Throughout history, failures or setbacks have often led creative people to discover something greater or better than the original plan. At the very least, valuable lessons were learned. Friday fudge is about creatives persevering past the obstacles, and finding delicious rewards for their tenacity and effort that they could never have imagined or hoped for in the first place.
It’s almost been two years to the day now since I found myself in serious creator doodoo leading up to the final ‘crunch time’ at college.
I was enrolled full-time in a graduate certificate program in e-publishing (web design, online publishing, and online media production) at an accredited school within commuting distance from home.
I was there to upgrade my technical skills to enable myself to become an online creative entrepreneur.
I decided at this point in my life it was time to try and make that dream a viable reality; I was no longer willing to put it off.
It had been 27 years since I last shuffled or scurried down the the halls of a post-secondary institution as a student.
So there I was, having made it to the final leg of my educational odyssey with a resolute plan. Instead of working on 6 separate final projects from scratch, I thought of a way to create three different final assignments from one source – an outdoor country flea market held weekly in a popular tourist destination on the outskirts of Lachute, Quebec, north of Montreal, Canada.
When I called the contact number listed on their website, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the flea market was open year-round. It was mildish for the month of March in Eastern Canada, but still…winter in these parts. The gentleman I spoke to assured me that the flea market would be open for business that day.
I remembered the event fondly from my youth, having visited on a few occasions while vacationing at our family cottage.
During those summer excursions, we found the place hopping with activity – a great carnival atmosphere mix of people – farmer vendors selling delicious local produce, bargain-hungry tourists, local crafters, clothing, shoe, jewellery retailers from the big city, garage sale ‘professionals’, antique dealers. Even livestock was sold or auctioned off. Around the noon hour, a local country band provided upbeat entertainment under a big tent right beside the main canteen area.
With excitement, I proceeded with my preparations. I would create a video interview montage for the final assignment for my Dynamic Media class, a photo essay-perhaps of the livestock auctions-for the Photography course, and I would interview some local vendors and visitors alike and take extensive notes and more photos for a final journalistic piece I needed to write and then publish on a website I had built myself for a third course.
My professors all approved the proposals for each respective project. I was good to go.
The day of the event arrived. My husband volunteered to accompany me to lend a hand in case I needed help with some of the recording equipment while conducting my interviews and such.
We left on that cloudy morning in the second week of March, travelling an hour and a half to our destination. When we arrived mid-morning, the place was pretty much deserted.
Not at all like my childhood memory in the slightest.
The loud rush of my blood pressure rising filled my ears. Where were all the booths, the vendors, the people? We circled the car around the parking lot, vacant except for literally a fruit and vegetable stand and a long table piled high with miscellaneous, not-so-gently-used garage sale items. Two men stood close by wearing dirty plaid hunting jackets, looking entirely bored.
My eyes met one of them as we drove slowly past. He summarily spat on the ground beside him and sniffed loudly while his companion took a long draw from his cigarette pinched between nicotine-stained fingers, watching us with a slight hint of a smirk on his unshaven face.
The realization hit me that, although the website stated the market was open year-round, most of the vendors and visitors must only congregate here in the warmer months of spring, summer and fall, for obvious reasons.
A wave of nausea hit me as I realized the consequence of my assumption.
I should have tried to set up specific interviews with a few vendors directly. I should have asked more details from that man I contacted from the website. I should have…
Despondent, I asked my husband to just drive to the local coffee shop a few blocks away. In the Tim Horton’s parking lot, I gave in to the hot tears as they slipped down my cheeks.
“Your profs will understand,” my hubby tried to console me. “You can file some ‘incompletes’ and I’m sure they’ll let you make up for the missing work later on this summer.”
I sat gnawing on a knuckle for a few moments, knowing if I went back home now, there was a very strong possibility I would just give up altogether.
It had been hard enough to muster up the courage to go back to school after all these years in the first place. What kind of fool was I to start a brand new creative career at midlife? I had already been through quite a few life challenges over several consecutive years and had managed to persevere to this point. But I was oh-so-tired.
It was right then that Plan B came to me.
