I have a problem with ideas.
They rarely stay where I put them.
Something can start as a sketch, a character, a story, a random thought, whatever, and then a few days later it has somehow turned into three other things I now also want to make.
That is basically how a lot of creative work happens for me.
I will start with one clear idea and think, okay, this is the project.
Then my brain starts doing what it does.
What if this became a puzzle?
What if that character showed up somewhere else?
What if this story worked better as a book?
What if we made cards?
What if we did something completely different with it?
And suddenly the original project has grown legs.
The first idea usually is not the whole idea
I think that is one of the things I like most about creating.
You do not always know what something is going to become when you start.
Sometimes the best part of an idea is not the thing you originally planned at all. It is what you notice while you are working on it.
A piece of artwork might turn into a character.
That character might make you think of a story.
The story might become a book.
The book might lead to something else entirely.
That does not mean every idea is worth chasing. Some of them absolutely deserve to stay buried in a notes app forever.
But there are always a few that keep coming back.
Those are the ones that get dangerous.
Everything starts connecting
The more I work on creative projects, the less separate everything feels.
Writing, artwork, publishing, character ideas, product design, storytelling, all of it starts bleeding together.
A book can inspire art.
Art can create a character.
A character can make you want to build something around them.
A random product idea can suddenly fit a world you already created.
That is probably why I have never been very interested in staying inside one category.
I like seeing where an idea goes.
Sometimes projects grow sideways
Not every project needs to become bigger.
Sometimes it just becomes something else.
A book turns into artwork.
Artwork turns into a puzzle.
A character turns into a deck of cards.
A small idea turns into something you never planned on making in the first place.
That is one of the fun parts of independent publishing and building a creative brand. You are not stuck waiting for permission to try something.
If an idea makes sense, you can test it.
If it works, great.
If it does not, you learned something.
So what is this Journal going to be?
Probably a little bit of everything.
Books.
Writing.
Independent publishing.
Artwork.
Characters.
Product ideas.
Things we are working on.
Things that went wrong.
Things that worked better than expected.
And probably more than a few posts that start with:
“Okay, hear me out…”
Because those are usually the ideas that cause the most trouble.
And, if I am being honest, they are usually the most fun too.