XOXO Revolution Hall Sign

This year, at the XOXO Festival closing remarks, Andy Baio asked the attendees to write about their experience when they got home. If we didn’t have a blog he encouraged us to start one, to become active members of the indie web.

I have a blog. I’ve had it for years. I love the indie web. I love owning my own domain(s), and having a place online that is mine. It’s not Twitters, or Instagram’s, or Patreons, it’s mine.

But I rarely blog.

When post here it’s usually to promote something I’m working on.

So…

Random thoughts on the XOXO Festival:

I’d forgotten about how much XOXO means to me. I’d gotten wrapped up in worry about the state of my projects/my job/the world, and XOXO crept up on me. When the day came I didn’t think I was ready.

When I got off the bus at the opening party and saw the festival grounds…

…I was overwhelmed with the following thought:

“I’m SO ready for this.”

At the opening party I met up with friends I hadn’t seen in months. We commiserated over hard times and got excited about each others projects. I was so happy to see everyone.

All weekend long friends and strangers agreed that making the things we make is crushingly hard. Physically and emotionally we’d been pushing ourselves to our limits, all while trying to make it look easy online.

God, that just makes me feel so much lighter. People you respect saying that what they make look easy is actually right on the edge of being too much to handle. May even be too much to handle.

I feel that way all the time. Turns out we all do, I guess. XOXO is where I come to talk about these things and it’s felt like a home.

  • I got to play with a Playdate.
  • I saw animatics for a movie I’m thrilled about.
  • For the first year ever, went to the tabletop section of the festival, and got to play test The Adventure Zone tabletop game.
  • I got the opportunity to make a comic unlike I’ve ever made before, and met folks who are readers of my current one.

Most importantly, I went to the festival feeling like I didn’t know how I was going to go on, and came home dying to make things.

Thank you.