imagination
I love it when I have a brief flash of a game or something I used to do as a child. I was just hanging out my washing, and as I shook out the fitted sheet and hung it on the line, with the fabric billowing around the elastic in the breeze, I remembered how I used to love playing amongst the hanging laundry with my dolls. I would put them in the puffed out pocket of the fitted sheets and pretend they lived in the clouds.
Another game I had, when we lived in Papua New Guinea, was to imagine living on the ceiling. We had a coffee table with a mirror inlaid into it, and I would look into this mirror of an upside down world, where the lights all stood up from the ground like plants on straight stalks, and everything was white and minimalist. I would try to catch a glimpse of people who lived in this ceiling world, who were just out of the sightline of my mirror portal.
I love hearing stories of my friends’ children and the games and fictions they spin. It’s so delightful seeing the world through the eyes of a four year old, where bears hanging around outside your house is a perfectly plausible prospect, where you can be a magician if you decide to be, where the most ordinary objects hold some kind of immense untapped power.
I’d like to get back a bit of that imagination somehow. I know it’s still there in me, just need to crack through the sugar shell and release the creamy goodness inside (can you tell I want a creme brulee?).
Read Morein the meantime
So I’m still unemployed. But I am feeling much more calm about it than I was at the time of the last post.
I have actually had an interview, and will be having the second round of interviews for that job later this week! So that’s exciting. And I’ve applied for a couple of things.
In the meantime, I’m trying to keep moving forward, even if it’s only a tiny step at a time.
Tupperware stuff is actually going pretty well. [book me for a party] I mean, I’m not smashing amazing targets or anything (yet?), but I’ve had a steady number of demos to do [book me for a party] and even if this doesn’t turn out to be something I’m going to do long-term, [book me for a party] I’m amassing a pretty cool collection of Tupperware I’ll get to keep at the end. It’s actually really fun, to be honest, and I hope I can make a good go of it.
No, there were no subliminal messages in that last paragraph. But if you’d like to book me for a party, you can email me at sales [at] rebeccajee.com.
I’ve also started up another blog to show off things I’ve made! I was looking at my bags and crocheted bits and pieces and thinking that I do achieve things, even if they’re not big, flashy things. Making a bag is fantastic! Crocheting an animal is satisfying! Creating something out of disparate bits is such a cool ability I’ve been blessed with, so I thought it was time to celebrate it.
That blog is called TalulaMei. Please pay me a visit there!
Read Moremaking music
So we made a CD!
I think everyone was surprised that I actually managed to keep it a secret, given how much I go on about every tiny little detail that crosses my mind. But Lachy and I decided to pool our collective talents and make a Christmas CD. He had written a couple of Christmas songs a couple of years ago, and talked about recording them for his mum as a present, but never got around to it. So we added our favourite traditional carols, mucked around with them a bit and came out with a pretty pleasing finished product. I did some nifty graphic design, we sent it all off to a secret laboratory overseas and in less than three months, voila! The Christmas Project!
It makes mothers and grandparents cry! You know it must be good!
We’ve given out a few copies as Christmas presents, but if you would like to hear previews or download it yourself it’s even available on iTunes and CD Baby (the latter is where we got it made and is cheaper).
Get it now! You only have three days left until it becomes irrelevant for another 11 months!!!
(Lachy just pointed out that Jesus’ birth is not irrelevant, but listening to Christmas carols out of season may not be your thing, and, indeed, may be a social faux pas.)
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Kinds of Blue – now in 3D!
No, we haven’t moved on to gimmicky filmmaking…I just mean that the book is finally here and you can buy it! It’s real and papery and shiny and beautiful and I still can barely believe that it actually exists in physical form even though I’ve been carting boxes of them around in our car for the last week!
We launched the book at the Berkelouw cafe in Newtown last Monday. It was such a positive night, with around 100 people stuffed into the space where the book began, all celebrating with us.
