The Cultivation of the Personal Project
The story starts like this:
I write a story.
It takes me many years to get to a point where it is passable. It takes a few more to make me proud of it. It will take less than one afterwards to realize how far I've come since it. But we're not there yet.
I wrote a story and I thought I wanted to share that story. So I shoved into onto sub-par medium (Amazon Kindle) because I hoped everyone would see my care for it. I hoped and hoped and then it never really came, but I didn't stop writing and growing. It hurt a little to not get the attention, but my writing didn't need anyone else's attention on it because it had my own. So I kept going on until I really asked: Why?
I should stop now. I'm rehashing. I've gotten over that hurdle. I'm on the other side. The grass is greener. I'm writing and creating for me.
I'm cultivating my passion as a personal project.
As in personal. Sharing is optional.
What personal means is that I can do whatever I want without considering how many people it could reach or how other people might feel about it. I can be frank and full with my work.
So with the attitude I've been improving my work and exploring what is offered by the world. I'm now working on an e-medium that fits my passion rather than is the only option. Books can be so much more than what is typically marketed. As I've learned, e-books definitely can.
But I've discovered the potential and beauty of print books. I've seen nice hard-cover copies in stories with full pages and nice pictures, but that isn't the limit. There are whole leagues above that in quality and sheer uniqueness. I've glimpsed into the artisan world of printing. I've found something marvelous in it. Covers crafted to be a piece of art–without being concerned about the practicality. Design binding is the term for it. Artisans making gorgeous covers.
It is a highly niche product area. It's like buying a piece of art. It's not like it is. It is.
It's really an artform of its own. Taking the written word, another art, and elevating further by encapsulating it in a visual medium that displays its core essence and theme and is above-all beautiful and finely crafted.
I haven't actually done anything like that for my series. I don't have the skills or materials yet, but I've been slowly planning it out. Probably take as long to get there as it did to write How to Stop Wildfire, but it's a vague goal.
I'm enjoying every step as I breathe more life into my passion.
That's what matters now.
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September 2024 in Art
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