jan.4.22

                                    

                                          
Yesterday, I felt a bit of motivation. I thought that I needed to get off my ass and do something, anything.
                          
I felt like painting. I hadn't painted in months, and I needed to paint. I was going to paint.
                          
Since I hadn't painted in months, my studio was packed with excessive amounts of books, all over the place. That would explain why I haven't painted in months.
                          
So, first thing's first: organize and put away the books. Then, I can paint.
                          
My books don't necessarily have a proper organization system, other than: if it fits it sits.
                          
Small paperbacks fit amongst tall hardcovers. Colours mashed together. It made for a good aesthetic.
                          
The more I stacked books, the more I began looking at the titles. The more I looked at the titles, the more I separated writing textbooks from fiction, poetry from memoirs. I didn't even know I had these books!
                          
Shakespeare was all together. Anne Rice was all together. Trilogies there, stand alones there, omnibuses there. Books about writing and play creation and storytelling there. Poetry books there; I forgot about these poetry collections. They look really good, and I kind of want to read them next. I've been on a poetry kick lately.
                          
The shelves became slightly more put together, while still being an aesthetic mess. The books were shelved nicely.
                          
Having found all of these books I had forgotten about – especially the poetry books – all I felt like doing was spending the evening curled up reading them. Poetry and short stories, my latest muse.
                          
Here's a Canadian writer – Mark Anthony Jarman, and his short story collection called 19 Knives. I'd been meaning to read this since I got it.
                          
Oh, and a copy of Room Magazine from 2014 – Canada's Oldest Literary Journal By And About Women. Published in Vancouver, BC!
                          
Prairie Fire! A Canadian Magazine of New Writing, volume 28 from 2007. Poetry from Manitoba!
                          
And then – oh wow! – Unfurled, Collected Poetry from Northern BC Women, featuring poetry from women all over the north – including poets from Prince George, where I'm from!
                          
Did I paint yesterday? No, I didn't paint yesterday.
                          
Did I organize the studio? Yes, I did; that was very productive of me.
                          
Was organizing the studio a productive experience? Yes, it indeed was; the space is not only clean and ready for when I can paint again, but I discovered books I had forgotten about – books that I will thoroughly enjoy reading and thinking about!
                          
I did not paint yesterday. But after cleaning the studio, I had a wonderful and warm afternoon perusing through Canadian poetry and short stories.