Text Day

For the second Sunday in a row, I’ve given myself a “text day.” No painting, just writing and reading. It’s proven to be very useful, as it gets me into the rhythm of writing. It’s Monday today, but the text day is still going on.

Sometimes, you wake up with paintings in your head, but lately, I’ve been waking up with texts. Early in the morning, my mind runs through edits and new sentences like flowing lines. In such moments, it feels like everything is as it should be, and the most important thing is not to miss the ease with which the work is happening. But I can only focus intently for about 3–4 hours; after that, my attention scatters, and I need to reignite my interest.

Right now, I’m on a break, sipping tea with pinecones and looking at my arranged pastel sticks. I’ll recharge and get back to editing and writing the unfinished parts.

Most of my current writing is for my book about pastel. A year ago, this idea seemed so distant, but today, I have a signed contract with Eksmo Publishing and am working on the manuscript. Not everything is smooth, though: sometimes I know exactly how to write the next section, and at other times, I lose confidence in whether a particular chapter is even necessary.

Occasionally, I feel apathetic and don’t want to write at all. Other times, I sit down for 15–30 minutes and effortlessly write a complex and inspiring passage.

It’s not an easy task to organize files into folders for publication, decide on the selection of paintings and photographs, and handle technical details. Time is running out to finalize the book, so I’m figuring out how to carve out more time for it, as six other areas also demand my close attention right now.

Ironically, the more I write outside the main topic, the easier it becomes to work on the book. For example, I start my mornings with 20 minutes of freewriting, asking myself abstract or broad questions—sometimes even silly ones. Freewriting has this remarkable peculiarity: when you write about one topic, a related but equally pressing issue often emerges. It interferes and blocks the process until you address it fully until you write down your thought to the end, you won’t be able to answer the first question. And since all these texts are thoughts in a circle, the result is that something clear and useful for the matter arises.

So, this week, there’s not much of the artist left in me, but I hope that balance will return soon. In the meantime, I’ll share with you a small sketch from my Maxgoods sketchbook.

And a little music for those who made it all the way to the end. :)