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

I Love this Alvin Field Book

Above: the April 2 entry for my IFJM journal. I'm using a soft-cover, 2-signature Alvin Field book. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Great news about the Alvin Field notebook, even the soft-covered version has sewn signatures. Now that I've been using the book for a few days, holding it in my hands as I work, I've been pressing into the spine and it is opening up ever so slightly and I can see the threads used to sew the signatures. I'm thrilled to know they are made so well.

But I'm happier still because the book is so much fun to work in. I'm using Ziller acrylic ink, Glossy Black, with a dip pen, and having a delightfully messy time. For watercolors I'm using Schmincke Pan watercolors. The pages buckle with the watercolor, but it's more a ripple than an annoying buckle, so you can keep on painting. It's fun.

I thought the Ziller Acrylic ink would dry faster on this paper than my Staedtler Pigment Liner test, but that hasn't been the case. I think the dip pen deposits an uneven thickness of ink and so there is a crust of dry ink that develops on the thicker strokes. When I come in with the washes that's where some bleeding will occur. But I'm blissfully happy even so. The journal is in part about totally disregard of neatness!

Some readers here or at my regular blog don't see the fakeness of this journal. I've asked friends here about that. The majority see what I'm doing as totally fake, but perhaps too subtle in the opening pages. We'll see, there is a story being told and it isn't me telling the story, that's all I really care about. If it works out in an interesting way, that's just additional fun. My fortuitous choice of journal to house this year's effort has already paid me back many times over in ways I couldn't have imagined.

For people trying to read the page:
Verso page, top: a quotation from the current New Yorker from a profile on Cheung Yan, a waste paper tycoon in China. It is about seizing the moment: "…We only have a certain number of opportunities in our lifetime. Once you miss it, it's gone forever."

Verso page, bottom: Find a way to make the ringbilled gulls look less meanacing. They don't look this menacing in person!!

Verso page, various notes, top to bottom: turning away; landing; white stripe on wing tip not shown; far wing; can't see details on the bill/beak; torpedo body.

Recto page, top to bottom:
09.04.02 3p.m. Target Parking Lot, Sunny 43 F. Very Breezy! Orientation lasted all through lunch so I'm glad of an opportunity to get out and check out what's around, even if it means taking my shadow Chuck!

View Roz's First Page Spread from Her 2009 International Fake Journal Month Journal

Left: a close up crop of one of the sketches on my first page spread. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

To view the first page spread of my fake journal for this year please visit today's post on Roz Wound Up. I write about the materials choices I'm making. You can also read the text on the first page spread (included at the end of the post), to begin to get a hint of who might be keeping this journal.

I discovered yesterday when I counted the page spreads in the Alvin Field Book I'm working in that there are exactly 30 page spreads to work on. (There would have been 31, but the last page was cut out as that was my tester sheet a couple weeks ago.) It's always good to count before you start in case you have a goal that needs a lot of pages. Happily, this leaves me with one spread for each day and that's more than enough. If I skip a couple days, that's fine too.

For me, I've set a limit of 30 minutes a day on this project. That should work out nicely. I just have to remember to pace myself with pages and with time!

Tips on Having a Successful International Fake Journal Month

Left: A button design I made for the project which will not be available as a button. Enjoy viewing it here. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Today is the first day of International Fake Journal Month.

I want to take a couple moments to give you some tips to make your participation successful and fun. Remember there are only two rules for participation 1. You must keep your fake journal in journal separate from your regular journal. The fake journal must be stand alone. 2. You must date your entries in present time. So an entry made today would be dated April 1, 2009, and the clock time. A date is needed on all entries. I encourage you to also put the clock time on each entry.

What’s Up for Grabs?
As the journal’s author you can be anyone you want to be (living anywhere, working in any profession that interests you).

That means you can 1. be yourself but the journal will contain fake happenings and events; 2. be yourself in another universe; or 3. be someone else. It’s what you want to do. Once you settle on an author that same persona creates all the entries.

Getting Started Select Your Journal
Select Your Journal
Since it is April 1 today I hope you have already made your selection. I recommend:

1. Using a thin journal (so that there won’t be lots of blank pages at the end of the month).

2. Select a journal that is portable so that you can have it with you all the time and make entries on the go. Let’s say you’re out and about and you see a dog. Well you can sketch that dog and then date and time your entry and make up something about the encounter to write next to it. Perhaps your persona doesn’t like dogs, this dog, rabid dogs?

3. Select a journal that contains paper you like to work on in a particular medium. If you plan to do the IFJM journal in pen and ink you might want to chose a journal with smooth pages for your pen lines. If you plan to use watercolor a hearty, water media friendly paper would be best.

Before You Make an Entry
Take a moment to think about the project before you jump in. It will ensure that you have a comfortable time with the new journal.

1. Make sure you know who the author of your journal is. If you aren’t the author you might want to jot down a little profile of the author in your regular journal. Some back story so you know what would or wouldn’t be in character for that person.

