Inspirational – LittleZotz.com

Category: Inspirational

I Was Interviewed on The Horror Mosaic

Posted on December 30, 2024January 3, 2025 by Lauren Spear

I was interviewed on Isaiah Swanson/The Bitter Wolf’s show, The Horror Mosaic, about what I do here on LittleZotz.com and – of course – my work over on my horror-focused website, HorrorFam.com!

Here’s the summary Isaiah wrote of for episode:

“As the founder and co-owner of HorrorFam.com, Lauren wears many hats. She edits every article, hosts the HorrorFam.com Podcast, manages social media (@LoveHorrorFam on Instagram, X, and YouTube), applies her many artistic and creative talents to the website’s design and upkeep, and handles countless behind-the-scenes tasks to keep the site thriving. In addition to her work with HorrorFam.com, Lauren manages LittleZotz.com, a place where she writes about “everything else”, as she puts it. In the profile, Lauren discusses growing up in the horror industry, talks about her work with HorrorFam and LittleZotz, and reflects on the power of horror and art in general to help us through the darkest times in our lives. I think Lauren is an inspiration, but I might be biased because I write for her in my human form at HorrorFam!”

Check it out! I’m not interviewed often (I’m usually the one interviewing other people) and, on the rare occasions when I am, I usually find the end result barely watchable… But I thought this one was really nice! Isaiah interviewed me for over two hours and edited my nervous rambling down to a concise 15 minutes while still maintaining the context.

If you’ve ever been curious about me or what I do or how/why I do what I do: This is the interview for you to watch! 😀

We Each Get 52 Weeks Per Year

Posted on October 2, 2024October 2, 2024 by Lauren Spear

Your life is precious. Please make every week/day/minute count. ❤️

I’m 10 Years Free from Self-Harm!

Posted on August 5, 2024August 5, 2024 by Lauren Spear

On August 3, 2014 – after over a decade of cutting (self-harm) – I made one very final cut… God, the EMTs, the ER docs, and a few others said, “Not yet.” August 4, 2014 was the start of what became the life I have now. A life free from self-injury.

I’m one decade clean from self-harm as of yesterday (August 4, 2024)!

To celebrate, I drew self-portraits of myself at each age from nine until now.

My Writing Process: How I Write Posts Online (From Initial Idea to Publication)

Posted on March 22, 2024March 22, 2024 by Lauren Spear

Due to my writing background, every once in a while, someone will reach out to ask me what my thought process is in regard to writing posts online. They’ll ask things like, “Where do you get your ideas?” or “What made you decide to write about that?” or “How do you go from idea to published post?”

I usually don’t have an answer. Or, rather, my answer differs wildly from post-to-post! If you ask me about a specific post, I can tell you how I went about writing it — from germination of an idea to what was finally uploaded — but, in a general sense regarding my posts overall, I wouldn’t be able to describe my “process” in a satisfactory way.

That said, I’m going to tell you exactly how this week’s post on HorrorFam.com happened. Welcome to the inner workings of my mind:

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5 Movie Quotes I Think About More Than I Should

Posted on June 2, 2023July 16, 2023 by Lauren Spear

I’m well-aware that placing text over stock photos is one of the most Basic modern artforms there is, but I enjoy it. I engage in it myself sometimes (as you may have seen in at least one of my previous posts), usually focusing on a movie quote or song lyric I particularly connected with.

This post is going to be five of those “Deep”/Inspirational Text Over Vaguely-Related Stock Photos that I made showcasing some of my favorite movie quotes. Feel free to grab ’em to share them on your own social media accounts (but I’d appreciate it if you credited/tagged me @LittleZotzWrite if you do, please ♥).

I’m also going to share what each of these quotes means to me… Feel free to tell me in the comments what they mean to you, if you like ’em too! 😀

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Flat Finds Love | When You Find the One Who Makes You Feel 3D

Posted on February 14, 2023July 16, 2023 by Lauren Spear

Who else is feeling romantic? 🙂

Music is “And Just Like That…” by Bryan Teoh via FreePD.com

How to Continue Creating During a Personal Crisis

Posted on April 7, 2022July 16, 2023 by Lauren Spear

This hasn’t been a great year… I know you likely feel the same way (and probably have for the entirety of the 2020s thus far!). We’ve all been dealing with immeasurable stress, crushing losses, lingering grief…

It’s been an especially difficult time for creators — writers, artists, and other creative minds.

