Using Your Fake Journal to Fight Creative Blocks

I've been getting a lot of private notes recently from people who are interested in using IFJM as a tool to fight creative blocks. The blocks all vary and are individually tailored (of course, that's how it works), but several are "blocks to keeping a journal." And keeping a fake journal can be used to clear that block in a variety of ways. I wrote about a few of those ways in a note on my other blog to a reader who asked about this publicly on Roz Wound Up, and I think my note might be useful to some folks reading this blog.

Keep in mind that in order to get your April experience going you will need to do a little bit of work in the next couple of days to prepare—you'll need to sit with your REAL journal and ask yourself a few questions so that you can avoid the same issues in your fake set up.

Here's my advice:

IFJM can be a great tool for fighting blockage, for really looking at the cause and finding ways to work around it in your life. 

Be sure to find a way to really limit the time involvement you require each day for your fake journal so that working in the journal doesn't become yet another instigator of blockage, e.g., "I don't have time for the fake journal I really have to do such and such." 

Find something that you can do in 15 minutes or less. 

Think about a character who always puts art or observation first. Imagine what it's like to have a regular appointment for that 15 minutes, or set up situations for the month where you will have outings or instances where you will have 15 minutes at odd times to sketch and journal. 

I would also suggest you keep you supplies to a minimum so you aren't side-tracked with thinking "which medium will I use today?"—picking one medium to use for the whole month and to explore with is something totally doable in 15 minutes a day. 

Also think of what it is you want to say and do in your REAL journal and then ask yourself why you don't do that. (This is best done before IFJM begins. Set an appointment to write, or also do it in small bursts of time as thoughts come to you during the day—just write down what pops into your head and look at it all at the end of the day.) 

Next think about a character who 1. either doesn't want to do those things in his/her journal so you'll do the exact opposite of what YOU would do during the month in his or her journal, or 2. someone who does those things and what does that person's life look like? All of that will help you get into the character for 15 minutes a day. 

And lastly realize that your character is going to have a totally different dialogue with his/her internal critic because he/she isn't blocked. What is that dialog like? That character won't write or journal about that because it is just a fact of life, so you might, when you think of this (maybe before you go to bed at night) take a few minutes to write in your REAL journal about that.  

Remember habit building happens in 28 days. It's more important to get something done in the habit building time than to create something great! First you have to get the habit in place. That's another reason IFJM and fake journals are a good way to start a journaling habit—because you are doing something daily for 30 days. (Remember you don't run a record marathon your first day of training, you may only run around the block. If you're using IFJM to break a creative block on journaling focus on running around the block each day, the rest will come later after you have the habit.)

Also keep in mind that life happens. If you're using IFJM to combat a tendency not to journal and already have a habit of avoiding or putting off journaling when life happens you'll need to work harder to avoid that habit during IFJM and find ways to meet that 15 minutes a day you've set for yourself. That will be difficult for most people in this situation.

And it will feel UNCOMFORTABLE, because breaking a habit (here the habit of avoidance) is an uncomfortable process. Habits (either good or bad) feel good and comfortable to our minds and our bodies because they are habits (ask anyone who's ever tried to change his life in the smallest way). But if we persevere in the breaking of bad habits, by creating new habits, we have much to gain. It's worth a bit of discomfort.

If your blockage is not about journaling but instead is about using one particular medium or one technique more the equation is a bit simpler—you simply substitute that medium or technique into the time you already spend journaling, just for the month. This doesn't mean you won't do any regular journaling, but you may find you do less of that in April. Any habit change is going to take some accommodation and adjustment in the rest of our life.

Again, it might feel uncomfortable to use the different medium you elect to stick with, or it might be difficult to start at the beginning with a new technique. You are still breaking out of your comfort zone and your internal critic is going to jump out and let you have it.

All your character latitude to deal with the internal critic in his or her own way—you might learn some new techniques you can bring back to your real life.

Remember too to be kind to yourself. If you miss a day don't beat yourself up. Just make sure you work first thing the next morning, or set a watch alarm for a time later in the day and keep that appointment regardless of how you feel at the time. It's "just do it" time. Get into your character's mode. Remember too that your character doesn't have blockage, doesn't have a reason to stop so you can be assured that the next day he/she won't even see today's miss as a blip on the grand continuum of life. That's where you want to put your focus too, on that continuum.

