Create More Worry Less
Donation protected
I published my first short story in 1974 when I was 20 years old. Since 1984, I have published 14 books, including 1 novella, 3 novels, 8 short story collections, and 2 books of non-fiction. Over the 4 decades of my writing career, I have won several literary prizes, including the Governor General's Award for English Fiction in 1998 and, more recently, two "body of work" prizes: the 2017 Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life from the Writers' Trust of Canada, and the 2018 Molson Prize in Arts given "in recognition of exceptional achievement and outstanding contribution to the cultural and intellectual heritage of Canada". In 2017, I was called "one of our most interesting and iconoclastic writers" by The Toronto Star.
I have not received a Canada Council Grant since 2009, despite multiple applications for various projects over the last 10 years. As an established senior Canadian writer, I still cannot afford to write another book without grant funding. Having been recently turned down yet again by the Canada Council, I am hoping to raise enough money here to complete my next project, a collection called Create More Worry Less.
Like two of my previous books, this one will be illustrated with my own collages. This project actually began a long time ago, on New Year's Eve of 2012. I've never been fond of making resolutions, but that day I posted mine on Facebook: in the year ahead I just wanted to create more and worry less. The positive response was immediate and heartfelt. To commemorate what had become a collective resolution, in January 2013 I made a series of collages on this theme and self-published them as a calendar which sold out quickly.
Since then I have continued making these collages and posting them for sale on Facebook. Every single one of them has sold, often just minutes after I've put them up. Clearly the "Create More Worry Less" motto resonates with many people. These collages have taken up residence all across Canada and the US, even as far away as Croatia. I have intentionally kept the price point low because I believe that original art should be accessible to everyone. Many people have since told me how the collages have helped them to keep going when they were feeling discouraged, defeated, and overwhelmed.
In book form, the Create More Worry Less collages will be accompanied by short texts of various kinds including fiction, prose poems, ekphrastic writing, brief essays on the power and importance of creativity, as well as instructions on how my collages are created and how readers might make their own. Putting all of this together in a book will make it more readily accessible to even more people who need encouragement and inspiration.
The world is a very frightening place these days and I like to think this book might offer some respite from the darkness.
I already have publisher interest in this book but, without funding, I cannot afford to finish it. I am stubborn and for all these years I have persisted. I don't intend to quit now. Any money raised here will help buy me some time to create more and worry less. (The irony of this does not escape me!)
Click below to see a slideshow of some of the collages.
I have not received a Canada Council Grant since 2009, despite multiple applications for various projects over the last 10 years. As an established senior Canadian writer, I still cannot afford to write another book without grant funding. Having been recently turned down yet again by the Canada Council, I am hoping to raise enough money here to complete my next project, a collection called Create More Worry Less.
Like two of my previous books, this one will be illustrated with my own collages. This project actually began a long time ago, on New Year's Eve of 2012. I've never been fond of making resolutions, but that day I posted mine on Facebook: in the year ahead I just wanted to create more and worry less. The positive response was immediate and heartfelt. To commemorate what had become a collective resolution, in January 2013 I made a series of collages on this theme and self-published them as a calendar which sold out quickly.
Since then I have continued making these collages and posting them for sale on Facebook. Every single one of them has sold, often just minutes after I've put them up. Clearly the "Create More Worry Less" motto resonates with many people. These collages have taken up residence all across Canada and the US, even as far away as Croatia. I have intentionally kept the price point low because I believe that original art should be accessible to everyone. Many people have since told me how the collages have helped them to keep going when they were feeling discouraged, defeated, and overwhelmed.
In book form, the Create More Worry Less collages will be accompanied by short texts of various kinds including fiction, prose poems, ekphrastic writing, brief essays on the power and importance of creativity, as well as instructions on how my collages are created and how readers might make their own. Putting all of this together in a book will make it more readily accessible to even more people who need encouragement and inspiration.
The world is a very frightening place these days and I like to think this book might offer some respite from the darkness.
I already have publisher interest in this book but, without funding, I cannot afford to finish it. I am stubborn and for all these years I have persisted. I don't intend to quit now. Any money raised here will help buy me some time to create more and worry less. (The irony of this does not escape me!)
Click below to see a slideshow of some of the collages.
Organizer
Diane Schoemperlen
Organizer
Kingston, ON