What It Is

I attended the *very* informative Lil' Biz Seminar on Saturday, put on by the lovely ladies (and gents) of Puces Pop. Needless to say, I was very impressed by this day-long event, and walked away with my little brain simply chock-full of great stuff. It also gave me the opportunity to meet some fabulous makers - Black Betty, Baby Burrito, Squid Boy, and Finigan Belle. Most of them will be at Puces Pop so be sure to check their stuff out! Support your local crafters, I say!

I'm the first to admit that I'm a *huge* fan of freebies. I love getting a deal, and I'll take most anything that's shoved my way, so long as it doesn't smell of cat urine (and even there I have made exceptions). So needless to say, when Peggy Burns of Drawn and Quarterly gave us all a copy of "What It Is" by Lynda Barry, I was ecstatic. While I'm familiar with Lynda Barry's work from the "Ernie Pook's Comeek" series, I admit that I'm fairly new to her fabulous world of flying squids and near-sighted monkeys. I was aimlessly flipping through her book back at home after the seminar, and found that I absolutely could not stop reading it. I was so touched by her descriptions of drawing, and found her experiences so parallel to mine that I read the book cover to cover. For anyone who has ever felt "that strange floating feeling of being there and not being there" when drawing, or for anyone who has struggled with their creative self, this book is worth a read. And while I haven't completed all of the writing exercises in the back, I can already sense their value. So great.

I don't know if it was intentional, but the gift of this book was the perfect compliment to a day filled with small-business inspiration. I can't wait to dive in.