2. Decide who your audience is going to be. This is very important. For me almost all my past IFJM journals have been private, for an audience of one. The reasoning is very simple. My visual journal is already very public because I teach bookmaking and journaling. My students see my journals. Also I post my journal pages on my website and on my blog.

Typically I create my fake journal with a bit more privacy in mind. I want to be totally free in the creation. One year, for instance, I created two journals for this event using two hardbound copies of Plato’s Dialogues. Working in them with mixed media as I do in altered book journals, one volume was the journal of a female hitchhiker and the second volume was the journal of the driver who picked her up. Because I had no intention to share these journals or post them on my website I was able to explore the minds and concerns of the two journal keepers without any thoughts of polished writing, story line, or external judgement. The journals are very dark in content and theme. They stand as perhaps a rough draft of some other work I might do. If I had not viewed myself as the only audience for those journals I would not have ended up with the same results.

So think about what you would like to accomplish with your persona/author.

3. Decide where you are going to be (or travel around to different places).

4. Decide on the media you’ll use in your fake journal. To some extent you’ve already done this when you selected the journal you’ll be working in. This is the time to really consider the pros and cons of your choices. I recommend that you pick something portable and simple. Pencil, pen and ink, maybe a bit of watercolor wash. You don’t want to have a lot of extra stuff to carry around during the day. Also I have found if I keep the media simple I’m much more likely to take the time to make more entries. The flip side of this of course is if I am trying to break out of a particular method or journaling habit I might want to do something more elaborate. Also, if you elect to collage in your fake journal you might find that picking a particular time of day that you are at home will work best.

5. If you select a working method or medium for your journal that is either labor intensive or bulky to transport, and you are working at home on this journal, consider also setting a TIME LIMIT for each day. Remember, you have your real life to document as well. I think that 30 minutes a day is a nice time frame to consider.

Making Your First Entry
If you have thought about the items mentioned in this post the only thing left to do is begin. The best way to begin is in medias res, in the middle of things. Someone keeping a journal isn’t going to take the time to explain a lot of background and things about people in his life. All those bits of knowledge will come out as you work through the journal. Knowing what you know about the author of your fake journal, his location, and the audience (i.e., will the pages be private or will you post them) you can then just sit down and make your first entry. Go for it.

Tip: I find it helpful to start with a visual and when that is completed I write “nonsense” about the image I have created.

Continuing Along
Like any other journal you just keep filling the pages as you can, as you find time in your life, from now until the end of April.

A Word of Caution
This is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to let your mind wander and play. If you find that you are staring at the blank page and sweating, well that isn’t fun. Just stop. It isn’t worth it.

Also if your regular journaling habit is disappearing and that bothers you (some people see it simply as a month off) then you should stop as well. One of the goals of IFJM is to increase the likelihood that you have a regular journal habit when the month is over, not a struggling one.

Some ideas seem really fun when you hear about them but when you get into the execution of the idea it isn’t what you want to be doing. That’s when you just have to be kind to yourself and stop. Making yourself miserable for a month would be very sad indeed.

In the same vein, if you skip a day or two or more, don’t worry about it. Just do an entry when you can. The nice thing about your fake journal author is that he doesn’t have to be ruled by the same rules and judgments you subject yourself to every day. In other words have fun and don’t beat yourself up for taking a day or more off. (Remember I recommended thin books!)

Posting Your Pages
Several people have written to me asking if there will be a place to post pages from their fake journals. In response to these inquiries I created this blog. I will be posting pages from other people’s fake journals.

If you would like to post your pages on this site you need to do the following:

1. Send me an email at rozjournalrat@gmail.com

2. Subject line must read: IFJM Submission

3. Body of the email must be one paragraph about your page and one paragraph about the way IFJM is going for you. (TWO paragraphs, neither should be long. I may have to edit them down.)

4. Your name must be in the body of the text so I know how to write the copyright credit line that will appear with your image.

5. Attach a jpeg of your page/page spread. Jpegs should be saved at a resolution of 72 dpi and their largest dimension (either height or width) should be no greater than 800 ppi, and the file size should be less than 1.3 MB.

6. Pages should not contain offensive material. For me that means racist items, and child abuse/porn, gratuitous violence. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific than that. I’m really tolerant and like art in a lot of styles. A visual journal selection from someone stuck in a perpetual life drawing session (nude after nude after nude) would make the cut; people having sex—unlikely. (If someone is going to keep a voyeur fake journal then that might be a good one to keep and explore privately.)

Items coming to me in the above manner will be posted as I have time. I have no idea who will have an interest in posting this way so we’ll just have to see. Multiple submissions are fine. If you are sending a second or third or fourth jpeg then you might find yourself with very little in your text body on subsequent posts, and that’s fine too. I hope this post has given you some more support for your participation. Whether I see pages from you or not I would love to hear from you at the end of April and learn how your fake journal experience went for you. Thanks for participating.