One more thing. However wonderful it may be to share your work with others as you go through this journey, and however much you count on people's support when you share your work, if you are working on a block of any sort it may be best not to share your work during April.

I tell my journaling students this about their regular journaling work all the time when I have multi-session classes where we work on good journaling habits. It's fine to share work within the confines of the class where everyone is working on the same plan and developing good boundaries, positive "critique" methods, and understands what the goals are. But in the general world, and even in your own family there will be people who just don't "get" what you're up to.

Would you rather spend all of April not just explaining to those people that you want to journal more and why that is, but why you're using IFJM to find a way to do it? Or would you rather get down and busy at actually changing something?

Why risk a stray comment from someone who actually might even mean well—a comment which could derail you?

If it's time to do serious work and you don't already have good boundaries and techniques for dealing with your internal critic the best time to share your fake journal is in MAY,  AFTER IFJM is over.

Why? Because then no comments can derail you. You're already finished with the project. And you hold it in your hand. You know exactly what it took for you to do it. You may never be able to explain to anyone what it took, or how you even did it, but you don't have to. You just need to know that you did it. And that's the gift you give yourself for getting through the month.

Besides, this year it's "NO Explanations" remember?!

So think about those considerations to as you set up your plan for IFJM 2014. Good luck.

My Preparations for My 2013 Fake Journal

It's March and time to start thinking about my 2013 IFJM journal. What type of book am I going to use? Which media? Who's book is it? What is that person like? How does that person journal? Will the journaling be done out in the field or in the studio? (That might make a difference to the type of paints and inks I use.)

So with all those questions swirling around in my brain I start to think about what media and what paper I want to work on.

And a journey begins, which could be full of turns down cul de sacs, and retreating steps, until it's April first and off I go.

This year in life drawing I took some DaVinci gouache to a session and the next week, after being in a plastic bag the paints were still very soft. (My regular palette sits out and will dry out eventually, though I sometimes put it in a plastic bag with a bit of moist paper towel—a very little bit—to create a humid environment in the bag.) The DaVinci gouache is lower quality (in pigment type and load) from what I normally use, so they are much less expensive. I purchased 4 test tubes in February 2012(!) and never got around to testing them because I love the gouache I use every day. (Schmincke, and some M. Graham.)

Left: My first tester sheet, explained in the text. The page was torn out of a notebook and pasted into my current journal for reference purposes. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

But IFJM is a chance for me to bust up some of my habits, and I was intrigued that the DaVinci was still so pliable. I figured I could slather the stuff on and not worry about waste. (I don't normally worry about paint waste when I'm painting, but I tend to paint in a considered manner, with a bit of a plan because my PB60 is after all about $20 a tube! Also there are times when you want to use the best materials possible, and there are times when it doesn't matter what you use. My 2013 character doesn't care what she uses, I'm happy for that.)

I grabbed my DaVinci palette and did some quick ugly paintings, throwing color over quick ink sketches I'd done in a lined notebook during a vertigo episode. 

I wasn't concerned with realistic color. I was interested in two things. Could the notebook page take water media and did I like moving this particular paint around on the surface—like it enough to take it to life drawing again that night, and maybe use it in my fake journal.

The thin notebook paper buckled, but the paint didn't bleed or seep through the paper. It would be possible to work on the other side of the page. (I like working on lined papers or gridded papers when I'm journaling.)

Left: Another trial sketch. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I filled in another ink sketch quickly with the soft paint, not carrying about blending. I just wanted to move the paint around.

At that point I knew two things (or thought I did). I wanted to keep a fake journal full of 3 minute brush pen sketches that were painted with cheap gouache. I saw the pages as full of additional painting and sketches as well as ephemera and stuck on bits. I saw the thin pages barely holding up to the work and thought, yep, that will be a lot of fun.

Left: A quick try out of the triad of sample colors of DaVinci Gouache I had on hand. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I did a quick triad diagram to think some color mixing through before going to life drawing with the paints I had.

I went off to life drawing with the paints, knowing that I needed more than the 4 tester tubes for my April project. I didn't get to use any paint in life drawing that night because the format changed, but I went immediately to Wet Paint and selected a bunch of gouache colors in the DaVinci line. They don't have some of my favorite pigments in gouache (such as PB60) but I'm not keeping this journal right?!

Fake journaling is a great time to relax your usual prescriptions and phobias and rules!

I also purchased an APICA notebook, a large one that's about 9 x 12 inches (it isn't on the table so I can't measure it for you.

