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Kathy Sharp

~ The Quirky Genre

Kathy Sharp

Monthly Archives: December 2019

Recycle your Old Writing

30 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by kathysharp2013 in Recycling, Uncategorized, writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Recycling, writing

IMG_2005Something new. It’s what we do at this season, isn’t it? Look ahead to the New Year, perhaps make resolutions – look for something fresh to think about – a new project, maybe, something to get the brain whirring and stir up flagging enthusiasm. We writers are particularly prone to this, I think; throw off all the old projects and start something completely new. It’s heady stuff – a project that’s all in your imagination, its drawbacks and difficulties not yet thought of, the sheer hard work of it not yet begun. All unspoiled by reality. Of course, that won’t last. Every project is waiting to hit you with problems, with those ‘Oh, dear, I hadn’t thought of that!’ moments.

So here’s a revolutionary idea, very much in tune with the times: instead of plunging headlong into a new project, how about recycling your old, half-finished projects? ‘Boring!’ I hear you say. Well, yes. But if you’re like me, you might have five or six partially-completed pieces of work just begging to be finished before you rush into something new. I don’t know why it can be so difficult to finish a piece of work when you’ve already done, perhaps, more than half of it. I guess it’s because the second half is where you have to pay more attention, solve more problems, make everything work tidily. It’s much more exciting to begin something new.

But just think of the satisfaction of completing a long-term project, especially if you’ve set it aside, or even abandoned it. That, as an old friend of mine used to say, is an accomplishment – the victory of the hard slog of finishing something over the thrill of starting anew. And a great deal less wasteful, too. And, if a writing project is really beyond help, then why not pull it apart and repurpose the components? Don’t let your words go to waste – look for short pieces that can be patch-worked together or re-used elsewhere. Like old clothes and furniture, maybe they can be upcycled into something completely different but just as useful.

So this New Year, I shan’t be rushing into anything new. Not that I don’t have fresh ideas to explore, but I have a whole set of unfinished projects awaiting my attention, and they must come first. I think the sense of accomplishment in completing them, in tying up all those loose ends, will be considerable. 2020, for me at least, will be the year of completing old projects – or of finding inventive ways to recycle anything I really can’t complete. Waste not, want not, they say, and that’s a not a bad mindset for a writer to cultivate. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Season’s Greetings…

23 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by kathysharp2013 in Artwork, bookbinding, illustration, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Artwork, fiction, illustration

img20191212_12022158

Season’s greetings, everyone, and a happy and peaceful new year to you all.

This winter twig artwork (found in the back of a cupboard!) was one I painted way back in the 1980s as part of a graphic design course. I don’t think I completed the course, but I did at least keep the gouache paintings. It’s hard to believe it’s more than thirty years old – it looks as fresh and bright today as it did the day I finished it. My paints have long since dried up and been thrown away, but the painting endures, and it set me thinking about introducing colour into my current black-and-white artwork. It would certainly add another dimension to the illustrations for my hand-bound books, so a few experiments will be on my to-do list for 2020.

My first hand-bound book, The Herbarium – intended as a one-off work – is rapidly turning into a trilogy. The Herbarium has a woodland setting, while the second book, now nearing completion, is The Chesil Apothecary, set on the beach, and the final part (at least, I think it’s final!), as yet unnamed, but already under construction, is set in an old house by the river. Together they will form the True Herb trilogy. More about that later in the year – but there’s certainly plenty for me to do.

I’m hoping to extend my knowledge of bookbinding, too. Lots of exciting possibilities there! So along with the three novels and a memoir I have waiting to be published as e-books, it’s going to be another busy, and I hope productive, year for me.

Wishing you all the best in 2020

Kathy

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