What Is International Fake Journal Month?

Basically it’s a free pass to put anything in a journal that you might not otherwise put in. At least that’s one way to see it. From April first to April 30, you are encouraged to keep a fake journal different from and outside of your regular visual journal. (Writers are welcome to participate as well, just keep a separate journal for the purpose.)

Take on a new persona, alter ego, or be the same person you are now, except in an alternate universe. Maybe you are a cat person and always draw cats, well for April you’ll start a fake journal and just draw birds, with a passion, as if they were the most important animal on the planet. (You can of course continue drawing cats in your real journal, if it suits you.)

The only catch is that you need to date your entries in present time, as you complete them, i.e., April 1, 2009, 8 p.m., April 3, 2009, 4 a.m., and so on. Oh, and it has to be a self-contained journal, not your regular journal (that's two catches).

Maybe you want to live somewhere else? Well make a daily journal as if you are already there. It may mean that you’ll need to draw from your imagination a lot because things won’t be in front of you, but there are ways around that. Go to an antiques store or thrift shop and draw those items incorporated in a new reality. Or draw them as your daily drawing activity and make up stories about them.

Perhaps you are always working in pencil. Now is the time to become that artist who always works in pen, just go for it. Or if you are always image heavy in your journal, spend some time writing, pages and pages.

Why? because it’s fun, that’s why. And how often in life to you get a free, no guilt, no shame, just go for it pass on making things up (after the age of 3 of course)?

How Did International Fake Journal Month Get Started?
I founded International Fake Journal Month in 2001. It went sort of like this:

In 2000 I kept two journals. My regular journal and the journal I was keeping as part of the Minnesota Journal Project 2000. It made me think a lot about journals in general and my journals in particular. (Created a little bit of a crisis actually, keeping two journals.) I spent a lot of time (more than at any other time in my life) with other folks who kept journals. It was actually rather odd! I went from being the only person in the room with a journal to being one of many dozen (depending on the event) drawing away in my journal. (There were 46 participants in the journal project, but they were rarely together all at one time.)

Well, my thoughts led to other thoughts and I decided that it would be interesting to keep a fake journal. (I had kept fake journals for brief periods of time since I was 11.)

My good friend Linda humored my lunacy in 2001 by designing official pins for me. (They are still great conversation starters. The original typographic design can be found on my regular blog, at the bottom of this post, should you want to make one for yourself.)

Every year since then I’ve let other people know, nudged them into mendacity. Some past students have taken up the call in various years, but it’s still a small movement. I figure now that I have a blog I can push a little harder, reach a few more people.

Why Participate in International Fake Journal Month?
If you have to ask why then maybe it isn’t for you. Maybe you haven’t ever wondered what your life would have been if you had entered the Peace Corps or become White House Press Secretary like you planned? Maybe you don’t want to explore the day to day thoughts of the inventor of Never-fade Flavor-packed Chewing Resin (patent pending).

But if like me you are always wondering, “what if?” then it makes perfect sense.

Where else can you have so much fun for only the cost of a journal and a few art supplies? (Well OK, you can have that much fun simply keeping your regular journal, but this is different!)

What Are the Costs and Benefits of Participating in International Fake Journal Month?
The costs are minimal: some sort of journal and some art supplies. You don’t have to go to the place your persona lives, you don’t have to live his life, you just have to jot it down. Buy the cheapest over-the-counter journal you can find (you only have to live with it for a month) and a pencil and you’re all set. Or get a hardbound book with sewn signatures and make an altered book journal for the month. (See an example of an altered book journal here.)

The only real cost in this fake endeavor is your time. And you have to do something entertaining with that anyway right?

As for the benefits—they should already be springing to mind. Freedom to play, experiment, explore (especially if you can’t get away right now because of work, health, or the “Economy”), and an opportunity to toss things up.

When we take a moment to take our habits and jostle them up a bit, what shakes out is self-knowledge. Are we obsessive, are we happy, what would make us happy? All sorts of insights pop up when we give our brain the happy little task of fabrication.

Also, keeping a Fake Journal is non-threatening (and mentally hypo-allergenic!) because if you don’t like a page, it doesn’t matter, it isn’t your journal anyway, RIGHT? (It’s about letting go. It will drive your internal critic crazy!)

Come on folks, make this the best April ever for International Fake Journal Month! (Sure it starts on April Fool’s day, but it isn’t an April Fool’s day joke. That’s why I’m telling you about it now, so you can get ready to go!) A page now and then, in a journal designated for the purpose, just through April. Could anything be more simple?

I’ll write more about IFJM (International Fake Journal Month) as April moves along. And I will be announcing a contest on April 9th contest, so check back.

I hope you’ll join me.

Life’s so short, why live only one?

Visit me at Roz Wound Up for other journaling, book arts, and life adventures.