Inspiration

Gonna Make It Through This Year

Inspiration, Musings, News

(This is why people like me should not be allowed to start blogs. I now have at least 7 or 8 and I hardly ever update any of them.)

The One Thing That Stays Mine

I saw this boat named Possible Dream in Santa Barbara on New Year’s Day and it seemed like a sign of good things to come.

When I was younger I always thought New Year’s resolutions were somewhat lame.  After all, the break between one year and the next is a rather arbitrary one that doesn’t really mean anything.  Nevertheless, I made two resolutions in 2010: to start flossing every day & to get published.  I accomplished both.  In 2011, I made one resolution: to finish my novel Touching the Morning.  I can say that that didn’t really happen, although I did get halfway there and I ended up writing about 100,000 words last year, which I’m sure shatters all previous personal records to put it mildly.  On the downside, I didn’t get any new publications.  To be fair, I hardly submitted anything, but that’s kind of the problem–that you either have time for one or the other, and not both.

This year I again make one resolution, which is to try harder to be my real self around other people.  I hardly recognize myself when I’m in a public setting, and I need to work on that.  Aside from that, I guess I would just like to get some serious work on my other novel (not that aforementioned one, frankly I don’t have much hope for that one anymore) and to take advantage of all the opportunities that are presented to me.

I might or might not be in grad school now.  I didn’t want to say anything about it when i was applying, but you know, these things happen faster than you can say WTF.  I love my new school almost as much as I love food!

An Education

Inspiration, Musings

Yeah, I changed the theme again.  I like this new one a lot (rainbows!) and I might actually keep it for more than a month.

Teachers and professors always have a word or two to describe what they think I am: “taciturn” or “reticent” or something else that means basically the same thing.  I once had an instructor tell me that I should talk more in class because if I didn’t, I was letting others control the direction of the workshop and I was getting someone else’s education, not mine.  It was good advice.  But as soon as he put it that way, I understood that that’s how I like it.  That’s how I want it.  I already know what I’m interested in, what I see when I read a story.  I’m interested in discussing what other people discover because for whatever reason, I might be blind to it otherwise.  It reminds me of the Beth Waters song, “Sweaters.”  There’s a verse (and the chorus) at the end that goes like this:

and it called to mind how I’d always felt
like I’m the last one to hear of things
I’m in the back of the room watching all of you
I go unnoticed but I notice everything

but I believe I can change the world just give me time
I believe I can change the world just give me time
I believe, I believe I can change the world
I believe I can change the world
just give me time

Anyway, he told me I should work on that in future classes.  I told him I was graduating next week.

A Desire for Mastery

Inspiration, Musings, News

Welcome to my new blog!  For the longest time, I’ve had a hard time organizing my thoughts about my work in a consistent manner, and it’ll still probably take a while before blogging becomes a habit, but now that I’m no longer in school, I’ll try.

Last weekend, I finally finished reading Annie Tremmel Wilcox’s A Degree of Mastery, her memoir about her apprenticeship in Book Arts and restoration at the University of Iowa.  While I don’t think it was the most compelling narrative and wouldn’t really recommend it to people who are not Book Arts practicioners or at least interested in the craft, I was definitely pulled in by her description of process and long hours in the studio.  Jealous, even.  I’ve always been the kind of person who can never figure out what I want–because it changes from year to year or month to month, sometimes even day to day.  I really think I’m ready to dedicate myself to this for the next few years though.  I would love to at least try. 

One thing about the book that I found annoying however: Wilcox hardly talks about her life outside of the studio.  Sure, she mentions teaching rhetoric and pursuing a PhD at the same time as her apprenticeship, but never goes much deeper than that.  And I understand that that’s not what the book is about, that Book Arts in all-consuming in many ways.  But the way I see and approach art, all kinds of art, is with its constant marriage to life.  I don’t understand how one can repair books all day and not have that process bleed into their personal life and vice versa.

As for me, I just finished up designing the jackets for my last thesis art book.  It involves a layering of different book jackets, each representing a different part of the manuscript and a different year.  Right now I’m still going back and forth on what the whole piece should be called.  Thick Skin or Onion or simply, Skin?  I don’t know but I have a lot of time to decide.  I’ll actually get the jackets printed and cut in the next few weeks. 

Projects that are coming up:  After reading about clam-shell boxes, I feel like I should make one for I’m Sorry But We’re Closed, maybe one that allows for it to stand up on display.  I’m also starting a some-what secret project, pictures of which will hopefully be posted once it is finished.  I am excited…  Also, I am still trying to decide whether to apply to graduate programs for Fall 2010 admission.  Classes began again at UH today.  In some ways, I still don’t feel like I’ve graduated.