*** THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN CANCELLED/PAUSED FOR NOW***
I was super excited/passionate about it but have been going through sooooo much (read the blog just after this for more on that) and I’ve decided to STOP running for a while. This was only one item on a big list of things I want to do and I was losing sight of what matters most. I also didn’t get any submissions as I never really dug in to promote this so that worked out perfectly (not sure what I would have done had I lol – but I’m thankful as it’s a huge project, bigger than I’m able to take on right this moment and that happens sometimes).
Have you seen my latest project in the works? It’s a book! It’s called ‘Fire Starter: Love Notes to Ignite Your Heart and Soul.’ It will be a compilation book (aka anthology) with stories, poems, letters, music sheets, photos, drawings and more from women all over the world. Pieces may be light or they may be dark (there is no lightness without the darkness), but either way they will be inspiring with messages of strength, self-love, body positivity, courage, fire, dream chasing, healing, trauma and shame releasing and so much more.
So I wanted to share a bit about WHY I’m doing this, and why you should participate in this work of art. Whether that’s just to share about the final book and purchase a copy – all proceeds of which will be donated to a charity aligned with the vision of the book, by the way (meaning this book isn’t about profit for me). Or maybe it’s to participate by submitting a piece yourself!
Ok so why am I doing this?
Honestly? I run a semi-successful business (Hot Mess Consulting, a branding and web design agency). I only say semi-successful, despite our team’s major accomplishments over the past nearly 5 years, because in business, like in art: is it ever enough? Is our work ever done? Have we reached the summit yet? What and where is the summit even?
I love the business and team I’ve built, and the amazing art (it really is art, what we do) we get to put out into the world while helping other businesses (mostly female-run as well, though not all). But I gotta be honest. There’s STILL way f*cking more inside of me. I poured my absolute heart and soul into Hot Mess as I was building it. It saw me reach summits I never thought possible for myself, only to plummet down to depths of despair that I hadn’t even known existed either.
But the question is about this book. Why?
Well as my team is entering into a new phase, and I’m able to let go more and more of the day to day details, I’m left here. Wondering who I am outside of my business. Have I forgotten? Have I lost her? Have I beat her so far down that she’s suffocating? The creativity and pure excitement that helped grow my last two businesses feels harder and harder to tap into these days. And isn’t that true for all of us really? Life is hard. The world we live in right now – oh let’s not even get started on that. It just all takes everything we have sometimes.
This project started as an idea from a Facebook friend, she had commented on several travel photo posts of mine saying they should be turned into a calendar. And after a few comments over several weeks, I finally took the bait haha. Countering with an idea to do a body-positivity focused calendar (profits to be donated) where other women could submit beautiful photos to be included for the 12 months too. I put my first call out for interest soon after. BUT as I sat down to work on this project, something was wrong. I was not at all feeling lit up about it. I was feeling a little dread even. And logistics only made things worse. Decent calendars that I could fully design and drop ship would cost nearly $50 to the end customer (especially if I wanted to ship these around the world). And that’s with hardly any money being left over to even donate in the first place too.
No – this wasn’t IT. But I knew I wanted to do something in this space. I shut my laptop, feeling frustrated, beat-down and almost kind of nauseous to be honest. Not a feeling I’m all that unused to either, with the ups and downs of business.
But then – it came to me, in the middle of the night (as usual), while it was pouring down rain and roaring thunder (in my apartment in Bali). At 4 AM, I got up with enough inspiration to spend hours that morning coming up with the concept and initial draft of the cover for this book.
I’m doing this because I need to take every opportunity that creativity throws my way. It’s a muscle. And for me, it brings peace, joy, love and is really the only antidote to my own anxiety and depression. It’s also how I tap into soul. How I heal. So I got the message loud and clear, and I’m running with it, and I KNOW there are so many soul sisters out there who need it too. Whether that’s to tap into their own creativity and submit a piece, or to be inspired by the finished result when the book comes out next year (or both – I’m counting on both for myself).
Let’s do this together. Let’s create this epic work of art for nothing but the purposes of: our desires to flex our creativity; our love for all our sisters around the world and wanting to inspire them and be inspired by them; and just a damn need to START A FIRE.
More details on the book itself!
Submissions are due Jan 20, 2023!
All details can be found here: https://chubbygirltravels.com/adventures
You can subscribe to my mailing list to get email updates/reminders: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6348e806bbb1bfb74f5323e0
And/or you can join the projects Facebook group to stay in the loop: https://www.facebook.com/groups/chubbygirltravels