I thought I had a photo of it I could show you, but instead I found this post about selecting a journal for IFJM. This photo shows one of the company's other books (the red notebook, which I actually used in 2010).

Also if you go to my February 13, 2012 post on "Time to Start Thinking about Which Journal…," you'll find a photo of other notebooks (Clairefontaine) which I like because of the elaborate ruling found in some styles. All of this is something to consider.

Since I really like to use SEWN journals so they don't fall apart, it's the one thing I have pretty much always insisted on for IFJM. Even the APICA multi signature journals I've used in the past that are soft covered have been sewn so I'm OK with them.

HOWEVER, here comes one of the twists that always happens when you open your mind to creativity—I found out about a new type of journal (new to me) with a dotted grid pattern on it. The journal also had a hardcover. I really wanted to take my fake journal out and about with me and not have it just in the studio and at home (last year my fake journal never left the house because the keeper of the journal was under house arrest). I thought if I had a hardcover journal this year the fake journal, which was going to take quite a beating anyway, would be somewhat more protected.

If you go to the link for the Leuchtturm 1917 you'll find a book that looks a lot like a Moleskine. Except for the Moleskine watercolor books I don't like Moleskines much at all so I wasn't too excited.

But then I saw the dotted grid patterned pages and saw that I could get a large journal—9 x 12.5 inches—so I was intrigued.

A new plan began to form. I decided to order one of these journals. If it arrived in time I would weigh whether or not I'd use it as my 2013 fake journal. If it didn't arrive I would just start using the APICA journal I had on hand. 

The journal did arrive—and I did a test on it which will actually be posted to Roz Wound Up in the next few days (I'll come back and add the link here).

There are some great things about the Leuchtturm 1917 and some frustrating things, but after weighing the pros and cons last night I think it's safe to say that I'm going ahead with it as the structure for my fake journal. Because of the paper it contains, however I will probably do more pencil and paint work, and not use the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen as extensively as I thought I would. You'll see why when you read that review. I was on the fence for an evening and then just realized that it was actually a better project for me to use pencil and paints, or at least it didn't seem like an impediment.

Also I found that the acrylic markers I've been using lately worked well on my test pages.

We'll see how I feel on April 1!

In the meantime I know little about my "character" except that she is female and she likes to slather on paint. 

I also got the impression, through the fog that separates us at this point that she's a bit more messy than I am. And mess is a good thing in this case.

Which brings me to yet another twist in media—I went to visit my friend Diane who is recovering from foot surgery. She told me about Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plates. (We even called around town to see if we could get one—I was going to go pick one up for her since she was housebound and I know that can be frustrating! Alas no one had one in stock.) I looked at the ads and a couple videos when I got home that night and decided that it was just the thing that my character would want to use in her journal.

Go to YouTube and Google Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate and you'll find a ton of videos with people using these to make mono prints. I found out today that a friend has been using one since last fall and she made a lovely short little video about them, but it's not up on YouTube so I can't send you there—I did however invite her to come and talk and demo at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective so if you're in town, keep your eyes peeled for details because Briana Goetzen is going to speak at the August 2013 meeting.

(You can see Briana's old blog Courageously Creating here. and her new blog, Orange Spiral Arts is here.)

The point of all this, I think you can see, is that it's an evolution of sorts. I carry the intention of the project always in my mind, usually starting in January, but this year starting in March. And then I sort of ping questions out to my character, waiting for answers to return—answers which tell me the type of book and materials to use.

All of this is of course fueled in part by what I might want to work on in my own art projects at the time. 

I know one other thing about this year's fake journal—it will take as much time each day as it takes. I've given myself permission to make heavily ladened pages and just wade around in the book. I have no expectations that a story will be told or that any of the journal will be understandable or even decipherable to anyone else. I love that. (I know in part that comes out of my own ongoing balance of public vs. private—because I have taught so much in past years my journals are way more public than they have ever been and to protect myself artistically I've shown less and less of my journals publicly.)

Whether I end up spending a luxury of time on the fake journal or not remains to be seen. So much is slightly off kilter in my life right now (by that I mean a huge amount of change is happening) that it seemed right to relax any constraints on the fake journal. Normally I suggest that people participating rein themselves in to something in the 30 minutes a day range so that it stays doable. 

For me, right now, it seems appropriate that I use any and all of my spare time for the project in April. Which means little other journaling, few stand alone paintings, less writing, maybe even less TV viewing (gasp).

