National Letter Writing Month

If you haven’t been able to tell, I’m kind of a sucker for national celebrations of anything.

I’ve discussed NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and Inktober (a drawing a day in October) before on this here blog, but I figured I’d introduce you to another creative month that has been occupying much of my time this past, well, month.

I didn’t actually know National Letter Writing Month (held during April) was a thing until March’s meeting of our epistolary club, when another member mentioned it offhand.

I really can’t help myself from participating in such festivities.

It definitely helped that I’ve been kind of slacking on my letter writing recently. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed–to say the least–with preparing for grad school and because of that, I have been incredibly slow to reply to letters and even slower at sending general birthday, housewarming, and other thematic cards.

As to not add to the pressure I already feel like I’m under, I decided that I didn’t need to write a letter/postcard a day, like many others are. So far, I’ve mainly worked in batches, writing two or three cards every couple of days.

And I’m having fun with letter writing again! It’s nice to fall headfirst back into things that get pushed to the back burner in favor of other things.

That’s one thing I definitely struggle with. I’m so interested in trying out as many things as I possibly can that I oftentimes find myself being spread thin throughout my interests, not taking the time to fully enjoy them like they’re meant to be enjoyed (The other activity that has recently fallen prey to this behavior is unfortunately knitting! After I finally finished my scarf, I casted on for my next project and haven’t really touched it since. I must make time for that next.).

God, Gemini problems, am I right?

I know it’s late in the month, but there’s still time to participate! Even if you only send one letter, that’s one letter you wouldn’t have sent before; one person whose day will be brightened to find a real letter in their mail instead of junk and bills; one time you sat down and made the active choice to set aside other activities and write out some kind words to someone who is important to you; one keepsake that someone may find years down the line that brightens their day possibly more so than the first time they opened their mailbox and saw it in there!

Goodness, look at me getting all sentimental and in my feelings. It’s a rare thing (especially from a Capricorn moon like me, you know) so enjoy it while it lasts!

Obligatory mention of my GoFundMe! Please, readers and friends, if you have even a dollar or two to spare to the cause–that is, sending me to grad school in Barcelona–it would mean the world to me. If you can’t donate (there are rewards, by the way!), sharing my fundraiser with those in your circle would be equally as helpful. I really appreciate the support I’ve already gotten, but we’re not there yet! Here’s your call to action.

Notes from December (and Early January!)

So, it’s been a minute. Whoops! I ended up being much busier through the end of December and beginning of January than I had intended. No matter; I’m back in the wonderful (and notably warmer) state of Washington after my jaunt back to the land of ice and freezing winds that is Minnesota.

I got a chance to see the updates on Skyler’s–my boyfriend’s–family’s cabin (Whew! You think that’s enough possessives in one sentence?). Very culturally Minnesotan. As if the cities weren’t cold enough, everyone has a cabin farther north to truly indulge in and enjoy the cold and snow! Those wild Scandinavians/Germans, I tell ya.

I also got the chance to indulge in something I haven’t had the money to since moving to Washington: watching tons and tons of movies that are in theaters!

I’ve seen plenty of films in theaters since moving out west, but not as many as I’d like because it’s a pretty penny to do that, and I’m lucky enough to be able to see them for a discount at the theater I used to work at. So, I got to see a ton of movies, including Mary Queen of Scots, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (again!), The Favourite, The Mule, Holmes and Watson, Aquaman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, Vice, Mary Poppins Returns, On the Basis of Sex, and The Upside.

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Wow. I haven’t actually listed them out, so I hadn’t realized just how many I saw in the last month. I’m not even sure that that’s all of them (though, I’m pretty confident).

Anyway, movies are one thing that have always meant a lot to me, so I don’t mind investing as much time in them as I did while in Minnesota.

