first 4 people to purchase the book/back the project as well as for those who choose from the top 3 tiers. More info on my website. Note: Must be on my email list to qualify for the extra surprises. Books will ship in May/June.

You know where the link is 💫

Thank you for supporting my art, for being a part of this journey, and for always honoring and telling your own story.

In deepest gratitude,
Sydney

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