We ended up driving to Montreal, which was only another hour’s drive. There was an outdoor shopping mall in the east end we had visited the previous year, with many eclectic shops, frequented by local and tourist bargain-hunters alike. 
Surely I could try and get a few interviews and some video footage as well as snap some interesting photos to use to complete my three assignments?
One could definitely label this as going with a gut feeling; the idea came out of the ether. It felt better to me than returning home empty-handed.
When we got there, we parked a short walk from a store where I had bought a cute handmade bracelet on our last visit. Pushing my nervousness aside, I walked in and approached the woman behind the counter, told her about my predicament.
She was very understanding, having embarked on a new creative career at midlife herself. The unprepared, spontaneous interview went really well and ended up giving me the raw footage to produce an inspiring profile of two local women artists who are pursuing their writing and singing passions, as well as successfully running the business selling their own handmade jewellery.
The end result was so much better than I could have planned or imagined. Despite my computer hard drive biting the dust during the first week of exams and having to buy a new laptop and reinstall all my software programs and redo some of the work I had lost, I managed to complete all assignments in time for the professors to submit my grades by their deadline. My video montage project earned the second highest mark in the class!
I took some great photos that afternoon, as well as interviewing a few other shop owners for my web writing assignment(that turned out to be a tourism piece on bargain shopping in Montreal).
My photo essay project was well-received too, and I graduated that spring with honours.
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield
Have you ever experienced a setback or made a ‘mistake’ that led you to a better creative discovery or outcome? Feel free to share in the Comments.
The yummy fudge used for my photo shoot for the Friday Fudge banner above was generously provided by The Cheddar Stop in Carleton Place, Ontario.
Carole, when I read this (three times now) I feel I’ve been filled with sparkling brilliance! Your words gift me, move me deeply. I am no writing expert or pro photographer, but I know I am different after reading your last several posts. Your photography is stunning too. Still thinking about those ice photos a few posts ago. I’m realizing that I truly am in very good and talented company and it is my great privilege.
Oh, I do feel your pain about being in college and those final exams/projects and how critical it is for everything to go just right. None of my college professors gave easy final projects! No pressure like that. I went to college (3 yrs) when I was young. I returned as a “mature” student to finish at age 38 with small child-in-tow. It took an additional 3 years of college to graduate. For me, those last exams for those last courses during my last semester were absolutely the hardest. There is so much on the line. It felt like I would die if I didn’t pull it off. So I feel your pain all the way. You were really presented with a gigantic boulder to get over and not much time it sounds like.
I do have “fudge” stories to tell! Having a venue like Friday Fudge excites me! For now, I am like the rest, just reeling on your talent and brilliant post.
Terri, sheesh I really don’t know what to say lol. “Well, thank ya, thank ya very much” (in my best Elvis voice).
I will say this, though. I know without a doubt there are many of us who have valuable gifts to discover and bring out of ourselves, share with others to perhaps inspire them to take the risk and make the commitment to do likewise. I’m one, you’re another.
So glad to know you, excited for the creative work you are doing. I’m grateful and ever so excited for what the future holds for all of us.
Wow, Milli! I’m not quite sure how to respond to this generous review of my piece. The wrestling match I had with my resistance and uncomfortable feelings while preparing and writing it all seems worthwhile now. It sure was cathartic to get it all out on the page and I’m relieved to get feedback it was useful for others to read.
I’m also now at a bit of a loss how to gracefully respond when someone gifts me with such wonderful praise
It makes me really happy to get confirmation it isn’t just some self-indulgent exercise, but that you’re inspired to go away and think about how your own fudge can lead (or did) lead to its own silver lining.
I LOVE this blog post. You are on a role with posts lately, Carole Jane. What I love about this post is that it’s a great creative lesson, but also a great life lesson. And, as Milli said, it is so well written I could see the deserted outdoor market. Wonderful, wonderful piece.
Charlotte Rains Dixon recently posted..The Genesis of an Idea
So glad you enjoyed it, Charlotte! Thank you for the encouragement. Nice to hear I’m on the right track and folks are getting some value from this. I think any one of us who has gone through a trying time appreciates the reassurance that there is some redeeming value to going through it all.
