I’ve been thinking a lot lately (don’t worry, I won’t hurt myself!), about art, about writing, about life in general. While I haven’t made any New Year’s Resolutions, I did make basic goals I’d like to get accomplished by the end of the month. This works a bit better for me – a list and a tactile deadline. A year’s SO LONG; let’s work a month at a time!
ANYWAY: I decided to give up pop, or SODA, if you’re not from the Midwest. It wasn’t a conscious goal; here’s what happened. I ran out here at the house and was like, eh, and didn’t get more. And then it went for a few days, and I was like, “How long can I go?” It’s been, well, a few weeks, and I’ve only caved once, and that was because it was either that caffeine at 6am or none at all!
I’ve a new program to keep track of orders and send dates so I can have good records and streamline my shipping process. That was a MAJOR thing I wanted to take care of as I start work on Issue #3 (which I need nice new journal pages for! Hint hint).
There are just so many things I want to post about; you might get an entry a day for a while!
One of the things I’ve been thinking about is my journal. I’ve been a writer for most of my life, even went to college for it, and have found that the more I focus on the “visual” part of journaling, the less I think about the actual journaling. Yes, I’ve found it easier and easier to express myself through visual means, but I still love the magic and alchemy of words.
A co-worker recently gave me a book of e.e. cummings poems to read; I haven’t read poetry since a creative writing class during my sophomore year of college (a time when I entered a poetry slam on a whim and won 3rd place) and was a bit resistant at first, but once I began, I was re-wooed by the written word.
Oh, how beautiful! How expressive and lyrical! Why had I abandoned such an art form for paints and papers? Can writing and art peacefully co-exist?
Let’s give our words a stage on which to shine. This week, take or find a picture and paste it in your journal. On the same page, describe the picture – what were you feeling? What was going on? The weather, the people, the scene. Let the words compliment the photo. Celebrate the companionship of words and images.
Decorate the page how you’d like, but keep these two elements on the page. Don’t worry about “good” writing – like our art, our writing needs nurturing and practice in order to grow.
<3
Kira