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?"


Monday, April 12, 2010

International Fake Journal Month Tip of the Day: Keep Working and Don't Second-Guess Yourself


Left: the April 2 entry in my 2010 fake journal.

We're almost halfway through International Fake Journal Month 2010. My fake journal is bulging nicely. (I'll take a video of it this year too so you can see how deformed the notebook gets.) I've been able to keep up with my page-a-day-strategy, so far. Sometimes, however, it isn't easy to keep up the pace. Life interrupts us and eats up the time we've set aside for any art activity, not just fake journaling.

Something else can stop us too—indecision or a sense of vagueness. Or perhaps I should call it the "second-guessing yourself."

Maybe the story line you'd imagined (if you were hoping to have a narrative thread running through your fake journal) isn't coming together the way you thought it would. Maybe the images don't have the look that you thought they would? Maybe the ideas seem weaker than they did when you were planning for April?

If any of that is true, or other ways of second-guessing have popped up, take a moment to do a quick self-assessment. Is your internal critic calling for attention? That's the first order of business—get him to shut up by any means possible. "Laterizing" him is always a good method. "Hey, I'll deal with your comments later…" Do that enough and he'll get the message. You'll be left alone. It's worth the practice you get doing this when working on your fake journal.

If it isn't the internal critic that is stalling you look for other possible road blocks. Maybe you simply need a nap. (I can't take naps, but I know lots of people who do and naps always work for them, so I'm suggesting you try it.) Or maybe you need to avoid sugar to keep your energy levels up and even (I know I have to do this).

Whatever it is, take a moment to look into what is going on, take a couple deep breaths, and then KEEP WORKING. That's the absolute best cure for stalling and second guessing. Put yourself back in your character's mindset and get back to work, their work. Don't worry about creating a great piece of art on your page or page spread, just let your character get something about his day down that is honest. (Well, within the confines of "fake" of course.)

Keep working.

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