Extended deadline for The Fiction Project!

I am a procrastinator. A horrible one. Thankfully, Art House Co-op has extended the deadline for the Fiction Project from May 1st to May 16th! Unfortunately, extended deadlines enable me to be at a standstill and continue to put things off. I’m not going to allow myself to do that, though! I have a lot of empty space left (a LOT) and not much time to fill it up.

Inspiration comes quite easy, but motivation does not. I know what I want to do, but I don’t know how to word it or express it. Another lesson in not being so hard on myself and not worry about perfection!

Art House Co-op’s “The Fiction Project”

I missed the boat for the Sketchbook Project. I remember finding it online and I was thrilled that something like this existed and I really wanted to do it. But then the idea drifted from my head. I was still on meds, therefore still not “there”. So in March I found it again (remembering that I had wanted to do it) but since I was late, I saw “The Fiction Project” and, with 3 days left to sign up, I jumped on it.

The Fiction Project is similar to the Sketchbook Project, except you write stories. Or poems. Really, it seems you can do whatever you want, as long as you try to keep a bit over half the book written rather than drawn. Writing has always been a large part of my life. When I would think about what I wanted to do (not what other people wanted me to do) being an artist was always first and being a writer came in as a “second first”.

I received the blank cashier’s book a couple of weeks ago and I have a whopping 9 pages done. I have about a week to get it sent back to them (must be postmarked by May 1st). I tore out 4 pages because, being a perfectionist, I couldn’t get it the way I wanted it. I’ve stopped doing that. It’s far from perfect, far from what I would like it to be, but it still gets the point across. I’ve used watercolors, marker, ink, acrylic, and pencil. The paper in the book is very light, so it’s certainly not made for watercolors or really anything beyond a marker. I don’t care. It works.

The theme I chose is “I’m Sorry I Forgot You”. Out of all of them, I felt that one would be most appropriate. There are a lot of ways that theme can be applied, so I’m trying to work them all.

Here is the first page of my book…a page of notes. I like order…at first. I created a page of short notes thinking that I would be able to organize the book and make everything neat and tidy, but then my reality hit and since I’m none of those things, neither is the book. It’s a catch-all of thoughts. Chaotic.

This is the back of the first page:

The last picture I’ll post is the page opposite of the above page. It’s just a quick illustration relevant to my inability to always decipher reality from fantasy.

More to come!

First post for 2011…

I finally have both this blog and my Blogspot blog nearly set up.  It’s time for a break – going to relax and create!