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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 1, 2020 8:04:52 GMT
Anyone following along with Shimelle on her September Learn Something New Every Day project? Though I hadn't geared up to doing anything special, I must say that I've produced some of my most satisfying journals as a result of her prompts in previous years and when I spotted the email this morning, I looked at my calendar for the day and thought "why not?"
So here goes. I have no idea what I might do - it could be anything from a word each day, a photo each day or something more elaborate. Hmmmm...how refreshing to begin a project without any "product" or pressure!!
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Post by lilacgal on Sept 1, 2020 11:51:57 GMT
I have that class but have never done it. I’m a teacher and September (especially early September) is an exhausting month of training my kids with classroom procedures. Due to COVID and my risk factors, I’m at home managing some of my school’s distance learners and helping with plans for my long term sub. I might actually have some time to do this now!
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Post by joblackford on Sept 2, 2020 4:42:34 GMT
I’ve always heard about this project but have never really seen what it is or what anyone does with it so I never knew if it was something I would like or not. I gather there’s no new material any more. I think Shimelle said she was keeping it going but not adding new content. I always like the sound of the name! Can you share anything about what the content looks like? I’d love to hear more about your project as you go along.
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 2, 2020 10:52:16 GMT
You're correct, joblackford , Shimelle has simply tweaked previous year's content by adding three links this year, to a song, a few inspiring words and an interesting/inspiring person. A bit like Journal your Christmas, I tend to begin by following her lead and then somehow, lose the plot and go a bit off piste with my own thoughts. I think one year I followed the prompts pretty closely and completed a digital LSNED journal using Shimelle's materials, but normally, I keep it pretty simple. I'm not a great one for sharing my masterpieces - because they are far from it! But I'll try to do better in that respect this year ;-) I'm thinking of using the TN insert I bought last year for our Japan trip but didn't use. Maybe it will be just what I need for the simpler format of this project? (ETA I just found a blog post from a few years back with a glimpse of some of my finished journals www.elegantsufficiency.org/blog/2016/9/1/the-first-of-september.html I also discovered that in 2012 (good grief!) I blogged quite a lot about the process of creating that year's LSNED journal - start here www.elegantsufficiency.org/blog/2012/8/26/art-journal.html and follow on through the next month's worth of posts if you don't fall asleep from boredom along the way!)
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chaoticc
Shy Member
Posts: 20
Jul 21, 2020 19:05:55 GMT
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Post by chaoticc on Sept 2, 2020 20:08:20 GMT
I'm doing it! It will be my first time making the attempt. My life is very, very routine a vast majority of the time so I think I'm going to have to work hard to glean lessons many days. But I'm also trying to approach it from a standpoint of not being a perfectionist, so if I miss some days, I miss some days.
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Post by shessoaverage on Sept 2, 2020 22:34:11 GMT
I’ve started doing it three or fours times, but never got past the first week. Today, I decided what my album is going to consist of, and cut all the pages and the covers. I’m ready! This year, I will succeed! ( I hope... )
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 5, 2020 12:40:20 GMT
How is everyone doing? As usual around here, the first four days are done and I feel I'm in my groove! I still find the TN page format tricky to use - something about the very upright proportions just doesn't work with the way my brain works (I think I have a landscape brain!!) I wonder how long it will be before I fall off the wagon? Actually, I'm also using the project to "use what I have" - all the small scraps of paper and stuff that seem to gather in a "useful box" on my desk. I'd like to think it will be empty when I finish but in reality, will it look any different from how it looks now!? I am finding Shimelle's music choices "interesting" - the words, a bit more so. I quite enjoy seeing which person's life she's chosen to highlight each day too. But ultimately, I'm not really using any of them as inspiration. Are you? Anyway, what did I learn this morning? That people around here are "forgetting" to keep a social distance at the supermarket and that I was really pleased to be home again. I'd like to say I learned something more profound, but maybe that will come later
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Post by shessoaverage on Sept 5, 2020 17:44:45 GMT
Completed my page for day 4 this morning, so still on track. My lesson yesterday was that perfectionism stifles creativity and the solution is just to keep creating without worrying about the outcome. I’m not sure I have taken that to heart yet, because I wish my pages looked better. Going to keep going, though!