One pretty consistent theme I noticed in the movies I saw that I absolutely adored was the prioritization of women’s voices and stories. It was super enjoyable–and refreshing–to watch movies that focused almost entirely on the women within them and sidelined the men. Mary Queen of Scots, The Favourite, and On the Basis of Sex would all fall under this category. I also think it’s interesting to note that all of these are based of historical women–Mary Stuart (obviously), Queen Anne of Great Britain, and the powerful and great Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Favourite is my favorite (haha, get it?) to sweep at the Oscars. I hope its ten nominations indicate promise of some wins for my ladies.

Also worth noting: I managed to get my Inktober zines printed before Christmas (but just barely!)! I order thirty so I would have enough to distribute to my friends and pen pals while having enough to give to my parents because they had people in their own minds they wanted to gift them to.

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I had wanted to be more involved in the page layout and actual printing of them, but I waited a little too late and had to leave a lot of the initial construction to the wonderful Marit of The Bremerton Letterpress Co. as far as layout, printing, and binding went. She did an incredible job, keeping it simple and clean like I had asked. I wanted the focus of the zine to stay on the images and not on some other part of it. I also went back and forth on wanting to include the prompt words or to keep it truly sparse and only have the images, but I decided that it would be easier to appreciate if I included the prompts so people (including me!) didn’t have to look any of them up. She also kept me involved for a lot of the process, which included sending me multiple drafts so I could include my comments. I appreciated that immensely. It made it feel much more like I had initially hoped as I had a big say in how everything looked.

Gosh, I know this one is already kind of a long one (and I haven’t even gotten to the books I’ve been reading!), but it’s been so long since we talked and I have just so much to say and share! I guess I’ll end it here so I have other things to talk about in the next post.

Inktober

So, October is the best month for seemingly innumerable reasons: The weather starts to truly feel like fall; the leaves start to turn yellow then orange then red then crunchy; coffee just inherently tastes better; people’s houses become little haunted versions of themselves. I mean, I could just go on and on.

But one more recent addition to the argument that October is far and away the most superior month is Inktober. Jake Parker created the month-long holiday in 2009, with the idea being to create an ink drawing every day based on a prompt list. The requirements have loosened considerably, with people using all types of mediums from water colors to digital art—even writing like poetry—to complete the challenge. There have also been a growing number of alternative prompt lists while others abandon the idea of a prompt list entirely and just create the art that they’re inspired to create.

Basically, at this point, the goal has become to do a piece of completed art every day for the month of October.

And this year, I’m among those participating!

At this point, I’m 6/6, which is better than I had expected to be. I’m not using the official prompt list. I’ve been using the list created by Mab Graves that she posted to her instagram, with entries using that list searchable with #mabsdrawlloweenclub. I chose to go with a different list because I wanted a pretty traditional set of Halloweenie-themed prompts and the official list didn’t give that to me. So, here I am.

My favorite drawing I’ve done at this point. Prompt: Mushroom

I also decided to limit myself to just my Kuretake Fude brush pen and my little Clairefontaine Crok sketchbook. I’m not used to working with such limited supplies and

 I’m definitely not used to wielding a brush pen (even though it is a bit generous to call my particular Fude pen a brush pen. Its nib is a little short and stiff to be a proper brush pen.

Anyway, I’ve been posting my drawings to the official Paperquirks Instagram so if you’re interested in following my progress, it’s all there for you to check out. I’ll include a couple of entries in this post to whet your appetite, but if you want to see more, you’ll have to go and check them out!

Now, a bit about my (admittedly limited, at this point) experience. I’m really enjoying it so far! I’m not especially good at keeping at something every day for an extended period

 of time, even things I enjoy like art. But—probably because of my undying love of autumn and Halloween—it has been a joy to draw the prompts on this list! And it hasn’t felt forced once, which I think is the most important part. I don’t want to burn myself out halfway through the month, so that’s why I chose to use such a small sketchbook. And my drawings are even smaller than the whole page, making the process faster, tighter, and easier for me.

First prompt of the month: Witch!

In all honesty, I kind of can’t believe that I haven’t participated before. It’s basically NaNoWriMo (which I’ve written about before) but with drawing instead of writing!