Last month I made my daily visit Carolyn Rubenstein's brilliant blog where she had a guest blogger, Hope Wallace Karney that day, who took one of my favourite elements of Vanity Fair magazine, the Proust Interview, and made it her own. Wow! It was a challenge to answer the questions she posed and I imagined that it would be for many of us.
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What age did you start keeping a journal? I started and stopped several times, but I since I started my blog a few years ago it is where I keep my most consistent musings.
Who’s diary/journal (dead or alive) would you like to read? Steve Jobs, Alice Hoffman, Annie Leibovitz, Whoopie Goldberg, My Dad - the unedited version
Who have you suspected of reading your diary? Years ago, my mother read my journals - out loud, at the dining room table one Thanksgiving. It was a mortifying experience. Maybe why I was afraid to do it again until more recently?
What is your idea of the perfect journal? One with thick enough pages for me to use marker that won't bleed through and I can doodle. It also has to be big enough but not too big. I've just realized I'm one of "those" picky journal people!
Which words or phrases do you most overuse (in speech and/or writing)? "So ...". "Seriously?" "Really?" The occasional "f-bomb". My children would claim other phrases like "is your homework done?", "go brush your teeth" and "is your room clean?" as overused in this house.
What quote most speaks to you? I really enjoy visual quotes, uplifting concepts - like comments made by Mark Twain: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."; or, "You must be the change you want to see in the world." Mahatma Ghandi; or Maya Anjelou: "Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage." And one of my favourites is from Twyla Tharp: “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”
Who (or what) inspires you? Pretty much anything and everything. Nature. My kids. Ingredients: food and creative. The internet. My friends.
Who is your favourite fictional character? Father Tim and characters from the Mitford Series. The Mists of Avalon is filled with fascinating and fabulous characters. Find me someone flawed and human and I will love them - I'll pass on sick, violent and evil!
Who are your favourite writers? Alice Hoffman, Mark Twain, Thomas Hardy, Barbara Erskine, Brene Brown, Jane Austen, Shakespeare
Which natural talent would you most like to be gifted with? Patience.
What is your greatest creative talent? Colour. I get colour. And composition. I have a good eye.
What is your greatest creative challenge? The technical aspects of photography - I am happy to keep most things on "auto". The science of painting and multimedia projects - what adheres to what. I don't have the time or patience to figure out what sticks to what - or what won't stick to what. There has to be some kind of cheat sheet out there! I think I'm a minimalist at heart but tend to add just one too many things to my work ... must embrace restraint! Plenty of challenges :)
A bit more about me:
I embrace imperfection in Oakville, Ontario with my four delightfully challenging, energetic and imperfect children; a charming and imperfect husband, and (blessedly) no more imperfect pets! By day I dabble, with no skill in any particular area, indulging in my passion for photography, writing, and exploring the inspiration that is the internet in an effort to do more good than harm and live a life full of authenticity and generosity. As for the rest of my time? That is spent performing my duties as chauffeur and cheerleader, cook and laundress, friend and mother, drinking buddy and sit down comic.
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In the spirit of my guiding word, DO, I wanted to ask these same questions of so many creative women I've come to know on-line and in person. The criteria used was simple. I sent out an invitation and the questions to all of those women I would like to invite if I were to have a dinner party. (Wouldn't that be awesome?) I was thrilled to receive so many wonderful responses!
Over the next 26 Mondays, I will be sharing with you the responses from:
14 March | JILL CONYERS
21 March | JANE GARNETT
28 March | LAIN EHMANN
04 April | SUE SYKES
11 April | AMY EATON
18 April | SHIRLEY LEMAY
25 April | SHERRY MORALES
02 May | CATHY ZIELSKE
09 May | VALERIE MANGAN
16 May | LORRAINE CLEWES
23 May | JENNIFER LARSON
30 May | KATRINA SIMECK
06 June | MONIKA WRIGHT
13 June | CHARLENE O'HARA
20 June | ELIZABETH DILLOW
27 June | LORI MANCINI
04 July | CHERI ANDREWS
11 July | HOLLY ATTFIELD
18 July | HEATHER HOLLE
25 July | FRANCINE CLOUDEN
01 August | KYLA HUNZINGER
08 August | MOLLY IRWIN
15 August | BETH WATT
22 August | MELANIE LOUETTE
29 August | KELLY ASBRIDGE
05 September | BARB WONG
After reading the responses that have come through, I can assure you, this would be one incredibly awesome dinner party! I think you'll greatly enjoy and find wonderful inspiration in this series. I have found myself in tears of joy a couple of times - overwhelmed with the generosity of everyone who chose to participate.
Join me over the next few weeks to meet, or get to know better, these fabulous ladies.
BONUS PROJECT:
I've also decided to put together an all-digi album in celebration of this little adventure and this is the first layout:
I will make a similar layout for each participant so that their words and ideas don't get "lost" in the ether! I am humbled and ever so grateful for the time and attention everyone has taken to contribute to this project and my favourite way of showing gratitude is to make an album!
This has been a great growth experience for me, I used the gorgeous Michelle Martin Vere digi papers to signify evolution and enlightenment with the plan being to continue this theme thoughout the project. (Even better, I made the whole digi layout all by myself with no template! It's very simple, but yay!)
Happy Monday!