In a dose of cold, harsh reality: Freelancers and independent creators don’t get paid if they don’t create! (And nothing adds extreme stress to an already crisis-level emotional situation like wondering “How am I going to buy food/pay bills this month??”). For many of us, we create because we have to in order to survive — it’s the only thing we’re good at.

In a more romantic sense: We create because we NEED to. It doesn’t just help us survive financially, it just plain helps us survive.

Creativity is at the heart of everything that matters. In many ways, it’s the only thing that matters. Especially now.

But sometimes creating things is SO DIFFICULT!! Even when we want to — even when we need to!

When you’re in the midst of a personal crisis (illness, bereavement, sleep deprivation, etc.), it can feel almost impossible to find the will and the inspiration to create anything. I know it has been for me… But, in spite of the difficulty, I’ve been creating a whole heck of a lot of stuff on a fairly consistent basis.

The following are the techniques I use to keep creating, always. I hope that my tips help you to continue creating during a crisis as well.

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You Matter and You Deserve Happiness (Video)

Posted on November 24, 2021July 21, 2023 by Lauren Spear

You deserve happiness. And I hope you feel it soon. If not… Tomorrow. Tomorrow for sure. ❤, L

You’re still breathing!

You are loved.

You’re human.

You are SO much more than your worst memories…

You’re still YOU!

YOU MATTER!!

Music = “Long Road Ahead B” by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incom petech.filmmusic.io/song/3995-long-road-ahead-b

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Nightmares, Baku, Tapirs, and Believing in Miracles During Hard Times

Posted on November 13, 2021July 16, 2023 by Lauren Spear

Colorful drawing of a blue tapir-looking creature with a heart-shaped snout sucking a little thought bubble/dream from a sleeping woman. The woman is brunette and has her mouth open (snoring + drooling) and her eyes closed, cuddling a brown mountain tapir stuffed animal. Her husband is tucking her in with a pink blanket and is looking at her with love and amusement, a little cartoon love heart floating out from him as he secures her for sleep. He has brown curly head hair and red curly beard hair and freckles and is pleasantly plump.

I’ve had chronic nightmares spanning my entire life. For as long as I’ve been dreaming, I’ve been having nightmares. And November, especially over the past fourteen years or so, has been a particularly nightmare-ridden month. I spend much of my Novembers sleep-deprived and glum.

November 2021 has been no different in that regard. Halloween was a-okay and then November hit and blammo — no sleep. Or bad sleep when I do sleep.

It’s a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, I suppose. And, much like watching horror movies, I’m well aware from a logical standpoint that what’s “on screen” in my brain during my nightmares isn’t real and can’t actually hurt me… But it’s still a gosh-darned drag and trying to get anything done when you’re unrested is extremely difficult.

However, while I would much rather not have chronic nightmares and all my other PTSD-related symptoms stemming from various traumatic experiences, I do believe they’ve served a purpose in my life. And, dare I say, contributed to one of my life’s best miracles.

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The Pitching Pep Talk Every New Freelance Writer Needs

Posted on September 15, 2021July 21, 2023 by Lauren Spear

An illustration of Lauren Spear shaking pom-poms. Her cats, Flex (pink) and Tina (yellow) are next to her, also cheering you on. Tina has a lil t-shirt that says Pep Squad and Flex has a slightly mangled pom-pom (she's torn it apart with her claws but seems enthusiastic!) — Flex, Tina, and Lauren Spear are cheering you on!

When I relaunched LittleZotz.com earlier this month, I was met with a very mixed reaction. There were some folks who were just happy I was back in whatever form (you guys are so sweet!), there were some peeps who were ALL about the new stuff (woo-hoo!), some who immediately unsubscribed (no hard feelings!), and some who said: “But… but you were so good at what you did before — why change?”

Well… yeah… I was good at it. But it made me horrifically unhappy!

I’ll get more into that at some point, I’m sure. But, for now, I want to focus on another comment I got after the relaunch:

“You uploaded two Hungry posts and nothing for Motivated.”

Haha! Whoops!! You’re absolutely right. My bad! I didn’t have anything for that Mood category on relaunch day.

But I think I’ve come up with a good one. Something that will help blend the old LittleZotz Writing with the new LittleZotz.com! Something that is still relevant to writers (my people!!) even now and shouldn’t be left behind with the rest of the “old stuff.”