A Very Brief Return

Hello fellow sleuths! I hope you are all keeping well, I've really missed writing on here! I had to stop in and talk Nancy Drew for just a moment...

As I've made clear in various places around the internet, my life is really busy at the moment. I've had several video projects on the go, work has been busy, and I've just had other life things pile up. I need a break from it all! Fortunately, that's where this blog comes in handy. I don't have a ton of spare time, but when I do have it I hardly feel motivated to do anything productive. I don't personally see it as a bad thing, more of a means to unwind and let my imagination run wild. Sometimes I have to have a bit of a "rhythmic" activity to do to try and "normalize" myself. For the past little while, I've been very slowly working on archiving the Amateur Sleuth Blog and Dare to Play Blog in hopes of preserving the wealth of Nancy Drew information they carry.

For those that may remember, HeR started a blog back in the mid-2000s where they began to communicate with the fans on a sporadic basis. They would only put out a post every couple days or weeks, and sometimes the post would simply be a small image without any text (with the exception of the title). This blog was called the Dare to Play blog. It didn't run for as long as the Amateur Sleuth Blog has as it merged with the ASB in 2014. Still, some of the much older posts contain some really cool (but very very tiny) images and informational tidbits from HeR's past. For example, take a look at this real cool one from 2005:

This image was taken on Halloween of 2005 when the team was playing some spooky game together. Notice the really cool posters for Secrets Can Kill and Stay Tuned for Danger in the background! If you squint hard enough, you'll see posters for what I assume are Treasure in the Royal Tower and Message in a Haunted Mansion in the top right of the image. Again, it's a very tiny picture but it's all that the Wayback Machine had to offer.

Now for a little bit of behind-the-scenes stuff (this is my favorite!). On Instagram, I've been teasing every once in a while a project I've been working on. I'm not sure if anyone has guessed it or not, but I've got a few really cool physical Nancy Drew items that I want to sell. The only reason I have so many of these particular items (items that are still to be fully revealed) is because the companies in which I placed the orders with didn't allow me to only purchase one or two of each item. I would have to order in bulk orders of 100 or something ridiculous. So I thought, why not just sell the rest of them? I put a lot of care into the items I make because I want to be satisfied with having them in my collection. I do my best to provide the highest quality artwork to the companies and cross my fingers the final product is of the same level of quality. Most times it is, other times it isn't, but that's just the way life is. Things always look better on the computer...

Anyhow, the gist of it is that I do still have stuff going on that I'm really, really excited about. I'm also working on a very large Nancy Drew project which will really allow things to move forward in a whole new direction. The biggest obstacle right now is money. Once I get more of that, then I can continue to advance on this project!

I miss this all! I miss making content for the community, and I miss all the fun interactions with everyone. I really hope to return to it all soon! Can't wait for that day...

That about wraps up today's post. Until next time, detectives!

​Huw