The Fool's Journey
is the only journey (especially on day one of your first Kickstarter)
If you aren’t familiar with the role of The Fool as an archetype, the title of this post might not make sense to you. In traditional tarot, the Fool’s card is number zero: the very beginning of the journey. The Fool takes a leap of faith and journeys into the unknown.
This morning, Jenn and I launched the Kickstarter for our book, The Joyful Practice Handbook: analog play for dark times. Today is the first step of our journey, and it really does feel like a leap of faith. I’m so grateful Jenn and I are doing it together! Over the next month, we’ll facilitate a series of events to celebrate community and share in some joyful practice exploration; then, this summer, we’ll get down to the seriously playful work of wrapping up the book and getting it ready to go to the printers.
Here is a link to our Kickstarter page.
Here’s a link to Jenn’s post with event details and registration info.
ways to support our project
Asking for help and support is one of those things twenty-year-old Sarah hates to do, but I am reminding her (me) that she is no longer a young single mama with a fierce need to prove her independence. She sure could have used that joyful practice principle that talks about interconnectedness and showing kindness and empathy to ourselves, our community, and the world.
Its okay to be vulnerable. It’s okay to ask for what you need. So here goes…
Please help Jenn and me start our Kickstarter journey strong:
Back the project (check out our awesome rewards—including the book!— towards the bottom of this post).
When you back the project, please leave a comment and let us know why you are backing it: what excites you about joyful practice and the upcoming book?
Send the Kickstarter link to a handful of people you think will be interested in the book.
If you’re on social media, please share the project link there, too!
Attend any of our virtual or in-person community events (including the Substack Live this morning!)
Our Kickstarter campaign will run until May Day. Over the next month, we’ll post regular updates on The Scrap Heap and over at our Kickstarter page to let you know how our campaign is progressing and other ways you can support the project’s success.
this morning! april fool’s day kickstarter launch on substack live
9:30 am Pacific!
Fool-themed, naturally, because we’ve never done a Substack Live before. But we wanted to do something that felt like a tiny virtual party.
We’ll be looking at what’s on the Kickstarter (tee-shirts, for instance!), talking a bit about process, and probably being a little goofy but also open to questions.
Here’s a link to the launch on Substack Live.
a free analog token offering
I spent much of yesterday moving between the digital work of wrapping up our Kickstarter page and making my own analog tokens. The reason I am writing in coherent sentences today is because I took breaks from my computer’s screen and spent time with my typewriter, glue, and watercolors. Never before have I felt the power of joyful practice than over the last few weeks, while Jenn and I have been swimming in the current of the analog-digital estuary. I’m not sure how Canva manages to eat a day in one gulp, but oh my gods, when did 11am become 5pm?!?!
In her last post, Jenn mentioned the tiny analog art tokens she dreamed up. What she didn’t mention is that she presented me with an analog-token-making kit. It had everything I needed to start making my own analog tokens (wheeeee!). I never thought I’d be so excited to draw on the scraps of old chicken feed bags!
If you want us to snail mail you an analog token, Jenn tells you how to request one in her post.
a peak at our kickstarter rewards
the joyful practice handbook—what’s in it, anyway?
Short essays on creative practice that reflect and invite reflection
Guiding principles of Joyful Practice, illustrated and discussed
Joyful Practices: more enduring than one-off prompts, these are specific and adaptable activities that you can build into your regular creative practice.
Guardians: have fun with archetypes—from mythical figures like Medusa and Baubo to contemporary humans like Lynda Barry and Ted Danson. These guardians open doors for creative exploration.
signed copy of the joyful practice handbook + handmade bookmark
The first 50 backers will receive signed copies of the book, plus a handmade bookmark. In honor of our emergent joyful practice principle, “we follow our creative impulses,” the bookmarks will be unique to the moment they were created (expect summer gardens, farm critters, and Salish Sea creatures to make appearances!)
analog tee
We are super excited about this reward. The tee-shirt says it all: analog.
Switching the focus of our creative process to the typewriter was the first step in our movement towards exploring analog as a tool for bringing our bodies back into creative play. When you wear this tee-shirt, you get to be a part of that analog joy!
set of four greeting cards
Each of these four cards represents a Joyful Practice Emergent Principle and showcases an original drawing from the book.
original analog art from the book
We are offering ten of our favorite original pages from the book for this reward. Each page was hand-drawn and typed or handwritten and reflects both the spirit of Joyful Practice and the delight-focused, process-based philosophy that informs our collaboration.
I’ll end with this image of The Fool that I looked at everyday while walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Here I go again, in Jenn’s great-good company, stepping off the ledge and into the unknown!
Sarah (and Jenn) so excited for you! Hope it goes great! I'd like to participate in the kickstarter but the logistics of the 'sign up' email thing are challenging me. so I'll send a pledge to Jenn via paypal and call it good. I wish you both the best in this project. I'm so excited for you!!!