Crowding in for the launch
I’m so proud of everyone involved in this project, especially Karen and Guan, who constantly amaze me with their drive and motivation. I think our partnership has worked quite well in that we manage to encourage and poke each other along when one or another of us falls down (hey, what do you know? The Bible was right! (Guan seems to have a thing for these three-person collaborations)).
pseudo-Asian Hive Mind
pseudo-serious Hive Mind
The image in my mind of the whole Kinds of Blue thing has been a bit like clambering onto a runaway stagecoach somehow (because hey, they’re a common occurrence these days), and then finding a whole bunch of other cool people inside and so not minding that the whole thing feels a bit insane and unbelievable, or that nobody knows where we’ll end up. The momentum is kind of fun.
some of the KOB collaborators
So I’m excited to announce that if you want to see what we’ve been doing in this here stagecoach, you can buy a copy of Kinds of Blue for yourself! It looks fantastic online, that’s true, but you have to see it in printed form to truly appreciate it. And, as my mum said, “ebooks might be great…but they don’t have this new book smell!”
Experience the new book smell for yourself! Buy one today!
Read Moreit all starts with an idea…
Karen said, more or less, “I want to make comics.”
Karen, Guan and I used to meet up to write far more regularly than we do now (well they still meet almost weekly, but I only dip in from time to time). As well as writing, we use each other as a sounding board, we talk about all sorts of crazy things and egg each other on to ever higher realms of creativity. We call ourselves, somewhat tongue-in-cheekingly, the Hive Mind.
So when Karen said she wanted to make comics, we thought it sounded like a great idea. And as the Hive Mind knows, when Karen has a great idea, it’s worth jumping on board because Things Start Happening.
Before we knew it, we were signed on to the Plan to Take Over the World, which involved pulling together an anthology of 5-page comics on the topic of depression. As you know, I have had a long association with the black dog, as have K and G, so the topic really resonated from the outset. As well as that, we all love comics. And making things. And collaborating. So much resonance.
(You can read all about this from K’s point of view at her blog)
After months of work from a bunch of writers and artists, and untold hours of slaving over a hot laptop by Karen to try and corral us all into some semblance of a team, we have a finished product. We call it Kinds of Blue.
We are so proud of it!
I wrote one and illustrated one of the stories (Eating the Blues), and also illustrated one of Guan’s stories (Labyrinthine). I also did the layout of the whole book.
It has taken me a lot of time to get to a point where I’m happy with my work in this, mainly because I kept comparing it to all the other contributions! There are some stunningly talented artists on board, with a wonderful variety of styles. I think that’s one of the things I love most about the book, is how the angle on depression every story takes is completely different, and also looks completely different. But today, I think I reached a milestone, or a watershed, or whatever they call those moments. While I was flipping through the drawings onscreen, I realised I actually do like my work. It has its own style, and its own things to say.
Anyway, the huge news is that we are trying to raise funds to publish it ourselves. We went live with the campaign yesterday at midday and the response has been unbelievable. At the time of writing, we have already raised 55% of the money we need to print the book and launch it. I’ve been so touched by the response, especially on Facebook, with heaps of people liking the book – and not just clicking ‘like’ but actually saying what they like about it. Many people can already see that this book will be a useful resource for them to talk about the topic of depression, or even just to understand better what it’s like. It can be a bit hard to read at times, especially if you’ve ever struggled with depression yourself, but I like to think that although there is necessary darkness, there is also light.
Intrigued? Want to get on board? Read it. Like our page on Facebook and tell other people about it. Check out our page on Pozible for more info on how to pledge. You can pledge any amount you like, though upwards of $30 will also get you a copy of the book sent to you when it’s released.
And then, oh man, we are going to party.
Read Moreso I made…a blanket
I’ve been greatly enjoying crochet in the last few months, as something to do with my hands, to keep me awake when I’m supposed to be listening to things but am tired (eg, sermons), and to have the satisfaction of creating something. So next few posts will be stuff I’ve made.
Here’s the blanket I finished over Easter, which has been adorning my bed and keeping me cosy warm ever since. It’s made up of different sized granny squares, but then pieced together much as I would do a patchwork quilt. If I were to do a similar blanket again I would refine the joining process as I just kind of made it up as I went along, but I still love it.
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