I'm OK with that because I also know it can evolve off into another direction at any moment.

I hope you'll start thinking about your fake journal for 2013 and let the process evolve and take you in new directions. A huge part of the fun of this project is all the prep, which most of the time is swept away on April first when your character shows up; opens the book; says, "I'm in charge"; and gets busy working.  

First Some Old Business from 2012

Pressing family obligations in April and May 2012 delayed my write-up of my 2012 fake journal experience. Sadly in a move of colossal stupidity I wrote my wrap up post on a scrap of paper not in my regular journal. When the dust settled it was nowhere to be found. I kept thinking I would rewrite it and more family obligations again came up. That's sometimes how things happen. Moral of that story: always write your write ups in your regular writing journal where you can find them!

It's been a mad dash through the months to today. More clutter has accumulated on my desk (which is unusual for me, but this is the way things seem to be). During a recent illness I had time to sort through all the accumulated pieces of this and that. I found many delightful tidbits. Alas I didn't find my 2012 write up, but I did find a couple pages of brief notes.

So here, before we move on to preparing for International Fake Journal Month 2013, are some notes that wrap up my 2012 experience.

Oh, and you'll note that there was a darkness to these ideas. There tends to be a darkness to my fake journals, perhaps because there isn't much darkness in my actual journals. I think these are all good ideas to explore. They just might not be journals I would like to post for public consumption. My regular journals have been shifting into private mode again in the past 3 years. It came as no surprise to me that my ideas for IFJM 2012 were all rather private as well.

Notes (from a beat up piece of paper found at the bottom of a pile)—

• Originally I had huge plans for IFJM 2012. I was going to go to a particular corner every day and draw. I had a vague notion that this was somewhere someone close to the journal keeper had died. 

• The idea morphed into views from a particular bridge. The idea of working with architecture appealed to me. It seemed at first that the character might actually commit suicide at the end of the month.

• I decided I didn't want to do my musings on death in public. It's not how I work as an artist. I muse in private and then go public with what I think is useful or helpful to me and my relationship with the world. For me a big part of fake journaling and the aspect of posting hinges on maintaining healthy boundaries within which I have complete freedom to create. If it isn't something I want to post I might hinder myself in the actual creation, unless I decide that it will be a non-posted year.

• IFJM is also about growth in skills so the task of architecture was a good one…

• My project morphed into a happier one when I met Frank, a character to whom I alluded to in my prep post in 2012.

Now as to what actually transpired:

I found that my initial plans really would be too time intensive. They were abandoned for a closer look at the life of a character who had simple goals—to look at the clouds every day. (For reasons readers will understand.)

Here's what I firmly believe about IFJM and fake journals. You have to sit with ideas for even a short while (more than a couple days) to know if they fit for you and your current life—are the ideas actually doable given the current demands on your time and the responsibilities in your life?!

During last IFJM I was enrolled in 3 classes at the Atelier (trying to reconnect my brain, eye, hand). If I were going to go ahead with either of the architecturally-based ideas one of which included a character named Frank, I would have to carve out at least 90 minutes a day and that wasn't possible.

Sometimes you have to push yourself. You also have to have a clear assessment of your limits. 

That applies to your regular journal practice—if you're obsessive about journaling to the point of exclusion you have no life. 

It made perfect sense for me, therefore, to focus on one simple page spread a day, and work on mixing blues and whites to create clouds (the skill building portion). 

I ended up spending 15 to 30 minutes a day on my 2013 fake journal and that worked out to be just about right. Useful, but not burdensome given other constraints in my life.

Through a process of sitting down and casting about for ideas and then looking carefully at those ideas I found one which I wanted to explore; an idea I was happy exploring in a public forum; and an idea I could execute in a brief amount of time.

This is something that I encourage you all to do whether this is your first time keeping a fake journal, or you've done it before.

I want you to have a positive experience.

That's my wrap up for 2012. 

In the next few days I'll post about prepping for 2013 to jog your memory and get you planning a doable concept.

I will also introduce this year's button, slogan, and my own plans.

I hope you'll check back during March to see what I'm up to, and for help in your own planning. I look forward to seeing what you do in your 2013 fake journal.

Thinking about Participating in International Fake Journal Month?

