Hand made paste paper journals with wax covered linen coptic stitched binding. Some self-published family books for Mariah and Mistral, and my Masters’ thesis.
Write to Publish
May 2022 I’ve always wanted to write books. Children’s books in particular when I was younger. I have piles of self hand-stitched journals, sewn alphabet books, art books, my art education master’s thesis, and of course, a few self-published Shutterfly books and collections for posterity for my daughters. Now I want to write a book and I desire to learn to organize all my musings into some coherent gathering of sorts. It is always good to dream and then do the work. I worked on this newly launched website for much of 2021. It puts all my art under one roof. Now I will focus my energy on writing a memoir.
November 16, 2022 I started working with a book coach in June. I had no idea how to gather all my journal writing into a book and my coach is teaching me the language of book writing. This is hard work and I am now in my first draft writing. I consumes hours each day and my artwork has slowed to a snail’s pace. My goal for 2023 is to have submitted monthly deadlines and find balance with writing and making art.
29 + volumes of hand writing journals from which I hope to compile into a book. Somehow find a teacher or class to help me to learn this craft of amazing ways to communicate with the written word.
How to organize? How to outline? How to write?
I would hope that all of my journals and musings of things that mean everything and yet nothing at all does not end up someday in a box or two in some obscure auction or yard sale. Ouch! But how to make this happen? As I am creating this new website as a digital documentation of my life I know that it is the written words that I pen almost daily that is the research of some sort of memoir. Perhaps to be published some day to be lost in a short run that might gather dust in a few bookshops. Not to sound so negative about this, but I’ve just received this month two “not invited” email’s to be in a wonderful two-week open residency at Haystack, and then just yesterday, the second “not invited” to the paid one-week workshop at the same location. Not invited is the polite term for the reality of the situation. Rejected. Turned down. Not accepted. Not good enough.
The only response to this is to pick myself up and keep working. Keep making and writing despite this set back. Be positive and continue to move forward each day. In doing so, regain my footing and move into my self assurance in my little voice.