Jill Badonsky's Awe-manac : Sneak Preview of The Awe-Manac

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Sneak Preview of The Awe-manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder by Jill Badonsky

Hi. Be cool. Don't look suspicious. I'm letting some of my new book leak out before it is released this December 8 because you Portal Peeps are fun and creative readers that appreciate a little playful mischievousness. The book is designed to create less crankiness and more creative joy in the world (i.e. it's a great holiday gift for irritable, thoughtful, unsuspecting, unpredictable, quirky, passionate, thrifty, keen, size 14, or all other types and sizes of people).

Here's a description:

The Awe-manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder is a playfully practical guide that's a refreshing twist on the revered Old Farmer's Almanac. It provides daily forecasts, irreverent astrological advice, metaphorical planting instructions, and other directives to help readers make life more creative, amusing, gratifying, and extraordinary — every day of the year! With art on every page and words marinated in mirth and inspiration, you will be encouraged to think more brilliantly, laugh more often, make art or write creatively, and simply add a lot more "awe" into daily life.

Shhhh, Don't tell my editor, but here's a whole page from the introduction:

Welcome to The Awe-manac.

The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, … Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things. ~ Okakura Kakuzo

Ahhh, "the beautiful foolishness of things." Foolishness can indeed be beautiful in moderation and at times, with safety gear. It's all how you look at it.

You have entered The Awe-manac, sort of like an "almanac" but with that sublime state of "awe" instead of the overwhelming state of "all." Awe, in this particular awe-rena, means the wonder and cultivation of the mind's possibilities. A rock pile can become a cathedral if your mind has the right combination of perspective and possibility.

The Old Farmer's Almanac was invented in 1766 by Robert Bailey Thomas. As you may know, The Old Farmer's Almanac is still published annually and provides information about the weather, sunrises, moon cycles, tides, crops, gardening, astrology, and things like that. Almanacs have also been known to advertise potions, magic elixirs, and special products that claim everything from making you younger and smarter and curing your ailments to ridding your house of dust bunnies.

Genuine Claim:
The Awe-manac will make you younger by providing a regular diet of creative thought. It will enhance your sex appeal because creative people are known to be more sexy, uninhibited, and resourceful. And no dust bunnies were harmed in the writing of this book, I really should sweep. But wait, there's more:

There is 439 more pages filled with daily whimsical illustrations, Aha-phrodisiacs (creative prompts for writers and artists), Awe-servances, Soul Vitamins, Toasts of the Day, Journal Juju, Doses of Mirth, advertisements for nine Anti-aging Potions (and a Spot Remover), Viewfinders, running gags, a Creativity Crash Course and more.

Don't look obvious, but peruse this excerpt from The Awe-manac's November 15th page:

Daily Soul Vitamin
"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life — and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

Awe-servances
Happy Birthday to:
Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887, artist who often transformed her subject matter into powerful abstract images.
America Recycles Day
National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

Aha-phrodisiacs

• Georgia O'Keeffe said "One can't paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt." Make a list of things you would like to paint or portray according to how it is felt rather than as it is. Make a list of things you would like to write about by describing an emotion rather than describing details.

• Write about the feeling that is evoked when you open your fridge.

• Recycle a piece of writing you have — edit out words, changing words to ones you like better, take a piece of the middle and put it in the beginning, take words out so the essence of the piece become poetry.

• Take a walk and find some trinkets that can be recycled into a found objects collage, even if you just find one.

Dose of Mirth
"I hate flowers. I only paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

The Awe-manac will keep you inspired every day of the year. I give you permission to leak this out to everyone you know immediately only if you think they can remain cool. •

Next: More Awe-manac Excerpts »

Copyright © Jill Badonsky, 2008. All rights reserved.

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11/13/08