Welcome to International Fake Journal Month 2013!

What is IFJM?
Please read the page "What Is IFJM" for details.
Learn the difference between Faux, Fake, and Fake Historical Journals.

2019 IFJM Celebration
IFJM has been suspended indefinitely. Please read the pinned post about this below.

Participants who Post Their Journals
A list of 2018 participants who are posting their fake journals this year will appear near the top of the right side bar of this blog around April 6. Lists of participants who posted their pages in 2010 through 2017 appear lower in the same column. Please pay them a visit and check out their fake journals.

View a Couple of Roz's Past Fake Journals
Roz's 2009 fake journal takes place in an alternate Twin Cites, where disease has killed the human and bird populations. (It ends up being an upbeat tale of friendship.) Watch a video flip through of Roz's 2009 fake journal here.

Read an explanation of Roz's insanely complex 2011 fake journal.

Tips on Keeping a Fake Journal
Click on "tips" in the category cloud.

Remember, "Life's so short, why live only one?"


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Did I Miss Color?; the Myth of Time; and The Twenty-first and Twenty-second Entries in Roz's 2010 Fake Journal

Left: The twenty-first entry in my 2010 fake journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

As some of you will see I've had to change my highlight and caption text color. A small thing, irritating to me, but not irritating enough for me to bother to switch over to using html codes all the time for something that occurs so frequently. But for those of you who did notice, now you know why.

I'm also trying to get used to the new way the images are handled. And in an effort to catch you all up to the end of my fake journal I have two images today.

Also, a participant wrote in the other day and asked me if I missed using color. I wrote a short answer back to her in the comment section (so much is going on I can't remember if it was on this blog or my main blog) and basically said no.

Well later I finished my work at the computer and got up to walk away. I bent to return something to a shelf and my eyes fell on a print from my 2009 fake journal (alternate Minneapolis, post-some sort of health disaster, all about birds). It was a page spread where many Canada geese move across a vibrant lavender background. The sloppy, drippiness of the washes on the water resistant paper barely contained by the glossy black ink lines, reminded me of how much fun I had last year with my fake journal and Schmincke watercolors over dip pen lines. For a moment I didn't miss color so much as I missed the subject matter and that small book with pages which crinkled (and still do) when turned. 


Left: the twenty-second entry in my 2010 fake journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

So in a way I think I answered too quickly, because I do miss that colorful experience. But in another way I know my answer was correct. I didn't miss color this year because color wasn't on the character's radar—and I had daily recourse to my regular journal if I wanted color. At the same time I was working on some acrylic paintings. Perhaps choosing a character who worked only with black pencil created a window for more color in other projects?


I have found that International Fake Journal Month has always opened up such windows. Intense focus on one project can have the salutary effect of encouraging the mind to apply similar focus to other projects running simultaneously. 


The myth of waiting until we have "the luxury of all the time we need" can seduce us into not using the time we have. Everyone has a point of overwhelm, but you won't find that point by doing one task at a time. I believe one of the benefits of IFJM is the way it can help people manage creative multitasking—help them find out the nuances of how they use their time, and then work to utilize their strengths or create strengths.


By taking your attention in one direction (for me this year: black pencil sketches) you open up the possibilities of simultaneous explorations in other directions. Or you simply get the use of a certain medium out of your system. That's good too.

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