What I did:
Met with Megan Levad (30 minutes)
Met with Girl Scout Troop #2 to introduce project (30 minutes)
Worked on Book (5 hours)
Worked on Editing Sound and putting together a rough iMovie presentation (3 hours)
Worked on 2nd Draft of Thesis (8 hours)
What I accomplished/discovered/encountered:
This week I started to get really overwhelmed by everything. I am really enjoying my project and where it has been taking me, but I am starting to get overwhelmed by all of its components. I wish I could just focus on one thing without having another part be comprised (don't know if that makes sense...) I cannot believe that after break, there is only about 1 month until the work is due to the studio- getting really nervous about this! Stephanie suggested I just think about and work on one thing at a time, which is what I need to do. I need to devote a lot of time to my book without worrying about the sound and photo slideshow (even though I hope this will be able to get done with the amount of time left) I also still have 2 workshops to lead and will get more audio from this. I guess basically I'm just really worried about my book and need to get going with that.
On a different note, I think I came up with a title for my project...
Capturing Confidence
To me this title speaks to the photos the girls are taking, as well as the other components of the project. I think I want to change my website to capturingconfidence.com
I am also beginning to think about the postcard that is due next week. I am having trouble thinking of a single image that can represent all aspects of my project. Erica and I just had a conversation about this and we think I should stay away from using the girls images and use an image or images I have taken for the book with perhaps part of a reflection incorporated within the image. This weekend I will be working on this.
My meeting with Megan Levad was really helpful- she is just so great! I am excited that I will be perfecting the introduction to my book, since this is my opportunity to tell my story, etc.
As far as my book goes, I need to really focus on this! The part that is giving me the most trouble and holding me back in a way is taking the photos and having them relate to the reflections. I am finding this so frustrating! Erica and I talked about using more age-neutral images (not crayons!) I am working with incorporating the spread a bit more and breaking up the handwriting in the reflections. This definitely allows the reflections to be read easier and clearer. I created a new iteration of the book for small group crit this week, but it is too hard to post all the jpgs and spreads...
This week I also worked on creating a slideshow in iMovie that would show the girl's photos with their voices explaining and reflecting on their photos. Erica and I talked about choosing the sound clips that are more reflective than descriptive, and I think this is important. Hopefully I will have a lot of clips to choose from after all the workshops are completed. I am also going to try and get better sound quality for the next 2 workshops. Since I am new to working with sound clips and editing, it unfortunately takes me a lot longer than it should to edit the clips and still I am finding it difficult.
I also found it helpful to work on my 2nd draft of my thesis. It was great to see how much more confident I am with this project and how far it has come since I wrote it in December!
What's next:
my parents are coming into town this week so I am nervous that I won't be as productive as I should be, but I am going to try as hard as I can!
-postcard
-book and photos
-(taking a pause with the sound)
Carly,
ReplyDeleteGreat to read your post. Just keep breathing! And as much as you can, make clear decisions about how you are going to use small chunks of time so you can focus on whatever's in front of you.
The good news is you're still very much connected to your project -- it seems more so in fact!
-stephanie