What Milli said! The exact same elements struck me too. A delicious piece of writing and I just love the whole concept of Friday Fudge.
Fudge is the perfect word, too, because in an effort to avoid swearing around the many children in my life, I have a tendency to say, “Oh, fudge!” when something goes wrong. Now every time I say that, I’ll look for the delicious reward hidden in the mishap.
Like Milli, I need time to think about my own Friday Fudge experiences. I know there have been many wonderful things that have come out of mistakes in my life but my mind is still back at that flea market, so I’ll have to share that later!
Sue Mitchell recently posted..When Not Working is Part of the Work
Hiya Sue,
Thanks so much for your kind feedback too! Yes, I’ve often used ‘fudge’ as a more PC exclamation when children have been in earshot too.
I’m not a bad cook, but I can’t make fudge for the life of me. I tried last year around Christmas and ended up with a thick syrupy mess that never coagulated, even after an overnight stay in the fridge. Oh fudge! (yeah, I was upset at the waste of money I forked over for all those expensive baking ingredients, but my hubby still had a good time eating some of it with a spoon until I threw the rest in the garbage lol).
YOU THREW FUDGE IN THE GARBAGE??? That’s it. Cancelling my subscription to your blog. ;-D
Sue Mitchell recently posted..When Not Working is Part of the Work
LOL. Hey, it was a triumphant act of self-care! Are you going to ‘un-friend’ me entirely if I confess to you I’ve even thrown away unused cookie dough too?
I did not see this comment because I had already unsubscribed. But if I had, I would say that no, cookie dough does not warrant the kind of outrage that discarded fudge does. Neither does cake batter.
Sue Mitchell recently posted..Why You Should Take a Chance on Your Creative Dream
Carole, your story just blew me away. I felt so much as I was reading it I hope I can do justice in my comment to what I got from this.
First, I loved the logo! The fun and thematic choice of colors for the key words, “Friday fudge,” are perfect. The photo is excellent – makes me want to gobble into it, at the same time I’m admiring that elegant stemmed glass displaying the fudge. The tag line, “Delicious rewards from creative ‘mistakes,’” had me salivating to find out what delicious rewards might be in this post.
And then came the writing. OMG. This is some kind of blogging masterpiece. The way you told the story had all the right suspense-building and “storm gathering” emotions. I even felt more than a little guilty for enjoying the first half of the story so much because I just knew, by the way you set it up, that there was grief ahead. (That’s the mark of a good storyteller, in my books.)
Your descriptions of the scene with the rednecks spitting and staring chilled my blood. Not only because rednecks doing those kinds of things chill my blood but because this scene perfectly conveyed the desolation of your finding the scene almost empty and your hopes for a final grade going to ruin before your eyes.
I loved your epiphany in the car park (and your supportive husband!). Seems to me you only had the epiphany – an intuitive flash – after you shed the tears. (Emotion as part of our creative process?) And I absolutely loved that you followed the hunch. The alternative – going home and giving up – was too horrifying to contemplate. I’m so glad you didn’t do that! It took guts to follow your hunch.
But the sentence that went right to my core was “She was very understanding, having embarked on a new creative career at midlife herself.” I’d already been having full-body goose bumps, but when I read that the blood rushed to my head, exactly the way you described earlier in your story – only this was a good feeling. Dizzying but absolutely good. Because you took a risk and reached out. And you were received by a like-minded person who knows how it feels.
If you’d had the opportunity to do the flea market assignment in summery weather, you would have missed that moment of being affirmed for who you are. And missed the entire challenge of having to go beyond your comfort zone. It seems to me our inner selves are very good at orchestrating these kinds of scenarios. I think your inner self is a genius.
As for a creative fudge of my own . . . I need time for this post to sink in. I’m still overcome with emotion from your story. Not to mention gratitude that you had the courage to make this post. And you’ve even turned it into a fun way for the rest of us to find our silver linings. Bravo!
Milli Thornton recently posted..Woody Allen’s Sensational Success Tip for Writers