news of still life 365.

Happy Sunday.

Today's community poem marks the pan-ultimate community poem for the year. December will be our twelfth and last community poem of the year. I am still kicking around the theme for December, and while holidays seem a bit obvious, I actually think I might explore the idea of the "The End". The end of the year. The end of our happiness. The end of our grief. The end of our future. I just think there are so many literal and figurative explorations with the end, and it also might be a good way to end the year.

The end of the year means the end of this project. It will change come 2011, and I haven't quite parsed out what I am doing, but I know that I can no longer do this project alone. I am always interested in hearing ideas from you and what you think this space can and should be, so let me know.

still life 365 holiday survival guide.
In the beginning of December, I would like to put out a list of things to focus your creative energy on to get through this tough tough holiday season. These are the types of things I want to include in this creative energy survival guide: if you are hosting a swap, an ornament exchange or a card exchange, if you have a shop where you sell your handmade art, if you are hosting some giveaways, please send me an email at stilllife365days@gmail.com.  Please try to get them in before November 30th. I will keep adding to the list throughout the holiday season, but would like to get a great master list started early. All that being said, Jenni at Demeter's Feet is hosting a new website and ornament swap for this holiday season. Remembering Together Ornament Swap has such a cool twist, and it is absolutely NOT focused on Christmas per se. Also, Tina at Living without Sophia and Ellie is hosting Twenty-five Days of Giveaways again this year, which I participated in last year and enjoyed immensely.

still life 365 printed journal.
I also am planning a rather large project for still life 365. I am going to attempt to self-publish a book of some of the work we loved throughout the year. I'd love to get this out as soon as I can, so that people can purchase it for the holidays. I am still working on the details, but I do know that I absolutely will include each community poem in the journal. So what do I need from you?

I am asking each person who submitted something for the year, to submit ONE of their own favorite pieces showcased on still life 365 this year. If you submit two, I will not take one of them. And it won't be a choice made on which one I like better, or which one I think is the better picture/poem/painting, it will be the first one I see, so please follow the directions, if you can. Also, please do not nominate someone else's work. I am asking people to nominate themselves. It might feel uncomfortable, but I want to include pieces that summarize the creator's grief experience, that show what it is like to grieve miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death and infertility. still life 365 is a project that collects stories. I don't want to include things that might not be comfortable for the artist to include, which is why I am asking each person to nominate themselves. I have also included a question asking people to share the work that made the greatest impact on them from another artist. In this way, if your work is nominated many times by others, I might approach you to ask you to include your piece, but please please please do not recruit friends and family to nominate for you. If you submit your piece, it will be included. This is not a contest or a competitive submission process. The deadline for submitting a piece is NOVEMBER 21st. It is a hard and fast deadline. I know it is only two weeks, but I want to try try try to get this out by the holidays.

The printed still life 365 journal will be paperback. All proceeds from the sale of the journal will go towards first the publication then keeping still life 365 running. I have recently purchased the domain name stilllife365.com, and am hoping to self-host sometime soon.

You are under no obligation to purchase a still life 365 journal. I love books. I love everything about them. And I want to see this work together showcased in a book. If you do not want to share your work in this way, that is fine. Just do not fill out the form or respond to this query. Or let me know via email. You are always welcome to submit via email. If you have submitted something that has not yet been published, you can still nominate it for the journal. Please click here to fill out the still life 365 printed journal nomination form.

Thank you everyone who submitted this year. What an incredible project and an incredible community we have created here. Thank you.