Sonya Cheney

Writer. Witch. Creatrix.

dilettante.

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I’ve been dabbling in photography off and on for years now. It’s one of my eight million and one hobbies that I never quite seem to practice consistently, which I’m mostly okay with at this point. Maybe I should focus on just one to become exceptional, but I like dipping my toes in a little bit of everything. I don’t have the attention span to focus on one. The only time this tendency becomes an issue is when I’m writing because I can’t seem to finish a long-form project, but I try to stay optimistic about that despite my past shortcomings.

Anyway.
Photography.

I made it a point to ask for nothing but a new camera lens for my birthday in March, an auto focus 35mm. I’ve been using a manual 50mm for years now because, generally, the older manuals are more in my budget–which is why I asked for the auto as a gift. Boy, has it already made a huge difference. I’m not sure if I just have bad eye sight or what exactly, but my photos feel so much clearer and, honestly, I’m having more fun. I finally figured out how to use my camera remote and even got my tripod out of storage to start adventuring into selfie territory outside of the front facing camera of my phone. My interest in the craft has been reinvigorated, and with every sunny day that we’re blessed with, my enthusiasm grows even more.

Sometimes the pictures are mundane–the ladybugs that have claimed our new house as their own, or a lunch smoothie, or a knitting photo for my Ravelry projects page–but that’s fine. Not every photo has to be an artistic masterpiece. None of them do. To be honest, I don’t think any of them really are. Photography is another item on the list of creative activities that bring me joy through the sheer act of creating, much like knitting or scrapbooking.

The last time I fed my sourdough starter, I decided to try my hand at timelapse photography. There were some hurdles–figuring out how the setting worked on my camera and the battery dying before I was able to finish capturing the growth cycle–but it was fun just to try. I already have so much in mind for my next attempt as far as improving my skills, but I’m still excited at my own effort.

As I branch out and push myself deeper into the arts that make me happy, I find myself being inspired by the following quote:

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Samuel Beckett

(As it happens, this quote is also very on point as far as anti-racism work goes…)

Because there will always be failure, but it shouldn’t keep me–any of us–from trying something we thing seems interesting or fun. I don’t need to know everything or be perfect to practice photography or witchcraft, cooking or knitting, gardening or home decor. Theory is a good way to learn, but sometimes practice is the best–and practice includes failure.

There are few things I do anymore in an effort to make money or become some kind of professional–and even in my writing, money is far from my end game these days. Austin Kleon has written some great words (and linked to others’ great words) regarding monetizing hobbies, and I recommend reading them. I’m grateful to have started shifting my mindset to focus more on hobbies for the sake of my soul rather than my wallet. (No shade to anyone whose hobby is also a side hustle, of course.)

Even with my plans to publish two books in the next year and a half–my essay collection and YA novel–I’ll be doing it all DIY just to put them out in the world. I don’t expect much if any return on investment. I’ve reached a point in my life where I’m doing these things because I love them, pure and simple.

a quilted christmas gift.

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About a year and a half ago now I started learning how to quilt thanks to my friend Lydia, and for this past Christmas I made my third completed quilt as a gift for my friend Katie.

One thing I love about quilting is the creative opportunity that it presents. Each quilt that I’ve completed so far has started with the same general idea, the half-square triangle, and each one has turned out completely different in the end. Learning that approach alone creates so much possibility for design, and half the fun for me is in sitting down with a handful of HSTs and moving them about like a puzzle to create a design that really jumps out at me for the current project. It’s just so cool! And it’s beyond satisfying when I find something I like and stick with it.

I actually haven’t used a pattern to make any of my quilts yet, and on the one hand that is so much fun because I get to put my creative muscles to use–but I’m also looking forward to the day that I find a pattern I love (or that I think someone else will love) and trying my hand at something more than winging it. The funny thing is that I’ve been knitting for years and have never made a pattern of my own from scratch. I’ve never really had the patience or the desire for it. But with quilting, I haven’t much bothered with patterns, besides the occasional bit of browsing, because it’s an entirely different kind of satisfaction when I’m quilting without that kind of guidance or restraint.

