Jeffrey Yamaguchi is the founder of 52 Projects, a site dedicated to beginning, maintaining, and yes, even finishing creative projects. His book, 52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity has just been released, and his previous work is Working for the Man: Stories from Behind the Cubicle Wall. In addition to the original 52 creative projects, Yamaguchi encourages readers of his site to send in new projects - writing, photography, art related - that other readers can work on. Some projects take 15 minutes, some take years. They're all designed to evoke creativity in the individual and to spread this creative spark to others.

Yamaguchi's site features the Get the Word Out project, the Project Maker Interview, lots of links to great creative websites around the Net, and much more. He is also the webmaster at the literary blog Bookmouth.com. Jeffrey answered Four Questions this weekend from TomKealey.com

1.
TK -- Can you describe two or three projects that might be a good beginning point for readers new to the site and book?

JY -- Well, the 52 Projects book is a celebration of creative project-making. There are lots of writing projects, projects that involve taking photos, projects that you make specifically to send through the mail, while other projects are to be made and left in a public place… And some projects combine elements from all of the above. But I should point out that the idea of the book is not for the reader to re-create these projects exactly… Instructions are not spelled out, and there are no pictures of finished projects. My hope for the book is that it inspires the impulse to create and share, in each person's own, unique way.

One project I wanted to mention is the margarita project -- Project #16. The idea with this one is to invite friends over and experiment with different recipes until you've found the perfect margarita, all the while documenting the effort. Then, for example, you could create a mini margarita recipe book, complete with personalized photos and maybe a story about how the recipe was discovered. Some of what I just mentioned is in the book, but I also added a new component as I was answering this, and that's how the projects will work for readers – they'll add in their own ideas and muses and create projects that are all their own.

I also wanted to add that one of the major things I try to emphasize in the book is that making creative projects -- on your own terms -- can really energize the day to day and positively impact all areas of your life. Being creative and seeing something through from start to finish, it really has a way of empowering how you handle just about anything -- instead of feeling tired or disgruntled, you're more ready and willing to taking something on and run with it -- whether it's cooking dinner after a long day or heading off to yet another meeting at work.

2.
TK -- What kind of projects did you work on as a kid? Can you talk about one in particular? Who, specifically, encouraged you to do so? Parents, siblings, teachers, friends?

JY -- When I was a kid, I was big into forts. My dad built this incredible one for me and my brother in our backyard, complete with a way to climb out onto the roof. There were many a rubberband war around that fort. But in addition to this stronghold in my backyard, I was always imagining these impossible forts -- in trees, on rafts, down by the creek where we weren't supposed to go. And tied to these forts were buried treasure. I liked to put things in boxes and bury them. I guess I liked the idea that these boxes were sort of secrets -- only I knew where they were.

One project that I was reminded of recently because of Halloween was this time when I somehow rigged a pulley system to pull in a ghost towards our front porch -- so the trick or treaters would arrive and they would see no ghost, but as they were waiting at the door for their candy (my mom or dad stalling for just the right amount of time), I would pull the ghost towards them, so as soon as they turned around, it would be hurling right at them. This must have been when I was like 13 or so, because I was too old to trick or treat, but too young to be out partying with friends.

I suppose that I was encouraged to do something like that because my family always made a big deal around events like Halloween -- from the night we would carve the pumpkins, to the creative costumes my Mom would make for us. It was always a very creative affair, and that kind of emphasis really has an impact. I wanted to contribute -- I wanted to be a part of making the night fun.

3.
TK -- It seems important to you that people not only work on new projects, but that they promote them as well. Thus, the Get the Word Out Project. Can you talk about how this site works, and what you hope people will gain from it?

JY -- The Get The Word Out Project (posted at both bookmouth.com and 52projects.com) is a collection of simple things you can do to promote your project (for those projects that you are putting out there, for sale, or that you want an audience for). And they really are simple and affordable things – like making postcards, sending thank you notes, posting comments to websites. I think individually, the ideas don't seem to amount to much, but if you review them as a collective list, you sort of see how much you can do in an affordable and viable way, and if you do all, or many, of the things on the list, you will see some results. I've always viewed promotion as a part of the project, and just as you put creativity and energy into your project, you have to give the same effort to the promotional component. And another thing is that while promotion is an opportunity to get the word out about a specific! project, it's also a way to connect with and build an audience -- and that, in the long run, is key. The promotional efforts build upon one another. So the projects get bigger, the promotional efforts gets bigger, and the audience gets bigger, and it all sort of goes hand in hand, each element helping the other along.

4.
TK -- What future projects are in store for Jeffrey Yamaguchi? A year down the road? Ten years down the road?

JY -- Right now I have a fun web project that I'm working on that is hinted at in the 52 Projects book -- there are clues in the book, to help people find the web project... And that web project in turn leads to something else. A year down the road, I have some book projects I'd like to have done, or at least in a final stage of being done -- and whereas 52 projects started on the web, these book projects are not going online, at least not to start, anyway. Ten years down the road, wow, I just know I want to be making projects, projects that are hopefully more creative and engaging than the one before.

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Previous Four Question Features have focused on Frank Feijen of Happy Palace and Rich Vogel of Found Photos.