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 5, 2020 21:47:53 GMT
My lesson yesterday was that perfectionism stifles creativity and the solution is just to keep creating without worrying about the outcome. Wow...that's a good one! 100% true around here too.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 6, 2020 0:21:39 GMT
How is everyone doing? As usual around here, the first four days are done and I feel I'm in my groove! I still find the TN page format tricky to use - something about the very upright proportions just doesn't work with the way my brain works (I think I have a landscape brain!!) I wonder how long it will be before I fall off the wagon? Actually, I'm also using the project to "use what I have" - all the small scraps of paper and stuff that seem to gather in a "useful box" on my desk. I'd like to think it will be empty when I finish but in reality, will it look any different from how it looks now!? I am finding Shimelle's music choices "interesting" - the words, a bit more so. I quite enjoy seeing which person's life she's chosen to highlight each day too. But ultimately, I'm not really using any of them as inspiration. Are you? Anyway, what did I learn this morning? That people around here are "forgetting" to keep a social distance at the supermarket and that I was really pleased to be home again. I'd like to say I learned something more profound, but maybe that will come later You could say that people can get used to anything, even a global pandemic... or that social/cultural habits are very hard to change... I had fun looking at some of your old project pages. I haven’t gotten far yet, but thank you for sharing them. BTW, I have struggled with the tall TN pages too and actually wondered about doing a whole TN in landscape format. I don’t like the idea of chopping and changing although I know some people don’t mind, but I think a sideways TN might be easier to work with for older photographer brains (those of us who grew up with film cameras). I’ve also considered just getting a B6? TN. I think it’s B6, or maybe B5 - it’s more like a regular notebook proportionally, but smaller.
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 6, 2020 15:53:02 GMT
joblackford I think that when I originally bought my TN (and all the trimmings, of course ) someone here suggested I used it in landscape format (maybe that was you?) I tried, but somehow it still didn't work for me - maybe it would have done had it been a spiral bound journal? I don't know. There's just something about the proportions I think? And yes, perhaps it is to do with older photographer brains?! Thank you for reformatting my day #5 thoughts! Much appreciated It's funny, I too enjoyed looking through my old LSNED pages. There's something about this project that just makes me feel free to do as I please. It doesn't always work but giving myself permission to go off piste seems to bear fruit most of the time. I wonder if it's because there's no "product" to rely upon, no palette of seasonal colours, no catchphrases or clichés to trot out - there's just an empty canvas to do with as I please. Add to that a fairly quiet time of the year and therefore the time to play about with it and a fairly open but thoughtful theme to think about - it's a winner! (And today I learned that however much food I prepare when my my s and b-i-l come to lunch, they will eat it. )
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Post by quietgirl on Sept 6, 2020 18:50:19 GMT
joblackford , Dearly Dee may have examples on her you tube for horizontal tn pages. She works with Pocket Page Notebooks sometimes, and I really think it was her who had horizontal ones.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 6, 2020 20:30:45 GMT
joblackford , Dearly Dee may have examples on her you tube for horizontal tn pages. She works with Pocket Page Notebooks sometimes, and I really think it was her who had horizontal ones. It may have been Dee, or Tracy Hold-? I can't remember her last name, Australian woman who had cancer a couple of years back. I haven't followed either one for ages but I remember both doing some interesting stuff with TNs and pocket page notebooks.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 6, 2020 20:35:31 GMT
There's just something about the proportions I think? Skinny tall diaries were pretty typical when I lived in Japan, and it made sense when I saw how people wrote in them. Japanese kanji is very compact - often only one kanji character is needed to make note of something, and their language can be sideways or downwards, writing downwards is the traditional way (which makes the tiny Hobonichi Weeks planner make a lot more sense!). And people use very fine pens as a rule. So anyway, it might be partly cultural/language based as well.
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Post by mrssch on Sept 7, 2020 19:56:06 GMT
I’m not getting the emails this year. Was there something I needed to do?
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caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,413
Location: So Cal
Jun 26, 2014 16:42:12 GMT
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Post by caangel on Sept 7, 2020 21:08:52 GMT
I’m not getting the emails this year. Was there something I needed to do? I think you have to opt in after the first day. I'm sure if you email her she will fix it.
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 7, 2020 21:11:47 GMT
I’m not getting the emails this year. Was there something I needed to do? I don't normally have to do anything - the emails just arrive and drop into my Shimelle folder. Maybe you need to email her and get her to sort it out for you (assuming you've had the LSNED emails previously?) In my experience she's been pretty good at sorting glitches out.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 8, 2020 0:39:05 GMT
I’m not getting the emails this year. Was there something I needed to do? I would double check it hasn't been sorted into spam first. I have had a bunch of emails that I used to get reliably suddenly start sorting into spam (in gmail, which never used to pull that crap!)
