First of all, don’t panic: all of my archives haven’t been deleted; they’ve been unpublished. As I understand it, you can still see them by viewing their old permanent links (and if you’re nostalgic but don’t know the link, feel free to e-mail me (sara[at]hotpinkmartini.com) or leave a comment and I’ll send the link(s) to you).

When I first began incorporating my personal blog’s address into my business media, I was a little worried. I worried that my opinionated, highly political voice and posts might scare people away. I worried that my personal life would influence how people felt about my work and my sales might suffer. I worried that it was unprofessional and inappropriate to discuss extremely sticky topics such as religion, politics, and women’s rights in a place that I was using to represent myself and my business.

Then I told myself that I shouldn’t worry: art was special. Art was a reflection on the world and how people reacted to that world. Artists, I thought, should be true; they should have opinions and thoughts and expressions that businesspeople couldn’t safely delve into. As it turns out, I was wrong.

Art is special, but the business of art should remain professional. Art is an expression of the personal thoughts and feelings of an individual, but the sale of that art should reflect more upon the personal thoughts and feelings of the buyer.

After I combined my personal blog with my business representation, I realized that I wasn’t being myself. I wasn’t writing about the issues that touched me, that made me think. I couldn’t discuss the books that I was reading because they were too controversial. I couldn’t discuss what I thought about the upcoming election. When I realized that I wanted to have a new, more personal blog so that I could write something in the public arena about Sarah Palin’s VP nomination, it hit me: I’d lost my vision. I wasn’t taking risks. I wasn’t being true. Something had to change.

I’m taking back my blog. The web address won’t be on business cards, business letters, or e-commerce sites. I have been working extremely hard on a new website for my business that will have everything pertinent to the sale of my art, but this blog won’t be part of it. Here I’m going to discuss political issues and religious issues and women’s rights and interesting books that I’m reading. I’ll still talk about my art and what I’m working on and what it means to me. I’ll still keep a business blog (with my mom!), but on a business website.

In the end, it wasn’t a hard decision. The old posts are still there, archived. From here on out it will be just me. Not watered-down, not whipped up — pure, concentrated, radical, crazy ol’ me.