We had another beautiful weekend in western Pennsylvania, and my family and I took the time to attend another history/craft festival. Unlike some of the other festivals we visit, Penn’s Colony festival has multiple, small shacks which hold individual vendors in between the typical canvas tents commonly seen at other regional craft shows.

These shacks range between 100 and 200 square feet of floor space and will have either shelves or hooks for displaying crafters’ goods. Some of the larger shacks host food vendors as well. They’re built of rough-cut boards nailed together vertically in the traditional American barn-style and are tall enough to hold a loft under their A-frame roofs.

On our way home from the festival, my father and I started discussing building such a shack for me to use as a cabin studio, a place where I could work on writing, painting, and other projects as well as sleep in on occasion. We could equip it with a woodstove for cooler weather, large windows to let in the natural light, and a rain-supplied sink with a gravity-fed flow system for washing paintbrushes and cleaning palettes. Later on, I might add in a small generator to power my laptop for the purposes of editing photos and manuscripts, but my primary light sources after dark would be oil lamps and candles. Otherwise, it would be a rustic, off-grid space for creative workings.

The whole concept is a lovely idea. I’ve wanted my own studio/workshop for a long time. Unfortunately, if I wait on my father’s help to make it happen, it will remain nothing more than a dream. Such is the problem with many large-scale projects. Writing and photography are things I can work on alone. Taking on erecting a small building, no matter how well I can measure and saw boards or drive screws, is a project that will require some assistance. My limited free time also makes it hard to justify taking on such a project when there is writing and editing I need to do in order to make headway on my dream of becoming a published author.

Someday I may build my studio/workshop, but I need to keep my priorities in order. Right now, I want to concentrate on my writing. In the meantime, I can save up some extra money for supplies while letting my building project simmer on the back burner. I won’t get to it this year. I may not get to it next year. But it never hurts to keep more difficult goals in mind while working on the dreams we can affect now.

Hezzie