If you've found this site or the sites of past participants in International Fake Journal Month (IFJM) and are intrigued by the idea of spending April 2012 creating a fake journal I suggest that you read the following posts, because they provide a great background and foundation for how to start, how to jump in, and ultimately have a great, creative, fun April!

If you know nothing about IFJM begin with a brief background of IFJM.

You can see a video flip-through of my 2009 Fake Journal here. There are other video flip-throughs on my blog, but this one will give you a quick idea of what's going on.

A recurring question from readers of this blog focuses on what the differences between Faux, Fake, and Fake Historical journals are.  This post will help you understand the differences and help you define clear boundaries for your project that will be ensure your success this year.

If you are wondering how to go about preparing for IFJM I have a description of my process from 2010 that will be useful. It will help you decide how to select a journal (the paper, the media, and so forth). It also discusses considerations of time management, goals, and subject matter. You want to be realistic in your goals so that you can be productive each day and still have fun.

If you're still sitting on the fence about preparation you can hit the "preparations" label in the category cloud and read a number of posts about preparation, but perhaps one of the most helpful is "Get Ready, Get Set—Now Throw Out All Your Prep."

I would also encourage you to check out the lists of participants from past years. In the right-hand column of this blog if you scroll down you'll find a list of 2011 participants and then later a list of 2010 participants. As 2012 starts up a list of those participants will also be added. These lists provide links to the participants' blogs or Flikr sites where they have posted their fake journals for that year. There is some delightful and inspiring art from these fakesters. Additionally you will see how each of them set up a "character" and circumstances for the author of the fake journal.

I hope that you will all consider joining in the festivities of International Fake Journal Month 2012—30 days of fabulous (I mean that in several ways) fun. (I'm working on the button right now!)

Get Ready, Get Set—Now Throw Out All Your Prep…

OK, I'm not advocating that you toss out all the ideas that have been simmering in your head as you gathered (or bound) a journal and materials for International Fake Journal Month 2010, but on the eve of this year's celebration I wanted to point out that sometimes throwing out all your prep is the best thing you can do.

Sometimes, when you get ready for a project that will last this long (or even a short project) you might reach a point where you simply feel odd, feel as if things aren't coming together as you would have liked or hoped, feel that something is missing.

I want to reassure you that this is normal and you can have one of two approaches—you can toss out your prep and just go with the flow tomorrow, or you can stay the course and trust that the time you spent thinking out even a vague plan was well spent.

Neither of these approaches is wrong or right. Only you will know what is right for you when you get up tomorrow, start going about your day, and then at whatever point you've decided you're going to journal, you actually sit down (or stand) and create the first fake journal page in the new journal.

No one else can tell you which course of action will be best for you. And one of the great things about fake journal month is that if you find yourself going through this moment of indecision and second guessing, you can actually learn about yourself. You will learn if it is "real" indecision or simply the nagging of your internal critic. You will begin to see (if you haven't already had experience with this) how the two differ. One—real indecision—is healthy and necessary for every artist who is trying to find her voice, her character, her style. It's something you work through, and frankly, you just have to work through it. The sooner you get to that point and learn what it's like the easier it will be to work through it in the future.

The other aspect, the nagging of your internal critic, is of course, not healthy. By hearing it loud and clear at this juncture you can better equip yourself to turn it off, both now and on other projects.

They may at first seem to be very similar. There is a key difference—real indecision is something that you can and should work through as an artist. It is a final examination of your plan, your goals, your vision of the project, before you launch it. It's like a pre-flight checklist. Go through the points on your list one more time, not because you are being obsessive, but because you are still "trying out" the feel of aspects of your plans, still listening to hear the voice of your character.

If the stress and second thoughts you seem to be experiencing come instead from your internal critic, everything you come up with will be shot down not in a helpful and specific way, but in a general way of "why am I doing this anyway," "why bother?"

I don't have much trouble with my internal critic. Long ago I found ways to work around him, through him, past him. Mostly with my own sarcastic humor. What I can tell you is that if it is your internal critic popping up, to set you up to stop, then learning to recognize that, and learning to work around it, will benefit you on every future art project you ever do.

And if it is matters of logistics and artistic choices which are gumming you up, well, working through those will also benefit all your future art endeavors.

It really is a win-win situation if you allow it to be.

So this note is just to encourage you to take stock of what is happening and work through it, because keeping a fake journal for International Fake Journal Month is really, really fun. It's not a chore, or a task, or homework, or a exercise regimen. It's an adventure and an exploration. You take yourself and you leave your internal critic behind (and don't even bother to send him any postcards!).