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Sept 28, 2020 10:39:05 GMT
How's it going, LSNED'ers?! I am a few days behind but generally keeping it together by staying simple and doing my best not to complicate things. I will admit to having gone "off piste" and moved away from Shimelle's prompts, but then that always happens when I do these things. I always begin with the best intentions to read, follow links and keep on track, but after a few days I get in the groove and go it alone. Anyway, we are nearly at the end of the month and I'm going to try to get a few more pages done now - which is probably why I'm prevaricating by reading and posting here
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Nov 14, 2020 11:39:19 GMT
Good grief! Pardon me for dredging this thread up from the deep end but I just had to crow about finishing my 2020 LSNED!! Yes, as everyone here is chatting about Christmas journals and stuff, here I am trying to clear the decks from September. Anyway, I did it - and as always, I'm glad I did. There's always a point about two thirds the way through that I begin to feel bored with a project, when I really struggle to get it done and yet, once I've made that final push the effort is all worthwhile. I just blogged about it and will use the final page to add something along those lines. It never hurts to remember the satisfaction of the finished project, does it? Learn Something New Every Day 2020 Now, will someone please remind me of that when I reach that low spot with my Christmas journal, please!?!
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Post by shessoaverage on Nov 16, 2020 2:09:47 GMT
I finished mine at the end of September, but it wasn't nearly as fancy as yours - just an 8 x 8 book I put together with card stock pages and a cardboard cover, bound with a spiral coil binder tool that I bought like 20 years ago. I felt good about finishing, since I bought the class years ago and have never even started to do the project!
Your traveler's journal is beautiful! Congratulations on finishing and extra congratulations on finishing so artistically!
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Nov 16, 2020 11:27:30 GMT
shessoaverage thank you x Really, I ought to have got down to it and finished way sooner than I did - I only used what I had and enjoyed getting the scrapbox out. Bravo to you for finishing on time!! (Aaaaah, the satisfaction of finishing....!)
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Post by grammadee on Nov 16, 2020 15:51:20 GMT
Good grief! Pardon me for dredging this thread up from the deep end but I just had to crow about finishing my 2020 LSNED!! Yes, as everyone here is chatting about Christmas journals and stuff, here I am trying to clear the decks from September. Anyway, I did it - and as always, I'm glad I did. There's always a point about two thirds the way through that I begin to feel bored with a project, when I really struggle to get it done and yet, once I've made that final push the effort is all worthwhile. I just blogged about it and will use the final page to add something along those lines. It never hurts to remember the satisfaction of the finished project, does it? Learn Something New Every Day 2020 Now, will someone please remind me of that when I reach that low spot with my Christmas journal, please!?! WTG!!! Starting is always way easier for me than actually finishing. And 2 1/2 months is not that long. I started my All about Me book last February and just finished it in October. Still not completely put together b/c I ran out of page protectors, but all in one place.
I loved your comment on your blog about the realization that your everyday life is important enough to document. I need to remember that.
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Post by joblackford on Nov 16, 2020 16:13:11 GMT
That’s fantastic! I can relate on a few levels. Every project I do seems to try to morph into a “what I did” diary instead of whatever it’s supposed to be (even though I keep a daily diary elsewhere). I dither and then do it, then run out of steam, then even while I sometimes wish I’d never started, I end up loving looking back at it. Lol. Seeing your binding might be the push I need to tackle my October album. It’s done, but not bound, because I know once I sit down to figure out the binding I will have to pivot and problem solve to make it work, and I might not be happy with it (silly, because I’m not happy with it unbound either!)
I love that you finished, and that you used what you had. Good lessons there and I think it’s great you recorded them.
For a long time I agreed with you about the TN format being more suited to Japanese text, and in some cases I still do, but I’ve adjusted, and now the big wide expanse of 6x8 is too much for me! I have to add columns. I’m going to work in a TN format for my Christmas journal.
Anyway, yay! you did it!!
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Post by elegantsufficiency on Nov 16, 2020 22:25:28 GMT
Every project I do seems to try to morph into a “what I did” diary instead of whatever it’s supposed to be The strange thing is, I teach a course which includes reflective practice and I am continually reminding students that they should not write a narrative of what happened, but reflect on it!! As is often the way, this was a definite case of "physician, heal thyself" !! Jo, you are an inspiration with the TN. I'm in awe. grammadee, perhaps the satisfaction of finishing a project is proportionate to the time it took to reach that magical point?! The thing is, I can't allow myself to begin something new until I have cleared the decks of the stuff that's lingering there. So when everyone began talking seriously about Christmas Journals, I really had to Get On With It! Thank you both for your encouragement!
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