I am suspending public celebrations indefinitely.
Reasons for Stopping International Fake Journal Month
I have many reasons for doing this which I will share here:
First in the ten years that I have publicly promoted the celebration it has grown to contain many participants. It is difficult for me to keep up with the letter writing and managing this endeavor takes with a large group of participants. I'm left with no time to simply keep up with viewing their posted work.
At the same time my own life has become much more complicated and busy. I can no long put this much intense organizational labor into something that takes me away from eldercare and my job.
In recent years many people signing up have expected a "class" from me, or free mentoring through their participation, because I am known as a visual journaling teacher. I have been inundated with requests for information and for help before and during the month-long event even though I have explicit guidelines already provided on the blog for every aspect of the project including selecting a journal, media, character, and adjusting your time involvement.
Additionally I've been frustrated by the number of participants who have joined in recent years but who have have been unable to grasp the basic concepts involved in Fake Journaling—that your character must be human, and that you need to journal in real time. (I have posts written about the guidelines, but those are the two most important ones.)
I think some of this is the result of the growth of other one-month projects like writing a novel in a month in November and so on. I have encouraged people who want to do "faux" journals or write fiction to join one of those projects. There they will find people working with the same intention.
When participants don't make the effort to follow even the most basic of the guidelines I feel it not only wears me down (because I have to try to guide them back to the path), but it dilutes the fellowship of those other artists working hard at the task at hand.
The exercise of keeping a fake journal is a psychological exercise first and foremost, designed to encourage creativity by asking the participant to step out of his life and into someone else's shoes for a short period of time every day for 30 days.
This can be difficult for some people. In smaller groups and in-person classes I am able to help participants negotiate the adjustments that will ensure a productive month-long project. As things currently stand I can no longer afford to give away that time.
Readers who have known me for a long time, or taken a class from me, will know how frustrating it is for me that I cannot help those people genuinely struggling and striving with the guidelines to make this a productive month.
Therefore it's necessary to shut down the public celebration of this month indefinitely.
What Happens Now?
I know that some of you have been successfully participating in this on-going project for several years now. Some of you have even made it the complete 10 years of online celebration. You may wish to continue privately to keep a Fake Journal. Because you have successfully negotiated the guidelines in the past and completed your end of project evaluations, I know that for you it can continue to be a useful practice, if not every year, perhaps every few years.
I will continue to keep my private fake journal during April.
But, as I like to say, "for now" the public celebration will cease. I don't know how long "indefinitely" is. I hate to think it's final, but all the characters I have been in my fake journals, kept since I was a child, have led me to accept letting go.
Thank You
I want to thank everyone who has participated in the past 10 years, and also my students from 2000 through 2009, with whom I first shared this project off line.
I have loved seeing your work. I have been excited to see the results of your work when you take the insights you've learned back to your regular work. I have loved seeing the growth of understanding and intention that has come out of your end-of-project evaluations.
All of this has been very special for me. I am extremely grateful to have been part of your artistic growth.
I hope that you will all continue to connect with me through my blog Roz Wound Up or other online communication such as my YouTube channel and Instagram.
My wish for you is that you step out of the way of your creativity and create a safe place for yourself in which to exercise that creativity. Over the past 10 years I've helped provide guidelines for one way you can do this. I'm so glad you participated.
Whether you're making real or fake pages I wish you years and years of happy experiments.
Whether you're making real or fake pages I wish you years and years of happy experiments.
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