Last year I knew early on who my character was, and the situation she was in gradually emerged. It came out of my love of birds, my use of an Alvin Field book, my response to the recent death of a friend. Bit by bit everything came together in a way that was both challenging and fulfilling for me.

This year, I've been pulled this way and that by all sorts of obligations I would never have expected. But I will not give up my month without a fight. It is one of the two "art vacations" I take during the year (the other is the Minnesota State Fair of course; and I work through both of them so they are vacations only in the sense that a project gets done in a specific time frame). When other events or complications in life start block my view of the project, I look at how I can modify things to still make them work. (I talked about how to focus on your goals in my prep posts.)

It does not surprise me that this year, only a few hours from starting my 2010 fake journal, I'm wishing I had a little more time to think about my approach, my book choice, my media, and most definitely my character.

But I also know that tomorrow everything will be fine. I've done enough prep that even if things go "horribly wrong" I can suck it up for 30 days and make it work. I've had practice with that in life and work outside of the fake journal. The flip side is that if I jettison my prep and go with a new direction I know I'll make it work (within the time constraints I have to work in). I'm realistic about my goals and expectations.

So all that is left is to sit back, wait to start, and then simply jump in and see how it all goes; all while enjoying myself, and challenging myself.

I want to encourage you to do the same. Tomorrow listen to that part of you who knows what will engage and entertain you. Don't listen to anything else. Then open your fake journal and begin.

If You Prep for International Fake Journal Month Consider…

Yesterday I posted about my prepping process for last year and this year—one quick, one a bit more involved. (To Prep or Not to Prep…) Today I have a checklist you can work through if you decide to do preparation.

Prep isn't about "work." Think of prep as a sort of packing for a trip, because after all, fake journaling is a journey and you don't want to forget your socks.

1. How much time do I have to spend each day on this project?
The answer to this question will influence your selection of media and subject matter. For example: if your character is sketching a full, detailed scene in pen and watercolor every day you’ll need to find time to do create that work. On the other hand series of doodles and notes about his life and appointments can be achieved relatively quickly.

2. What type of media do I want to work in?
How you answer this question will effect your time commitment and be influenced by your paper choice and skill level working with that medium. For example: pencil or pen sketches can be quickly finished, but detailed renderings in either media, or sketches with the addition of watercolor or gouache will probably double your time input.

VERY IMPORTANT TIP:
In general it is best to limit the media you use in your fake journal for International Fake Journal Month. Unlimited media will increase you decision making time and thus increase daily project time. It can give rise to frustration. Also you will not focus in on your “character’s” point of view as quickly and surely as if you stick with a limited selection of media and see how he/she uses them. (The exception of course is if your character is a painter who experiments in all media, but while that seems very freeing, you will find that a labor- and time-intensive approach that can lead to frustration.) If you want to use unrestricted media I recommend that you wait until May and then set up an experimental journal that you keep at the same time you keep your regular journal.

3. Does the host book I have selected have contain enough pages for a page a day, or a spread a day (or more!), as called for by my media selection and time commitment goals?

4. If I am going to reproduce my journal images how suitable is the host book?
Does the book you have selected fit easily on your scanner? Do you have to scan each page and put them together in Photoshop? Are you able to photograph them easily? Can you copy them with a black and white photocopier or are details lost because you work in color? These are all things to consider when you select your book. If you do decide to share your pages how you reproduce those pages will add to your daily workload, taking time away from actually working in the fake journal.

5. Is the paper in my host book suitable for the selected media I intend to use?
Keep in mind that suitable is something you define based on the project. Perhaps you want to work in watercolor but the paper is cheap notebook paper. If your character is fine with that you can be too. Making sure the media is suitable for your book is really just making sure you want to work with the two for an entire month, come what may. For instance, working on water-resistant paper like I did last year, with watercolors, might not seem appealing but it worked out because I loved the feel of the medium on the paper and loved the resultant buckling of the paper.

Fake journals are a time to step away from the constraints you might usually bind your journaling activities with. Use acidic papers, use non-archival pens, use paper through which ink bleeds—do whatever appeals to your inquisitive mind that will enable you to discover your character and also push your own journaling boundaries.

6. Am I going to keep my regular journal in April while I also keep the fake journal?
Assess this for time commitment. If you are keeping your regular journal and your usual practice is daily, will you be comfortable keeping it on a non-daily basis if you need to work in the fake journal?

