Thank You! But Now What?

I want to thank everyone who participated in the JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge. I can't believe the 30 days are over. I am so grateful to everyone who participated and shared their work on their blogs, on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter. It's so humbling to see so many folks actively engaging in the journal, and I am glad that I was able to give people a creative nudge. I think a lot of people were surprised at how much they accomplished, and found that they spent more then 15 minutes each day. And that was one of the major points of the challenge - to build a daily habit of journaling even if it was only 15 minutes a day.

The challenge was a bit of an accomplishment for me as well. First, I was able to sustain the challenge - both the journaling and the posting. No matter how busy or tired I was, I made sure that I completed each challenge in my journal, photographed the results, wrote, and posted each day's challenge the night before. Thank goodness for scheduled posts. That way, the challenge posted at 8:00 AM everyday. But I also accomplished my other goal - to connect to and to inspire other people. There was definitely a sense of community that built up around the challenge, and I checked Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram multiple times each day to see what was being posted. I loved seeing how people took simple ideas and made them their own.


With the end of the challenge, many people are wondering, "Now what?" Well there are three things that can help you sustain your creative courage.

First off, The JFJ challenge has sparked another challenge. Tim Needles, a fellow art educator we met several years ago who participated in the challenge, has launched his own daily challenge for the month of July. You can find Tim's challenge at the blog The Everyday Renaissance. You can also follow Tim on Twitter.


Second of all, David and I will be conducting several workshops this summer.

• If you're in the Austin area, David will be teaching a two-day workshop the weekend of July 25th, at Jerry's Artarama. 
• In August, David and I will be conducting workshops in Phoenix at Art Unraveled. We will be teaching three different workshops August 9-11. Check our Events page for more info. 

Finally, I am pleased to announce the launch of the Journal Fodder Junkies official online community.  This community is a place where we can share our online workshops, resources, videos, news, and more. We also want to give people a chance to connect to one another and to share their experiences, their processes, and their journaling with one another in a safe and closed community. You must sign up for membership to enjoy the benefits. Your membership is completely free, but it must be approved. Once you sign up, I'll try to approve your membership within 24 hours if not quicker. Once your membership is approved, you will have access to a number of free tutorials, downloads, and resources. Eventually, we would like to house our paid online workshops there as well. I've been putting together the last bits and pieces over the last few days, and things might be a little rough and sparse for now, but I plan on offering more as time goes on. Please click here to check it out and to sign up. I'd love to get some feedback.

Thank you once again, and please keep the journaling habit moving forward.