A picture of a wall callender open at February

Not blogging, or writing, but…

Posted on by Josephine Corcoran

It’s already nearly mid-February so I thought I’d write a quick blog. As I mentioned before I’ve been focusing on recovering from a small health issue and that is going very well. I’ve also been reading and notetaking, not writing as much as I would like, starting projects and getting stuck, becoming distracted… and, talking of which, I’ve been taking part in an online project, Februllage, probably a little too enthusiastically.

‘Februllage’ is an inclusive, international, collaborative collage project with daily prompts every February, started by the Edinburgh Collage Collective and the Scandinavian Collage Museum, which showcases submitted collages on Instagram, although they also appear across social media, including on Bluesky. (Are you on Bluesky? I am over there if you’d like to say hello @andotheritems.bsky.social).

To return to Februllage, if you search for the hashtag #Februllage or simply Februllage, you will find some amazing work. Here’s this year’s prompt list:

List of prompts for Februllage 2025
The prompt list is published a little ahead of February so that participants can begin to assemble their collages

Some of my collages are so very bad they are good, and not in an intentional way. Here is one of my better efforts:

A car advert from a magazine on top of which I've pasted cut out lettering which says "Breathe in this beautiful advert for a car to drive on roads where there used to be trees."
Collage made my Josephine Corcoran, 2025. The prompt for this collage was ‘trees’.

It is satisfying and enjoyable to cut up lettering and pictures from magazines and paste them onto paper, don’t ask me to explain why. But it is a distraction from what I feel I ‘ought to be doing’, which is writing. How to return to that and stop the distraction activities? Or are these part of my process? Answers on a postcard, etc., except that nobody sends postcards anymore, do they? When was the last time you received one??

My friend, writer and textile artist Janice Botterill, recently wrote on her Substack about the #the100dayproject, another online ‘project’ which involves committing yourself to following a creative project for 100 days. I am somewhat tempted to take part, not to post about it, except for occasionally, but to note in my own diary to do something every day for 100 days, and then to actually do it. That something could well be writing. Will I do it? Will you? What do you think?

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12 thoughts on “Not blogging, or writing, but…”

  1. I love seeing your collages on Instagram. Creativity is a way of processing thought, so if you are moved to do this, it’s good in my opinion. I’ve done NaPoWriMo twice and created some rubbish but also some good poems. The disciplined approach can reap unexpected rewards.

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  2. The 100 day commitment fits very neatly with my challenge to myself to postpone looking at the news until evening, and to use the energetic part of my day doing the things I regularly berate myself for not doing, like reading, and writing. I think I will adopt the framework of the 100 days to encourage me.
    thanks, Josephine and good to hear you are doing well. Naomi

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    1. Hi Naomi. Yes, planning to use the first part of the day is a good idea. I certainly feel I have more energy available to me then. I don’t know why but the 100 day project starts on the 23rd February. Of course, we can start whenever we want to! Very good to hear from you. Jx

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  3. I totality ly believe in setting ourselves small creative activities to do each day when we feel stuck so I bought some small notebooks from flametree publishing.com which has a blank page one side and lines the other page so I do very rough sketch one side and a few words on other one. So far I’ve managed to keep going since 1st January and I have twelve which have just enough pages for one month. It’s a quick fix when all other creative ideas have vanished!

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  4. Love the sound of Februllage although I’m not sure I have enough things to cut up in my tiny flat haha.

    I also like the idea of sticking to a creative project for 100 days but I think I would have to plan it all out in advance beforehand. I am really good at running out of steam/distracting myself. I don’t think you should beat yourself up for not writing though – especially if you’ve just replaced it with another creative activity. You could argue that the collaging led you to writing this blog… so isn’t it encouraging you to write?

    Love your collage btw – would definitely have that as a poster on the wall.

    Also I am in the minority of people who send postcards whenever I travel, and I received one from my sister-in-law this morning. Bring back the postcard!

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  5. Hi Josephine

    Just wanted to say I’m pleased to hear you are on the mend health-wise. I’m sure it’s helpful to explore these diversions – I love your car advert collage- so striking and it incorporates poetry too !😆. The writing will find its time.

    I don’t know if you remember me- I’m Sally, I found you through Peter, and I came to a couple of your workshops in Bradford on Avon which I loved so much. I’m now looking at applying for the Poetry School MA in poetry writing, in London. Just been to the open day which was so inspiring. Glyn Maxwell was very welcoming.

    Anyway, no need to reply, as this is a reply to your blog. I always enjoy reading them!

    Take care and best wishes,

    Sally x

    Sent from Outlook for iOShttps://aka.ms/o0ukef

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