This month’s creative blog will be short and sweet (I hope!).

I feel like sometimes I get lost in the weeds when I’m trying to explain my thought process with these creativity entries. And yet there’s been positive responses from you guys so I must be doing something right. And thank you for the comments! It let’s me know that this particular “once a month creativity post” thing I’m doing is worthwhile for you all. Even if it’s just Jena sharing random Jena thoughts about what she’s thinking and/or doing.

SO this month I’m going to keep it simple. Again, I hope. At least that’s my intent (but I honestly have no idea how these millions of ideas in my head will turn out until I sit down to put the jumble into some sort of order here).

This month I’m going to do something new. Or rather, it’s new to me. I will be selling art at my first ever market (a holiday craft market here locally on the 21st). It’s both exciting and terrifying.

How did this come about? Rejection. I applied for an art show for NEXT December (2027), but so did 600 other people and I didn’t get one of the only 6 spots. I was seriously bummed, but then I started doing what I do. I pivoted. I thought “what else can I do?” and “Am I ready to do a market on my own???” I’ve been too timid to do that. I’ve put a few pieces out here and there and seen success, but would anyone be interested in a WHOLE table of my junk? And there it is: imposter syndrome.

BUT I spent a great deal of time last summer playing with print-on-demand products for another reason entirely. Why? I made my very first calendar and I’m SO happy with how it turned out. I set up my very first Etsy shop and that was a TON of tech and work that made my brain hurt. I still have to figure out HOW to list the darn calendar but that’s an upcoming hurdle.

When I pivoted, everything became laser focused on getting things ready for the market. I had to pull together what I’d been randomly working on here and there (prints, stickers, calendars, christmas cards) and it was like I’d been working towards this all along! Who knew that designing my own Christmas card every year for the last few years would turn into selling them? Go figure!

Then I had to invest actual money in my art and order products to have in person. All ordered in a timely manner so they could make it to Alaska before the event! Done. Then there was the packaging it all together to look professional. Done.

Yadda, yadda. I’m getting into weeds again. My point being that I’m taking a giant leap forward with marketing. I’m doing something that terrifies me and plunging full steam ahead. It will either be a giant success or a terrible failure (because that’s what my brain has convinced me will happen, not anything mediocre in the middle). And I’ve had moments where I’ve paused my forward momentum for a second and gone “oh dear GOD, what am I doing? WHO will want to buy my art like this?” And then I’ve kept going anyway. All while checking with my husband first. “AM I CRAZY FOR DOING THIS?!” He has been my biggest encourager and supporter all along.

I will let you know next month how this art gamble goes and what lessons I’ve learned from it. I keep hearing this vague quote in my head that I think might be a definition of being brave. Something like “it’s not about having courage; it’s about being terrified and doing the thing anyway.” I feel like I’ve gotten some of that sentiment from Austin Kleon, as well as Jeff Goins (whom I’ve both mentioned in previous entries) or even one of Andy J. Pizza’s podcasts, but I’m guessing that’s from a movie I saw in the past? But it’s all the same sentiment, right? Just DO the thing!

Sidenote: Though I will throw in a little caveat here on the wisdom of “looking before you leap.” I was once so enthusiastic about diving into learning screenwriting (freshly back from a screenwriting convention in LA) that I encouraged a coworker (without meaning to) to quit her job and dive into the same dream (as it was her lifelong dream too, unbeknownst to me) and she moved to LA without any prospects. PLEASE don’t do that! I was horrified that I might’ve inspired that! I don’t know if that ended well for her, but I’m guessing it didn’t. Per what I was reading in Goins’ book last summer, the statistics say that leaps like that rarely end well. Yes, we sometimes have to take a BIG chance on a dream, but we should also take baby leaps first (if we don’t want to be a “starving artist” and set ourselves up for failure). We mentor with others, etc. (and I have quite a few illustrator friends who have been doing markets for a while who have shared wisdom with me all along the way with this).

Okay, back on track and out of those darn weeds. ALL of this is to say that sometimes we have to challenge ourselves to just keep moving forward. And I absolutely had to laugh when I turned my Andy J. Pizza wall calendar in my office to this month’s image (see it on the side there). How absolutely fitting for me for this month. THIS is what I’m doing this VERY month! Learn by doing, y’all. Pivot, leap (while looking first), and learn by doing. Wish me luck!