<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< mid-20s – you know, kind of like a typical story – the time, hoping enough people would buy them to tide the family over until the commission check how on earth could something I wrote about that end up meeting somebody in a place where they’ve came in. “I’ll never forget, it was a Sunday morning, and been through something far more severe than I’ve I sent it right before we went to church,” she says. ever been through?” “Before we could even get into the church, our Shortly after the poem went viral, someone phones started going off. We had sold out of every reached out to commission her to create note cards single one from the mailing list alone.” for the participants in a girls’ retreat. Soon after Patrick quickly figured out how to purchase that, someone asked her to write a poem to hang in more books at wholesale, and Nichols posted their new baby’s nursery, and her career built from about them on Instagram. They sold out again, there. She began to gain confidence in sharing and then again. more of her work as people continued to send her “Of course, if you’re an artist or you make sometheir stories. thing, have an online shop,” Nichols says. “It seems Nichols recalls a moment from her freshman so obvious now.” year of college, when she says she looked fine on “I think a lot of creatives deal with this – bethe outside, but felt socially awkward and uncause we’re creative, we can overcomplicate comfortable on the inside. She would spend time things, like, I’ve got to build this thing somehow, sitting on her dorm room bed and staring at the and yeah, okay, do that, but there’s also a practiblank wall. Today, when she receives messages cality, something practical that can help sustain from women around that age, she goes back to you and have cash flow. I learned about that that moment to imagine what words she would’ve word,” she laughs. needed to see on that wall. As they counted down the weeks to the birth of Some of the stories she receives stick with her their son, Jacob, Patrick suggested taking some of long after she has created and shared the accomNichols’s art from Instagram and turning it into art panying artwork, especially those from young prints. Nichols was originally resistant to the idea, people in times of transition. “They don’t feel like but she eventually came around. Those sold out, they have that permission to really express what too. Next, someone asked if they offered stickers, they’re going through,” she says. “I think a lot of so they sold those as well. The growing online people, even people who have really been through shop freed Patrick up to join the business full time. intense things, think that their stories aren’t valid Publisher Zondervan also found Nichols’s art or they’re not worth being reflected in some way. on Instagram, and they reached out to her about If I receive a message from someone that says, creating a book of art and poetry. All Along You you’ve probably received a million stories like this, Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living was or you’ll probably never click on this, I’m like, well here I am, I’ve clicked on it, and I wanted to click on it because you said that.” Nichols’s social media following continued to grow, but Instagram likes don’t pay the bills. She was juggling freelance projects, and so was Patrick; Support Point by ordering an 8” x 10” limited-edition print featuring everything felt chaotic. Nichols’s rendering of the Lanier Near the beginning of 2019, Nichols was comAcademic Center! The artwork is missioned for her biggest collaboration ever. After featured on the cover of this issue; completing the project, however, she and Patrick prints will not include the magazine realized that she wouldn’t be paid for nearly three headlines. Prints are available for months. A surprise pregnancy around the same $25, now through April 30. Order time added to the pressure. yours today at: Nichols went into the closet in her apartment and pulled out some self-published books she’d sold on Amazon a few years prior. She sent an email to her mailing list, which was fairly small at limited-edition print point.edu/mhn SPRIN G 2021 | 35