Challenge Check-In: Starting Small

Every Sunday, I am going to log into Lost Coast Post and ramble on a bit about what I did during the week for the challenges I have undertaken for 2011.  I'm calling it "Challenge Check-in" and it really is just a reminder for myself of how the week unfolded.  Very often, I minimize my accomplishments so I think seeing it in print throughout the year will keep me engaged in my creative life and remind me that, in spite of obstacles that regularly interfere with my plans, I actually get quite a bit done.  

Obviously, the year is still young.  I spent the weekend preparing (and then beginning) a journal that will be my "daily diary" for 2011.  I keep lots and lots of journals (more on that in a post later this week) but I have found that I really enjoy having a journal that I write in a teeny bit each day.  I've kept such a journal before for about a two year period but I skipped all of 2010.  I discovered that I missed it so off I go again.  This year, I'm also going to attempt to add in a calendar challenge but no promises on how long I'll stick with it.



Morning journal in progress

 When I work in this type of journal, it's like doing mini "morning pages," although I will write my daily blurb whenever it suits me.  I will often note how I'm feeling that morning, what the weather is like, what errand or appointment is occupying my thoughts in that moment.  I don't write much, just enough to generate a snapshot of the day for posterity. Often, I will incorporate small doodles, collage, or stickers.  Time, interest, energy, and/or health permitting, I will work in other journals as well during the day but I make a point of trying to never skip the diary.  Every page in the journal (spiral bound, cold press paper) is prepared with watercolors in advance so all I have to do in sit down, write, and play.  This way of journaling guarantees that I devote a few minutes every day to creativity.  Sometimes, the morning journal serves as a jumpstart to bigger and better things; sometimes, that paragraph I write is the sum total of my artistic efforts for that day.  Either way, the ritual comforts and anchors me.