This is the space for our members to discuss and share their creative projects, ranging from written works to drawings, photography, and even craft projects such as knitting and woodworking. Self promotion is welcome (websites where we can view and/or purchase your work). Please do continue to preface if content is NSFW and be sure to properly spoiler/link such content. Those of you who’d like to post future Creative Endeavors Threads post your request in the comments below.
I’ve come to think that the big creative challenge for this year will be making sense of all the competing demands for my attention; I’ve barely finished a painting in the past few months and it’s almost daunting trying to organize and prioritize all the ideas I’ve got going on (and my other, less creative pursuits that nevertheless fuel the main drive). I feel very fortunate in that I’ve got a wide variety of interests and hobbies, but a big downside is that focusing can be a considerable challenge. The backlog of stuff I’ve already done on which I can reflect is a comfort, but I also want it to be a stepping stone to better work in the future, and I don’t think I’m alone in wondering how much of the latter I have left.
I had a “Christmas Past” moment in this regard last week, when I was going through my files and suddenly took a plunge into my old fiction, not least the notes I’d written regarding the novels I’d planned to write. There were multiple connected sci-fi/fantasy storylines that I meant to hearken back to the days of weird fiction, when mixing the two wasn’t just an aughties gimmick but kinda the whole point. It probably should have been a hint that I was a lot better with character and dialogue (and sensual physical descriptions) than with strong narratives and story structure. One pleasant discovery on rereading my webcomic a couple of years ago was that while the artwork was all over the place (noticeably improving but in ways that made a mess of the whole) and I flubbed one minor climactic moment, the story itself actually held up (which often wasn’t the case with a lot of my short fiction; the tension between the different media may have been just what I needed).
I went to a zine festival this weekend and got a pretty wide exposure to different variants of the form (pictured in the header) with somewhat ulterior motives, as I’ve come to feel that that might be the best way to showcase my ink illustrations. Seeing some of the possibilities in the flesh renewed my interest in this project, which I now hope to have done by the end of the year. It was a great creative weekend in general, not least as I also got out Sunday evening to do figure sketching at the Scarab Club, before I left early to go to a show; an acquaintance runs a record store in Southwest Detroit and hosted none other than a last minute tour stop by Mirah; I’ve been a fan for decades and “Apples in the Trees” is for me the perfect lo-fi pop song. Only got to hear a few songs before I had to catch the bus back but just hearing that voice in person still sends chills up my spine days later.
How’s your work going?