Instructions to a Self: A Diary of Becoming
Book Cover Design | Interior Design and Layout
Client: Jen Lee
THE PROJECT: Early on in the pandemic, Jen Lee began keeping a journal of her days, keeping a near daily account of the ebbs and flows of her life ranging from the personal to the poetic. We began this book project as we’ve begun nearly all of them, she sends me a manuscript and asks: “Is this something?” We decided it was.
When we began working on this project, she said: “I kept looking for comfort in books, or movies, streaming shows, and nothing felt right, and then I realized it was because nothing I was looking at was written or made right now, nothing reflected my experience of living through these months.” And so this pandemic memoir in diary form came into being.
Cover photos by Lisa Field
August 10, 2020
If you opened up my body you would find so many things unsaid, like residue built up over years. I imagine it like this photo a friend recently shared of a water pipe from her 100-year-old building. The cross-section showed no visible path left inside for actual water to flow.
Now I am trying to say the things more and more so the body of my body will not be full of build-up, but have space for breath and blood and music and flow, like a Hayao Miyazaki world inside me. Blowing grass and whimsical creatures who exist without self-consciousness or apology: Of course this is our universe, and we are alive in it.
Right here, right now I feel this spaciousness inside me. I do not hold things in like this–I don’t want to use words like ever or never, but I have my eye on it. Now the holding in and not saying feel unnatural to me. I know inside I may have years and years of build-up, but wouldn’t it be lovely to clear it all out, like Marie Kondo moving kindly from closet to closet with a sweet smile on her face?
–from the Introduction to Instructions to a Self: A Diary of Becoming by Jen Lee
“Sharing a book with the world is a big deal, and it's important to honor your creative offering with a presentation that will help it soar. As an author, filmmaker, and multimedia producer, I've worked with Liz Kalloch as my design partner for over a decade. Liz has a gift for learning the style and preferences of each client and incorporating them into her original designs. A true artist in her own right, Liz's hand-lettering and illustrations have also given my projects a unique touch. I whole-heartedly recommend her to every independent artist, writer, and maker I know.”
—Jen Lee, Filmmaker, Writer, Gatherer
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