Hey, i just submitted to this $500 merit award, today is the last day!
http://www.jerrysartarama.com/50th-anniversary-50k-award
I found it from https://papercatpress.com/ run by @frenchpressplz, check it out for great opportunities
posting my entry in the replies to this toot!
Some days, making art comes naturally. My work flows from the places I have difficulty speaking about any other way. Other days making art is a struggle for any reason from stiff fingers to stiff emotions – but I encourage myself to create anyway. It is especially important I push through these tough days as every piece I make symbolizes how far I’ve come.
At 27 years old, I can’t remember even a childhood day without depression and fatigue. As I grew older, pressures became more demanding, and I wondered why I seemed to be struggling so much with what was expected of me. Told I was lazy, I questioned why I could want to work but the effort wouldn’t manifest. I dreamed of what I could do if I just could figure out how – as my life fell apart. For a lot of years I drifted, sort of homeless, trapped in an emotional black hole.
When I had the clarity, I remembered what I had dreamed of, and it kept me from losing everything.
Through safety, spirituality, friends, and a mysterious mix of determination, about three years ago I finally started pulling my feet out of the muck. At first, I didn’t want to live, but knew I had to, and had to figure out a way to make it bearable. I learned to cook again, and I wrote small poems and doodles which I would scratch out after. The sustenance from eating and from creating began to fill my soul. Two years ago, I started to feel hopeful that I could live in this world after all.
Now, I’m finishing my first year of college, looking towards the future. I’ve created more art in the past couple years than in all the years before it.
I’ve made videogames and seen other people play them, I’ve worked with and painted clay and had people gasp in surprise, I’ve been a helpful contributor to my classes, knowing in the back of my mind anyone there could be struggling like I used to be. When I sit to create, I am not filled with a sense of dread. When my pencil hits the paper, everything falls away. I am soothed, I am beyond gratefulness or happiness, because I can just be.