First I get a vision for a project. Then, I run and find my notebook to jot the ideas down. Sometimes I scribble out designs to further illustrate what I have seen. Where the ideas come from I really don't know! But, I am grateful that they never cease to arrive, even if I cannot always make an accurate version in this reality.
This is the story of how art starts out as visions in my mind, to the pages of my notebook, to posts here on HIVE, and finally, back to paper in the form of a zine.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a zine, not to worry! I have made a short video explaining zine culture for you to watch here:
Writing and crafting have always been important parts of my life. Even as a child I would make magazines and mini newspapers just for fun. In college I dabbled with video editing and had a radio show for several years. And as an adult the desire to create and share my creations hasn't dwindled. I am so glad to have found HIVE and a place where my work can be valued and seen.
These days I feel inspired to share about the simple life. I want to show how homesteading can look so many different ways. Some folks start out their journey with a "go big or go home" attitude. I am more of a micro-homesteading person and focus on gardening, collecting, and growing slowly, and infusing every step of the process with enchantment.
Being able to write and earn online is a great facilitator to my life goals. But, I must admit that sitting at my computer isn't the most enchanting part of my day.
I do feel a sense of accomplishment after spending a couple of hour taking photos and writing to finally hit the "publish" button and send my words out into the internet. Today however, I want to take you all behind the scenes of my process on paper. Let's take a look at where the blog posts actually begin!
Yesterday I took my writing journal outside to take some pictures with the newly sprouted mum flowers. Back when I wrote these I had a ritual of spending time with my notebook (and cup of coffee) each morning before looking at any screens. These days I actually prefer to just get straight to computer work in the morning and instead spend some screen-free hours just before bed.
This routine works out quite well. At night my mind is full of ideas by morning my notebook is too. In the morning I type up blog posts both here and on Medium.
Very often writing a post and seeing how it resonates with my fellow bloggers gets me inspired to do something more with the words and images I have collected. So, once again my words are transformed into ...
Zines!
This particular zine is a remix of all the writing and photography I have done for the Magick Community. I am proud of the information I have shared there and wanted to make a handmade version to share with other magical practitioners who aren't on HIVE.
There is still so much to do. As for the cover page I think I am decided on this. The contents however are still being formed alongside my writing and blogging practice. From vision, to scribbles in my writing book, to blog post, to zine and back to blog post - the process of writing is ever weaving!