About Sarah
The person behind the archive.
A collector of stories, strange things, and impossible places.
Not a biography. Not a list of credentials.
A brief peek into the world of someone possibly from another dimension.
Between Worlds
I have always been drawn to the darker side of life and the questions hiding beneath the surface that left others feeling unsettled. The ideas of black and white, good and evil have never made much sense to me. I believe in the grey. The area between where contradictions exist and where comfort can be found in the frightening. The place where reality and imagination overlap.
The Wondermajica of today grew out of that fascination.
Origins
There are two origin stories you should know of. We shall start with my own which will lead us to the second.
I was the kid that spent all of recess on the swings, convinced I was flying or that if I went high enough I just might find myself falling into somewhere else. Even before discovering the term "portal" I believed in them.
How could I not? The Hundred Acre Wood was always there to embrace me.
I was also the kid that spent an unusual amount of time daydreaming. So much so, that today, some people might describe it as a symptom of something else. Regardless of what label it may or may not carry, my brain discovered a talent in building neighborhoods...then entire worlds...and ultimately full universes occupied with so many creatures, lands, and ideas that have continued to thrive and grow within me.
A new need would emerge from this. A need to share these worlds with others. It occurred to me one day that I just might be like one of those storytellers that I admired so much. Attempts would be made. So many of them. Sadly they would all be destroyed by the acts of self-erasure and assumed unworthiness.
That urge to write would never leave me though.
The Archive Before the Archive
Psychotic Wonderland
Sometime in 2010 that urge became too strong to ignore. I created my first blog, Psychotic Wonderland (no longer online). It would be a combination of an online diary, a place to share photos and thoughts about life, and a seed starter for a psychological story told via poems and strange messages.
Life happens though, and in 2014 due to personal reasons I deleted my old home. I was lost and floating alone in a very dark void.
I would spend 2015 trying to find myself again on Tumblr, but it never felt right.
Skuggi Drago
In May of 2016, I would post my first book review on my now defunct Tumblr page. It managed to gain the attention of the author who shared it on their social media and I would find myself inspired.
Partially out of a need to just write and partially out of a need to grow and learn how to speak up for myself, I would decide to create a new blog.
Skuggi Drago would be the name of this new home and over time, not only would I gain attention for several of my book reviews, I would also manage to wrangle in a few others to join in on posting content. It was a very fun and active time.
Once again though, life happens. Friendships end and work takes over the lives of others.
Finding myself alone, my insecurities would once again surface and I would find it extremely difficult to write consistently.
Wondermajica
Eventually I decided that a rebranding was in order. It was time to clean the slate and begin anew. However, instead of leaving Skuggi Drago behind or bulldozing it like I had Psychotic Wonderland....I landed on just changing the name.
This new name would need to represent all of me. Who I am, who I am becoming, and to an extent, who I used to be, but had forgotten.
Thus, Wondermajica was born.
Inspired by my love of portal fantasy, it is a fairly obvious combination of Wonderland and Imajica. Two of my favorite universes, combined. The childlike and the adult merged.
However, regardless of my excitement at starting fresh, a pattern would quickly emerge.
I would post in batches at a time. Then go quiet for an extended period of time. Almost as if I had seasons.
The Human Behind the Curtain
For much of my life, I believed my cycles of creativity and exhaustion were simply a matter of discipline. I would throw myself into projects, create constantly, disappear for a while and eventually return again.
These cycles would not just impact my creative life though, and over time I learned that there were deeper reasons behind the patterns.
I have lived with chronic pain and fatigue for as long as I can remember. Like many people with invisible illnesses, I spent years assuming that what I was experiencing was just normal...or that I was just somehow weaker than others. It was not until much later in life (hello 30's), that I began seriously investigating why my body seemed to work against me.
In recent years, I have learned more about my health, including living with fibromyalgia and hypermobility-related issues. These discoveries have changed the way I understand myself, my limitations and the way I create.
I believe privacy matters, so I will not be sharing every personal detail here. However, I do believe that there is value in talking honestly about experiences that are often misunderstood.
In the future, some of those conversations may find their way onto Wondermajica as part of the larger story of living and adapting to a shell that doesn't always cooperate.
Learning how to work with my body instead of constantly fighting against it is still an ongoing process.
The seasons remain...but so does the storyteller.
The Writer
Through all of this and so much I just don't feel comfortable sharing publicly, the writer within me has survived. It has struggled but still that urge carries on. This is where I share a new agenda of sorts.
My original goal, back in 2016, was to practice sharing what I think about things and develop the ability to speak up for myself. I think I have done a decent job with both of these and thus, a new goal is needed.
I think it is time for me to share my personal work again. To go back to developing worlds that have lived within me for decades.
I also think it is time to upgrade from just writing reviews and expand on sharing my opinion in different ways.
No worries though! Reviews will still be around. I just want to grow. I'm not sure where this will take me or how things will go. I just know it is the inevitable next step in the evolution of both myself and Wondermajica.
I hope that you, whomever you are that is reading this, will join me in that journey.
Signals that Resonate
Some of the stories, sounds, people, and strange worlds that have helped shape me and, in turn, the archive.
Stories & Worlds
- Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass — Lewis Carroll
- Mass Effect
- Fallout
- Imajica — Clive Barker
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- The Twilight Zone
- Murder, She Wrote
- Arthur
- The X-Files
- Professional Wrestling, 1999–2015
Sounds
- The Birthday Massacre
- Depeche Mode
- HEALTH
- 3TEETH
- Tears for Fears
- Piero Piccioni
- M83
- f(x)
- Red Velvet
- Aly & AJ
People
- Clive Barker
- Patricia Briggs
- Jay Kristoff
- American McGee
- Mary Ann Mitchell
- R.L. Stine
- Sayaka Murata
- Raven — wrestler
- Fred Rogers
- Rod Serling
0 comments
Have something to say? I can't wait to hear it!