2026: A Halftime Report
Alternatively: I’m still creative!
Hello internet - it's been a minute. I promise I'm not letting the blog die, and I swear I haven't gone dormant. I've just been focused on areas other than publicly releasing my writing this year. I wanted to pop in and provide a quick halftime report / mid-year update. Please ignore the fact that I'm roughly a month late.
In a sentence: the focus this year shifted away from public writing, first to design / merch and more recently to writing some personal letters. The rest of the year will likely include one more design-centered merch drop, as I continue to work my way through more letters.
Clothing / Design: The Merch Report
If any of you recall the original charter I wrote at the beginning of the year, my primary goal for 2026 was to sell one article of clothing. The fun update on that front is that I was able to achieve that goal back in the Spring* - I owe many of you a sincere thank you for the support. If you bought something, I hope you've been excessively complimented and told you're handsome / beautiful every time you leave the house.
I learned a ton that I'm excited to incorporate into future releases. A couple of main takeaways I've been mulling over from the spring drop:
Infrastructure set up (printing, payments, website redesign, etc.) took up a disproportionate amount of my energy before I could even get to the actual creative piece. This wasn't unexpected, but in hindsight I didn't focus on the actual designs as much as I plan to moving forward
I gotta be smarter about timing things out appropriately - the first drop was mostly hoodies, right as we headed into late spring and summer. I'll do my best not to drop a bunch of sleeveless shirts as we head into this winter**
Looking ahead, I'm planning on one more drop this fall / winter. I'm thinking long sleeve tees, most likely some caps, and then stickers or something smaller / lower commitment. With the infrastructure now in place, I'm expecting to have more energy to pour into design itself - bottom line, expect a more ambitious, design-forward drop this time around.
If you have any feedback on the initial launch, thoughts on what you'd want to see moving forward, or anything to say to me at all, don't hesitate to reach out.
Writing (Just Not Here)
Though I've been radio silent on the website for the past 6 months or so and haven't released anything publicly, that's not to say I haven't continued writing. With the first several months of the year dedicated to the merch infrastructure, design, and launch, writing naturally slid down the priority list for a bit.
That said, I've continued to plug away - it's just been on the personal front, as opposed to writing publicly. Often, that's just meant journaling informally. More recently, though, I've started down the path of writing personal letters to just about everyone in my life. I've only got the first couple out the door, but if you're reading this there's a decent chance you'll receive one at some point.
Why would someone write a letter in the year 2026?*** To me it really boils down to a couple things:
As someone who isn't a huge talker, particularly on the phone, letter writing has been a super intuitive and effective way to express a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise - I can properly express the depth of my gratitude for people, recap core memories in full detail, stuff like that. Said differently, it honestly just leaves me super fulfilled and helps me feel like I've left nothing unsaid
Letters feel like they're a bit of a dying art, and it feels cool to pretend I'm like a Colonial Era soldier or something penning his loved ones
More pragmatically, it just forces me to write in a different style, about different things - I've enjoyed a bit of a change of pace from all the pseudo-self help and heady essays I was writing last year
What I've immediately realized is that there are so many incredible people in my life who deserve, and will ultimately receive a letter. It's just a matter of spacing these things out and pacing myself sustainably - this is likely a multiple year effort layered on top of whatever other creative pursuits I'm working through at a given time.
Between another merch drop and the personal writing, don't expect many (if any) of the longer form essays I was writing last year to show back up this year. However, keep an eye on your mailbox - you might find a fun little surprise in there at some point.
Onward and UpwarD
So that's that, really - the update none of you actually asked for. Despite the lack of public writing, I promise you, dear reader: I am still very much trying to become a more creative person.
Keep an eye out for another merch drop. Keep your other eye out for a potential letter in the mail. Stay golden.
*If you missed the merch drop you can find it here
**The official keith.diy “gunshow tank” is more of a Summer ‘27 release anyway
***I have been contractually obligated to explicitly clarify: these are not suicide letters. I promise everything's good, I just genuinely enjoy writing them