The Fiction Project: Good Idea or Pipe Dream?

A sketch of the old family barn. Potential or risk factor?

I used to draw all the time. My parents bought me art books for Christmas. I took extra art classes in high school. I had sketchbooks full of images I had made up or copied from pictures I saw. I wasn't great but I wasn't bad. My art teacher had insisted I take his class, so I like to think that meant he saw some talent in me.

But then? Life. Gradually, drawing and sketching became doodling in notebooks. And lately, that's all I've done. In fact, I'd say that's all I've done for several years. There are other things that have taken my focus. That's life.

But now? The Fiction Project. It's a mixture of writing and sketching. And I want to do it. I've been wanting to put together a book of memories from growing up on the farm, and at some point, I intend to write these memories in a book of memoirs. But I think this would be a fun way to start putting some of these anecdotes together.

Except for one thing. The sketching part. I am so out of practice. I don't know if I could do that part of it. And then, like a dummy, I look at what other people have done, and I feel horribly inferior and sub-par. I can doodle; they're artists. The self-defeat sneaks in before I even get through the entire website.

I have a vision of a very simple book. Anecdotes. Simple drawings. Almost like I had kept the journal while a girl. But not written as a diary. I'm not worried about the stories so much. But the sketching really has me holding myself back...

I don't want to start something I won't finish. Or can't finish. I don't want to be disappointed in myself...but I'm afraid I'll also be disappointed if I don't try.

Argh!! What's a gal to do??