Try Something New - December Update 2011

I have come to the end of my December 'Try Something New for 30 days' Challenge which was to write a minimum of 100 words a day.  I have written a combination of 14 stories and poems and a total of 17,177 words approx.  I have far exceeded what I thought I would do and feel very blessed to have completed this challenge, its amazing to think of what you can do when you put your mind to it.  I think that I will still continue to finish the rest of the stories on the list over the next few months, and  I would like to also start working on some illustrations for the stories and will be sharing my efforts over time.

As this year closes I have been not only amazed at how fast the year has gone, but the lessons learnt, the doors that closed as well as the ones that opened.  I have learnt this year more so that you get what you put into life, it is meant to be lived to the full - I have always known it but for some reason didn't really 'apply it'.  I don't always make the most of my time, and do have my moments of inactivity, but I know that all the things I ever wanted to do can be achieved by just making an effort, however small!  It is better that you make an effort than nothing at all...  This afternoon I spoke to a cousin who I haven seen for over 10 years, you would think we live on different sides of the world, she lives around 18 miles from me.  Our children have grown and don't know each other, I made a promise to myself to make the effort to renew relationships and friendships and especially for Sekani's sake get him to meet up with all the cousins he hasn't seen for a while or even met.  So I am saying goodbye to inactivity and hello to making the most of everything and with another challenge under my belt, hello 2012!

Try Something New - December Challenge Update

The first two weeks of my Try Something new challenge has passed.......

Week 1
In the first week of the challenge I began to feel slightly despondent wasn't sure why.  It was something I wanted to do, I still got up and wrote a minimum of 100 words, more often than not doing 500+ words, but there was still a feeling of a dark cloud hanging over me and I was dissatisfied.  I realised there were a few reasons for these feelings:

• I didn't take stock of the previous challenge in November.   I had been doing my walking one and the Art every day month challenge and dove right into another one, and perhaps I needed a break. It's important to really acknowledge for yourself what you are doing and how far you have come.
• I had got a cold the last week of the November so was feeling under the weather and didn't offer myself any tender loving care! Being kind to yourself is the only way you can get through, you have to be flexible!
• I didn't celebrate the achievement of completing the November challenge, it's those little things that keep us going.....Celebrations are key for the end of a challenge, you have to recognise the achievement that you have  made, you have to acknowledge it.

• I had assumed that there would be bells and fireworks and massive revelation and deep insight into my life, and whilst I learnt many things, again its the small changes that we make that will give us the long term achievements.  Revelation can come in small packages and many of the aha moments can be attributed to outstanding discoveries.  Write down what you learn and look back over time.

I had also felt quite insecure and wasn't sure I could write under the spotlight and the public commitment that I had made, so I got myself all worked up as I approached the December challenge.  Reminding yourself why you are doing the challenge is key, for me there were a series of short stories that I wanted to write and this seemed a great way to find that time that eluded me and see the results.  As long as you remember why you are doing it you won't get phased out comparing yourself to others, and keep showing up for you....  I've got a few other challenges and things that I'd like to try over the coming year.....

I recognised where the insecure feelings were coming from and was able to face the feeling and see what really lay behind the tiredness, anxiety or disinterest.  I may never write a short story again after this, but at least I know I tried and I can cross another thing off that very long list of things I'd like to try. I went out to write in a different location on Monday and had a pick me up!

Week 2
At the end of the 2nd week I am feeling more confident and enjoying sitting down and putting pen to paper and come up with a story.  In the first week I was writing a story a day and managed to do 8000 words!  this week some of the stories and becoming longer than I anticipated and I have done in total 12,110 words and I am on my 8th story.  Seeing it in print like that really does feel like an achievement as I have far exceeded the 1500 words that it could have been had I stuck to the minimum words, I will stop being so hard on myself and enjoy the process more!  I am not going to worry about doing any images yet or editing until I have finish.

I am still walking, I'm not up at 6am but and have fallen into a 'when it suits' routine which provides a good place to break from work and get a fresh perspective.

I am really looking forward to hearing what you have found challenging this month and ways in which you have planned to work it out. With Christmas coming up there are challenges to be had, dealing with the relationships we have and those ones that can be challenging.  Brave Girls Club did a few humorous videos on dealing with these difficult situations, you can check it out.

Most importantly, what is on your art supply Christmas wish list?, do you have one?, what is at the top of yours?

Try Something New for 30 Days December 2011 Challenge

December sees a new month and new challenges to be had!  I really want to make changes to every aspect of my life and starting out with small changes will eventually become bigger changes.  You can see how I got on with the November walking challenge.

The challenge I have set myself this month will be to write a minimum of 100 words a day.  The overall aim is to write a selection of childrens short stories combined with my mixed media art work in it. This is something I have always wanted to do, and thought why not for one month - again giving myself small chunks a day at a time see how I get on, I might find that I absolutely love it, or find that it was great for a month and its not something I want to continue. 

One of my favourite childrens books is by Ezra Jack Keats I still have a copy of The Snowy Day, he used a combination of gouache with collage in his work.

I was inspired back in 2010 to look at how I could combine my work into stories in a similar way.  This is how my decision to write started out....never took off and changed direction slightly:

• In 2004 I decided that I wanted to write childrens books, I never did, all I did was write a list of 45 possible titles, not sure why, but felt compelled to, I was determined to write......

• 2006 - I updated the book in January and promised myself that I would start at the end of the month.....
• 2007 saw me reviewing my goals ....and
• 2010 February after looking at why I hadn't started I realised I didn't want to write childrens books but childrens short stories and combine my love for mixed media.

So in December 2011 I have been nervous about committing myself, but you have to jump sometime!  I worked out that even doing my morning pages I write close to 1000 words if not more on occasions. So I will start, the main aim being not to complete the 45 story titles but to enjoy the process of writing and creating the art. If you don't start now when will you start, there is no time like the present!

If you would like to join in and give yourself a challenge this month leave your link below so that we can visit your blog and give you support and encouragment.  I will be leaving update posts each week to share how I have been getting on and look forward to visiting your blogs to see how you have been getting on.

Update - Week 1 and 2

Art Every Day Month (AEDM) and Try Something New Challenge Week 4 Update

Today sees the end of two challenges that I have been doing, the Art Every Day Month (AEDM) in my Mixed Media Art blog and Try Something New for 30 days here on this blog. With the AEDM the main thing was to do something creative every day and  I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part. 

Spending time with our creativity takes practice and discipline and over the course of time you see the value of spending getting to know yourself and how you work even if it is for only 5 minutes.   I still plan to visit the other artists that took part over the month there is so much inspiring work out there and a big thanks goes out to Leah Piken Kolidas for hosting AEDM as well as other challenges.

Making time for 'me' and and achieving goals were the reasons why I wanted to start the challenge Try something new, I realised there are so many things we say we are 'going to do' but the time passes and before we know it the years have passed us by.  It feels like yesterday that I committed myself to walking 20 minutes a day but it was 30 days ago, that's how fast time is flying....

...we have no guarantees about tomorrow, what are you going to do with your today?

I now know how easy it is to get myself up and out and enjoy walking, I have also found ways to be flexible and fit around my schedule and though we have come to the end of the month it is something  I will keep up, alongside creating daily.

For December I have decided to do another challenge for 30 days, something that I've always said I would do but didn't find the time.  I will be glad for others to join in.  What have you always said you wanted to do?  Make it a realistic challenge that you can stick to, break it down and set yourself up to look back at the end of December and see that the challenge is completed!

You will be able to leave your blog link details in the main section so that we can visit you and give you support and encouragement during the month.  Would love to hear your thoughts on challenges that you have done!