My blank books still haunt me

Let us not, you and I, be paralyzed by the sometimes madness of the world. Let us follow our writing and our being inward to that quiet place within ourselves and let us be centered there.
Lynn Nelson

I’m putting up a couple of orange Notebook Junkie magnets that I’ve designed in my Etsy Shop today. I love how they turned out!

A blog friend wrote a letter to me about blank books. She wrote:

My blank books still haunt me – I have no idea where to start! I wish you lived nearer! you could run workshops!
I want to use some of the Tolle stuff I am reading and bling it up a bit – but I am not confident and the pages look so nice and clean – what am I to do????

I think I’ve addressed the fear (that damn fear again) of the blank page before, but I’ve been thinking about it again recently.

I think the most important thing for me to keep creating and adding to a notebook, making it into what ever it is supposed to be (a scrapbook, a inspirational book of clippings, an art journal or diary) is to love it. That’s first. I need to love how it looks, how the paper feels, how the binding holds together and how the cover makes me feel. Not any notebook will do, but even if it feels wrong today, it might not be wrong tomorrow…

Because if I love it, I still need to wait for the right feeling to come. It can take weeks or years, but at one point I just know that the right time for this or that notebook has come. Perhaps I need to long a bit for it? When I crave adding stuff (words, text, images etc) into it, when I can’t resist it anymore – that’s when I know. Let’s talk, you and me dear notebook!

If you want advice on what to put into your notebook I can’t give it, of course. Or I can tell you that You Can Put Anything You Want into it! Wanting is key. You have to want to use it, feel it inside of you; is it writing you want to do? Or sketches? Poetry? Daily thankfulness? Or straight collages or layered collages and acrylic paint dabbing? Or writing all those to do-lists or jotting down ideas for future craft projects? Or all of that? With tabs as dividers perhaps…? With the right notebook you can do anything, but you’ve got to start using it.

Open it up and add something. Now.

But before that happy filling is the hesitation… right? And it is in the way of creativity! I want to shout moooove, but it’s sticky. You think Is what I do good enough for this pretty new shiny notebook? Fear of messing it up, as it is so pretty as it is, right? But if you make a page you don’t like, you can turn the page and start over. Nobody needs to know. Just keep turning the page!

Who taught us that “pretty as it is” is a true concept anyhow? I think it was someone with good intentions that told us this as we grew up. Someone who taught us to iron our clothes, clean our hands, eat up our food and shut up in class. To not only be pretty girls, but tidy, organized, neat and well behaved girls. At home, in kindergarten, in school. And where did that ever take us? Oh my how wrong it is to live by those rules. How terribly wrong it is. As a feminist I know it is intimidating to be “pretty” when one wants to be strong, bold and wildly crazy too. And I’m not just thinking of pretty neat blank notebooks now. I’m thinking about our lives. Our homes. Our desk. Our art. Our craft. Our female powers. They. Are. Not. Pretty. And. Tidy.

Who can create anything new in a neat and tidy environment? Maybe some of us need it to be clean and organized as you start out or finish for the day, but everyone makes a mess when they’re really “into it”. When they are being in the creative flow. The Creative Flow is that period of time where you forget about clock time. When your inner critic is forced to the side of the road with a muzzle over his mouth! That’s what Cameron’s Morning Pages is about, to keep writing for three pages each morning – without thinking! If you stop you might feel fear. Just keep going. The Artist’s Way Morning Pages is actually a great way to fill notebooks! Leah is having a group thing that sounds like fun soon. The theme for Everyday Creative in January was play and yes – in February it’s words! Why not pick up a notebook and start collecting words you like in it… If you want to play more in your life maybe Misty Mawn’s Art Journal prompts during January could help you getting started? I haven’t even read them yet, but one day soon I’ll just have one tab in Firefox open and read though them and look at Misty’s beautiful art!

The individual pages might stink, and if you’re letting your evil side (that self critiquing bastard) talk louder than happy you (your creative side) you will defiantly think so, but as a whole it is always beautiful. It’s beautiful and wild because it’s a part of you.

Anyway… Please check out my Notebook Junkie Magnets, I think they are yummy with the orange collaged background straight from one of my art journals!