Some Points to Consider

Above: the third page spread from my 2009 fake journal. Ziller ink with a dip pen and Schmincke pan watercolors.

Several people have written in to me about IFJM and it is exciting to see the enthusiasm people are showing. Some people are posting on their blogs and Flickr sites. If you are participating and are posting your pieces somewhere please write in so that I can post a list. People ask me every day where they can see posted pages. You're sure to get encouragement to continue for the rest of the month.

In other matters there seems to be a bit of confusion for some people as to what a fake journal is. Just like a regular journal fake journals need to be written in the first person. The author of the journal is talking about what he or she is doing in the present moment: I couldn't see why Ted wanted me to take the umbrella; Rosemary may think spam is a picnic food but I sure don't.

If you are writing in the third person e.g., your journal keeper's name is Mary and you write, "Mary never understood why rain got her down," then you aren't keeping a fake journal, you're actually writing a bit of fiction. And that's fabulous too, in fact you may want to continue doing that instead of keeping a fake journal. But please be aware of the difference.

The difference is important, because journals are written in the first person (of course there may be exceptions to this because some people do walk around talking about themselves in the third person, but that's a rather strident affectation and unless you want to play with that all month and bore yourself silly, I recommend you not try that). Because journals are written in the first person, when you keep a fake journal you are giving yourself permission to be someone else and that's where part of the fun and freedom comes in. There is nothing between you and that other character because you are that character.

I hope this helps clear things up a bit for some folks who have been wondering and struggling.

Anne Bray on her blog Glutton's Progress has posted some pages from her fake journal. It's a wonderful example of writing in the first person and using an existing book (so it's an altered book fake journal). Check out her posts for April 5.

And I hope everyone who is keeping a fake journal is having a grand time of it.

Note: if you are trying to read my page spread text and can't make out all the words here's what's on the page.

Verso, top—Lots of yellows, ochres, and sienna under the gray; this ear split at top.
Verso, middle—nose not visible
Verso, bottom—a very disshelvelled (sp?) bunny; 09.04.03; 4:15 p.m.; feet not visible but white areas in that area.

Recto, top—another long day of orientation, while outside it was sunny and high 40's and brilliantly beautiful. On break—mid afternoon—I saw this bunny. He's got myxomata on his head…not visible until he turned towards me when I was through sketching him. We were told to expect this. The population is so large and with little raptor population left they have been expecting a die-off. They are also totally without fear of humans. It's not uncommon to see 10 around the compound. More meetings—
sunbleached area, this side of body