About Three Splotches of Ink

What is Three Splotches of Ink?

Three Splotches of Ink is an accumulation of all things book-related. It is a place where the art of the written word can live and thrive far away from AI and Amazon. Explore the world of reading and writing on our blog, find suggestions for new reads on our bookshelf, find new, original works from our site’s founder, and more. Join your community of fellow readers via the TSOI Book Club, find exciting up-and-coming publications, and even contribute your own writing and reviews, too. Share your love of the literary world with us!

In college, Three Splotches of Ink (version 1.0, if you will) hosted my personal writing with the intention of creating a following. I enjoyed basking in its potential… in private. I fought crippling insecurity, especially in allowing public access to something at the crux of my identity. The dread was so debilitating that in my first real writing workshop -- an "introduction to poetry writing" class -- I kept every piece I wrote locked-down. I turned my work into the teacher, and never once offered a piece for class review. Once in another class -- a creative writing workshop with eight students and an actually organized teacher from whom no one could hide -- I was twenty minutes late. I was across the hall in the women's room dizzy, puking, and crumbling under my anxiety. It was the day dedicated to discussing one of my works. With time, I forced myself to post unimportant bits of unedited poetry and miscellaneous scenes without context, and the vulnerability became easier to stomach. Literally. The anxiety stuck fast though. Even with 17 years of writing in private, I have yet to pursue any form of official publication.

In a surprisingly effective attempt to face my social anxieties, I learned to host events. This led to moderating two book clubs (Adult Fiction and Teen) and overseeing the operations of a third club (Adult Non-Fiction). I hosted monthly recommended reading nights, too. I'd hound my co-workers to send me their recommendations-- whatever they were enjoying at the moment regardless of age, reading level, or content -- and presented our picks to customers over refreshments. Soon, people were asking for me by name to help them choose titles. Entire book clubs would request suggestion lists, sometimes private presentations from me. My creative whims such as the Blind Date with a Book program, interactive displays, and even random art pieces and handmade signs were even appreciated. I had found my place in my community and thrived.

Years passed and I became company's special projects coordinator, lead merchandiser, and founder of their first ten-group book club program (50+ years and they never had an official company-wide program, only fleeting location-specific groups.) Even as everything changed entering the covid-era, I found solace at the bookstore. It remained the job that didn't feel like work. If anything, I felt that every book put in someone's hands and every recommendation I curated added positivity to someone's life (especially when so many people turned to books while under the Shelter-In-Place order).This is where Three Splotches of Ink took root. I recovered my accounts, updated the web design, and launched Three Splotches of Ink 2.0: a website where I could share my personal writing (with my growing confidence) and share my book reviews. TSOI became the covid project to fill the void created by social distancing.

I didn't write anything for a very, very long time. I tried to read, but I dropped from 100+ books a year to two or three max. I had never felt more alone, more abandoned, and more willing to drop everything and give up. After a couple of years bouncing from job to meaningless job, spending time working through childhood and young adult traumas, I built myself back up again a piece at a time. I found important people here and there. I channeled some of my energy into positive practices like getting my health back under control and finding new, artsy hobbies. But, that hole in my core where that community and those practices of reading and writing once bloomed lingered.

Many times people told me that I "needed to do something hard" to see that I can still be strong and successful. In others' minds, it was completing something tangible, with a beginning, end, and clear product like running a marathon. I understood, though. For me, that "hard thing" was finally addressing that festering internal wound, and rediscovering my sense of purpose. Easier said than done. At first, I thought I'd be able to explore books again at my current job -- a part-time bookstore coordinator for a small tech school --but, it's too small a scope and thus unsatisfying. I switched gears and tried to do NaNoWriMo 2023. (For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo -- or National Novel Writing Month -- is a writer's marathon. The gist: write between 2,000 words DAILY over the course of a month to enter December with a rough draft of approximately 60,000 words, i.e. a novel.) Needless to say, I didn't complete a draft. I do still consider the practice to be a success. I revisited an abandoned work in progress and I ended the month with 29,000 words and a solid plan for finishing it off. I may not have hit the conventional goal, but I did something I found hard that helped me start to heal.

In this lifecycle, I do have ideas for an Original Works section, but at this stage I'm more interested in rediscovering my fellow bibliophiles. I want to reach avid readers through literature before I focus on my public writing career again. The website's focus is now on the world of books -- title recommendations, book lists, news in the reading community, book clubs, and the like -- with the goal of creating a safe public space to connect readers. I aim to provide information and to foster the growth of a community that is of such high value. I even see the for Three Splotches of Ink to one day blossom into an independent bookstore based on the ideals that inspired me in the first place. It's a challenge -- another hard thing for me to work towards -- and though there are the self-serving motives of building my confidence and carving a place for myself in the world, I look to support myself by supporting my community. If I can create positivity and joy by putting one more book into someone's hands, then the venture is a success.