Karen T. Smith

Hello, I’m Karen Smith. I’m a writer, artist, and joy-seeker. Like a lot of people, I found myself getting increasingly stressed and increasingly exhausted by the pressures of the modern world. When a friend recommended a daily writing practice that had saved her bacon, I decided to give it a try. I was tired of waking up tired. I have been writing about three good things each day since January 1, 2017.

I am also an artist. My medium is cyanotype prints, also known as sun prints, of Illinois native plants that I grow in my yard.

I’ve been a gardener for decades, and have been working with native plants for more than 20 years. I make these prints as a way to capture the ephemeral nature of the growing season here in the midwest. I primarily work with plant matter picked that day and exposed in sunlight, but I’m starting to explore drying my own plants and using a UV light for prints. The winters are long and challenging here and making cyanotypes is joy-filled. You can see in my art how I am working to integrate my three personas – writer, artist, joy seeker.

You can find me on instagram @realkarentsmith where I will frequently forget the whole site exists.

My primary writing accomplishment is my daily list of three good things. 2026 will mark the 10th year of this writing project. Since 2021 those archives can be found on my Substack site and I’m working on a non-fiction book about this work and what I’ve learned in the years I’ve been finding joy every (damn) day.

Newsletter!

Join my mailing list, The Inside of My Brain, which I run via Substack. You can get my daily list of three good things delivered to your inbox as an email. The site will pressure you to make an account but that’s only necessary if you plan to comment or like posts. Here’s the pitch for my newsletter:

An antidote to the curated perfection of people’s outsides, I’ll let you peer inside. Join me in looking for 3 real things, good things, each day.

Short intro:

I’m finally learning the function of a life is to live it. I write a list of 3 best things each day. It’s profoundly simple, and profoundly life-altering. I’m a consultant, gardener, writer, and joy-seeker. I make original cyanotype art. I have 2 kids, 2 cats, a spouse, and a house in the suburbs.