“sit down and create something” Collage, cut New Yorker Magazine paper, 9" x 12" — **“sit down and create something”**
Collage, cut *New Yorker* Magazine paper, 9" x 12"

Notice something? It’s week 26. Know what that means? I’M HALFWAY DONE WITH THIS CHALLENGE!

INNER CHEERLEADER JULES: YAAAAYYY!!! Congratulations! Mazel Tov! I knew you could do it! Keep it up!!!

INNER CRITIC URSULA: ONLY halfway??? Jesus! How the hell are you ever going to make it through ANOTHER 26 WEEKS???

ME: Ladies, ladies. First off, thank you (I think) for your input. Jules, you’re a gem. Ursula, bugger off.

URSULA: Hmph. Watching British telly again, I see. Maybe if you spent more time reading your New Yorkers—

ME: I AM YOUR SOVEREIGN.

URSULA: (To Jules) You hear how she talks to me?

JULES: Well, she IS your sovereign. On her best days.

URSULA: Hmph. Halfway.

JULES: HALFWAAAAY!!!

So, yes, I’m thrilled. And also, Ursula has a point. But—one week at a time. One day at a time. That’s all I need to focus on.

This week, I knew I wouldn’t have time to read as much as I would like. This is a recurring theme. So many intriguing articles, so little time. This week I really wanted to get to the fiction piece, but it went unread and subsequently cut up.

“Spring Awakening” by Tomer Hanuka @tropical_toxicThe New Yorker, March 20, 2017 — “Spring Awakening” by Tomer Hanuka @tropical_toxic
*The New Yorker*, March 20, 2017

I’ve had my eye on this week’s issue for a while. I love the cover by Tomer Hanuka. It’s a special Style Issue.

True confessions—don’t tell Ursula, but she was right. I am watching British telly. I’m working my way through season 4 of The Crown. So yes, I could have read that fiction piece—by F. Scott Fitzgerald, no less—but I chose to Netflix-and-chill. Some.

I did read enough to note a few words to cut out from the magazine, but nothing that really inspired a vision for the collage. Being the Style Issue, I had plenty of color to work with. But I also fell in love with several black, white, and red images. I decided I wanted to use them, but I didn’t know how yet.

I started thinking about how I am exactly halfway through with the challenge, and then an idea germinated. Halfway done, halfway blank. I imagined a timeline going into the future.

And then the words from the magazine “sit down and create something” spoke to me. Just do it. That’s pretty much what this whole exercise has been about. Sit down and create something. Don’t judge it. Don’t angst over it. Don’t wait for the perfect idea. Don’t worry about monetizing it. Just create something.

And then I looked at the other phrases I had cut out, and a poem emerged.

URSULA: Yeah, what in the wide, wide world of sports does that “poem” mean?

JULES: Whatever you want it to mean.

URSULA: “Free the horses”???

ME: Alright, I just thought it was funny.

Art with a capital A can take itself so seriously sometimes. “Things that see themselves as art.” If I’m too precious about my art, then I have the feeling I’ll be less inclined to make it.

So, after half a year of collaging and writing, I am finding that the blank canvas and the blank page are less intimidating. Just sit down and create something. Show up, do the foot(hand)work, stay open to inspiration, and act on it. Rinse, repeat. Setting a deadline helps too. Pardon me while I file this under Notes to Self.

Plus, I am sure I would not be making these discoveries without YOU, dear reader. So THANK YOU for playing along. I hope you are getting a laugh, a lift, or at least a diversion during these *interesting* times. Ready for the next 26 weeks?

URSULA: (Puffs a Pall Mall) I’m always here for you.

ME: Thanks?

JULES: I’m always here for you!

ME: Thanks!

I’m here for YOU, with gratitude and LOVE.