Getting Ready for a Creative Year

I may have mentioned this before, but there is a running "joke" in my family. I put the word joke in quotation marks because it's really not all that funny. Anyway, the "joke" is that any time I mention the word "plan", whatever idea I've attached to that word is doomed to fail.

 

Seriously. It's true. If I say the word "plan" as in "it's a plan!", it's not going to happen.

 

So I try very had to avoid using that horrid word. In making...er...organizing the details of a creative year, I have been especially careful of what I say. I want 2013 to be a really fruitful year in terms of creative endeavors!

 

My creativity got a jump start with a generous gift from my creative sister, Laura. She inspires and prompts me to create, and so I made sure that I picked out some items that I would put to use throughout the year.

 

Tools of the Trade

 

I haven't delved into the Digital Art Wonderland book yet, but Creative Doodling & Beyond is wonderful!! It's set up like a workbook and it's all I can do not to plow through and do every page! I did, however, get started on the first of my three moleskines:

 

A Year of Creative Journal Entries

 

I love moleskines! They are so full of promise! I already put entries in the first couple of pages.

 

The first page is dedicated to my horoscope for the year. Let me tell you: if this all comes to fruition, 2013 is my year!!!!

 

 







Even if you don't take stock in such things as horoscopes, there is still the power of positive thinking! That's why I wanted this to be the first page of my journal. On low days, I can turn to this page and remind myself that I can make things work out the way that I want!

 

The second page of my journal was dedicated to the goals that I posted about in yesterday's blog entry. Always a good idea to keep them handy!

 

 

The third page is a...well, that dreaded word just popped into my head. Let's just say that I listed the things that I hope to accomplish this year. One of my creative goals was to accomplish a monthly project. To make sure that I do this, I mapped out what I want to do each month. With it written down and set in stone, so to speak, now I have to do each of these little projects!

 

A Year of Crafty Projects

 





And finally, I'm following Laura's lead in "scheduling" creativity. Laura had the idea to list all the creative pursuits that she likes to engage in. Then, each day, she'll roll a die to see what she'll work on. I wish that I had the time and discipline to do this daily, but I know that I'd be setting myself up for failure if I even tried. So, I'm going to roll my die on Saturday nights to see what project I'll be working on throughout the following week. I'll be able to start and finish on a weekend, so that gives me at least two days to devote to creative pursuits. I think I can make this work!!

 

What Shall It Be This Week?

 

Phew! What a lot of creativity! I also want to try to do a 365 Project on Instagram, but I'm not committing myself to accomplishing that...only to trying to do it more days than not.

 

Now, off to find a mason jar to fill with slips of paper listing my happy memories of 2013. Busy! Busy! Busy!

 

How are you planning (oh no!) to cultivate and maintain your creative life this year?