So much of this quilt came together as I was working on it: the square patterns, the addition of the black space, the quilting pattern. I even chose the quilting thread in the middle of the project, debating between black or purple for the top. When I went to Joann Fabrics to browse thread colors, ultimately deciding I’d be choosing a purple, not only did I get a purple but I got a variegated thread with beautiful shades. It added such a cool dimension to the quilting design that I never would have thought of if I hadn’t given myself the freedom to just browse thread colors halfway through the project. (And, no surprise, I am now more than a little obsessed with variegated thread.)

I see so many more quilts in my future–I’m pretty sure we’re going to be buried under throw blankets in our next house. If at some point you no longer hear from me, just know that I went in one of the best ways possible: comfortably wrapped in an endless blanket burrito.

favorite books of 2019 mini book.

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Last summer, I joined rukristin’s Awesome Ladies Project online community to help on my scrapbooking journey, and one of my favorite projects that I’ve done so far as part of the site is her “Best of…” course. It’s quick and simple to fill out the sheets she provides (although choosing favorites isn’t exactly easy), and when I had my list narrowed down, I went through the paper books I already had from zine making, picked a few pieces I thought coordinated, and started putting together my first mini book.

I decided to go more with favorites than “best”–which there was a great conversation about on the ALP site, actually–because most of the time I’m reading purely for entertainment or to learn something. I don’t always read critically and can sometimes be pretty easily pleased with something even if it’s not objectively “good.” I’m trying to be better about that this year, in fact, by writing more reviews on Goodreads after I finish a book rather than just rating it, which maybe I’ll talk about in a later post.

Anyway, my list turned out as so:

10. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

9. Sadie by Courtney Summers

8. Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon

7. Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes

6. Inspection by Josh Malerman

5. Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

4. The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara

3. Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

2. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

1. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

For my first try at anything resembling a mini book, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I like the size, I like the way I included the covers, and I really like the fact that I managed to use a lot of scraps to do it; I didn’t buy anything new for this. Even the yarn on the binding is leftover from an old sock knitting project.

I’m already planning a second mini album, this time with my favorite horror movies of the 2010s. I think that one will be a bit more challenging, mainly because I don’t keep track of the movies I watch quite like I do the books I read, but I think it’ll be fun nonetheless. Plus, it gives me an excuse to use the Halloween paper pack I got last year.

zines, scrapbooking, and storytelling.

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For months I’ve been obsessed with scrapbooking. It’s on my radar as a possible creative activity for years, since around the time 30 Days of Lists started, but it’s only recently that I’ve finally begun dipping my wallet toes into it, and as I was working on a mini book of my favorite reads from 2019, I realized part of what I love so much about it–scrapbooking is surprisingly similar to zines. Even digital design is similar in the way you layer, create text blocks, and just pour yourself into it to tell your story. The biggest difference, of course, is that you don’t really publish scrapbooks. At most, we share photos of our works on Instagram or blogs, but there’s no photocopying and distributing like with zines. The act is similar, though, in laying out the pages and telling stories.

I haven’t been writing any zines lately, even though I’ve had endless ideas over the past year. (Thank you, pregnancy.) To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m not working on zines more. I still love the thought of it, and as I’ve been working on daily pages and mini books at my desk, I’ve loved the act of cutting and pasting, but I can’t seem to do it in any way other than personal journaling in a scrapbook way. It’s not a bad thing, but it does make me think about how I’m evolving as a storyteller.

While I am working on my pregnancy essay collection, I can feel a lot of my memoir work becoming more internalized and intimate, journaling more for myself, for my personal scrapbooks, and just for more catharsis than greater publication. I think it’s been good for my storytelling as I dig deeper into myself and feel less inclined to hold myself back. Getting these personal stories out in an uninhibited way feels like it’s allowing me to think more about my fiction again, and I’m so excited about that. I’m even feeling enthusiastic about revising my novel, which is a big deal because revision is my least favorite part of the writing process.

As far as published personal writing goes, my current focus is on my pregnancy collection and my blog. One of my goals this year is to blog once a week, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes. I’d like to think this post is a good first step.