7. Will I work daily in my fake journal?
While it is certainly a worthy goal to work in your fake journal on a daily basis for the 30 days of April, it is not essential. It is also not practical for everyone. It depends on your other commitments for work, family, art, and journaling. I recommend that you set up your schedule to create at least three days a week when you can work on your fake journal. These three days are a baseline at which you will actually begin to feel comfortable with the character keeping the fake journal.

If you are new to journaling or new to fake journaling the three-day-a-week goal is also a realistic approach for success. Anything more will make you obviously happy. If your weekly total of pages (or page spreads if you are working that way) goes below three, then remember to be kind to yourself and acknowledge that you have had other things come up to prevent you from reaching your goal. Don’t use those events to make excuses for yourself, just acknowledge that they have happened and look at your schedule with them in mind to find a daily time when you can best achieve your goal. Be prepared to be flexible throughout the month so that you can keep working in your fake journal with satisfaction and success.

8. Remember that pages need to be dated at the time they are completed.
Because of this necessity a “catch-up” session is not possible for fake journaling. (If you use “catch up” sessions you are venturing into faux journaling which I hope to discuss in a later post.)

Your character needs to be in the moment. Now if that moment extends to his completion of two page spreads at one time (he goes to the farm and sketches animals filling those four pages, etc.), great—but remember the parameters. Doing a “catch-up” session also doesn’t give you a sense of being in your character’s mind in the same way living with him/her every day will. And that defeats one of the purposes of participating in International Fake Journal Month.

9. Have I considered reasons to prep?
The obvious reason is that you'll be set to jump right in on April 1 with your materials and even, perhaps, as sense of the journal keeper.

Another reason for doing prep is to create a shopping list. I’m an advocate of using what you have on hand. I had the notebook I wanted to use and the pencils, all on hand. After I completed my prep (as described in yesterday's post) I only need a couple items. When you have worked out a basic plan you can MAKE A SHOPPING LIST and purchase those tools and items you need, again so that on April 1 you’re ready to jump right in. You’re not scrambling and wasting valuable time, or frustrating yourself with extra errands on April 1 when you could be journaling.


10. If I intend to post my fake journal pages on my blog or with my friends how will that impact the process?
If you intend to post your fake journal work publicly I recommend that you journal for a full week or seven entries (if you don’t journal daily, so this might mean you’ll be halfway through the month before you post any of your work). The delay in posting will allow you to become comfortable with your character and get a sense of where the journal might be going. It will also allow you to savor the excitement you feel about the journal without any need to explain it to others. For many people who participate in International Fake Journal Month this is the first time they explore working on an extended project which requires sustained energy and focus. Explanation can drain the energy from a project—energy you need to keep going.

Delaying the publication of your fake journal pages serves one purely practical consideration. As mentioned in item 4 above, reproducing your work will involve scanning, Photoshop work perhaps, or photography. All these activities take time. If you are busy preparing yesterday's pages for today's publication you aren't building your daily habit of working in the journal. After a week or more of journaling in your fake journal, however, taking time to prepare your pages for publication will be less likely to derail your journaling process.

Additionally, delaying the publication of your pages will help you achieve a thicker skin. This is needed to protect you from prying questions that may come up, even from the closest of friends—questions that could derail your efforts. I have found, with people participating in the past, that building up a head of steam, getting pages under their belts, before sharing their work, is an accurate indicator of the probability of a productive month of fake journaling.

Because the fake journal isn’t created by “you” it might seem easier to show. There is a distance between you and the content. But if you are not practiced at creating this distance be aware that it does not naturally develop. Don’t count on that distance if you are new to the process. You and the successful completion of your goals, as well as the discovery of ideas you can bring back to your actual journaling process, are the more important that public feedback. Fake journaling is first about exploring and expanding your creative process.

The subject matter you explore may be darker (or lighter) than your regular work. If your creative self feels exposed it may not follow through with this material.

Start small and expect the process to get intense by the end of the month—either because other commitments rush in to claim your time, or your inner critic chimes in loudly, or you hit issues you weren’t expecting.

Leave yourself open to possibilities. Use the month to work against all forms of rigidity, even those that might develop around your goals for your fake journal.

Finally, as you ask yourself these questions, remember—you can’t think of every eventuality. When something happens to disrupt your intended plan find a work around, while in character! That's all part of the fun.