I am super-thrilled to be participating in Leah Piken Kolidas’s Creative Every Day 2012 Challenge. And a little nervous, I must admit – because you all know me and my track record with those pesky little things called “challenges”.
(And for all my bookish friends, I can almost guarantee that I’ll be breaking my self-imposed “Hi, I’m no-reading-challenges Belle” tradition of the past three-odd years – because this is, after all, my year of Commitment! Discipline! Doing! Being! Living! Reading! Just saying.)
I joined the Creative Every Day challenge because I want to invite more creativity into my life. I’m pretty well near burnout with all of my indexing deadlines, and have gotten into a terrible habit of making only work a priority, and not any of the other things that matter to me. 2012 is the year I’m changing this.
According to the challenge page:
Creativity is meant in the broadest sense, so it doesn’t have to be something art related. Your creative acts could be in cooking, taking pictures, knitting, doodling, writing, dancing, decorating, singing, playing with your kids, brainstorming ideas, gardening, or making art in the form of collage, paint, or clay…or whatever!
So I’m going to be creative about being creative! It’s going to be an anything-goes challenge for me. 
(I’m not including writing as part of my #CED2011 activities, because I’m making writing a priority this year and I have a separate goal to write for at least 20 minutes every day.)
Today is the first check-in of the year, and in a way, I guess you could say I’m not off to a great start. I didn’t create anything yesterday – but on the other hand, I planned it that way. I had a pressing deadline that I simply had to get done. Also, the first weekly spread in my DiY Moleskine planner starts today, January 2, so it made sense to not worry about goals and such on January 1, and start today. (Don’t you just love my logic?)
So what creative thing have I done? A group of my friends have been selecting a “word for the year”, and my friend Ahmee, emailed our little group this morning suggesting: “Take your word and fill a page with it.”
So I did. I dug up an old visual journal (with all of TWO spreads filled, one done in 2004 and one done in 2005 …!), flipped to the first blank spread, and filled the right hand page with my word for the year:
No, I didn’t try for any sort of artistic effect. I’m planning to get back into the creative mode gently and easily, and if I try for something pretty or colourful, I’ll just increase the pressure on myself, which is probably a surefire way to make sure I don’t fulfill this challenge.
So I opted for something simple. A frame, a few ink smudges, and my word of the year. In a visual journal that I hope I’ll fill lots of pages in as the year progresses.
I’ll be posting weekly updates on Mondays (there’s the “commitment” word again. And “discipline”. We shall see, right?), so you can all keep me accountable!
What about you? What challenges are you planning to participate in this year?
Congratulations on inviting more creativity into your life! I’m looking forward to seeing your Mondays!
Thank you for dropping by, Carolyn. I’m looking forward to visiting your posts too!
I like it. a LOT. I love your 2012 word: OPENNESS. It has a very nice feel to it, and a balance even. My phrase for the year is “be of generous spirit.” to myself and others and the universe.
My BIG BOLD goal for the year is to write a letter every day or send one every day – so accounting for those spurts when I write 4-5 letters in one sitting and that USPS doesn’t actually deliver every day, I will accomplish sending 356 pieces of correspondence with glad tidings. I think that will be my creativity goal. HAPPY 2012!
Care, I LOVE your big bold goal! That is definitely a wonderful creativity goal – just think of all the people who get to open up your beautiful messages.
I don’t know if I could write one letter a day (I don’t know that many people!), but I love your idea very much. Maybe I’ll incorporate it into my creative every day challenge and aim to write one a week. Thank you for sharing your goal!
I’m already ahead of schedule on my letter writing and now I can’t stop! Ya know, that was a nice visual that you CREATED in my mind with the concept of others opening my letters. Thank you.
and if you did decide to write letters, I do intend to repeat people! My nieces might get one a week… and postcards are allowed.
I also join the CED challenge, and the goodreads 2012 book challenge. I’m pretty faithful with my reading but I get behind in my art. Good luck to you.
Oh Belle – I have made the same vow for 2012. My life has been so out-of-balance for so long and I am determined that I am going to make time for me this year.
I am not quite brave enough to sign up for the creative challenge – but I look forward to your weekly posts and will encourage you every step of the way.
I don’t enter challenges because, as a caregiver, my life is just too disorganized to plan much of anything. However, my goal for 2012 is to read more, plan more time to myself (probably reading), and to take better care of myself physically. My health hasn’t been that good in the past few months so that was a wake-up call to eat better and get fitter.
‘Openness” what a great word for the year, and it actually looks artistic printed over and over on the page like that!
Love your word — and hope 2012 fulfills its promise.
Great way to start ~ being gentle with yourself ~ day at time ~namaste, Carol (Share the Creative Journey and A Creative Harbor) linked w/ CED
Looking forward to seeing what you get up to during the year… openness is such a great word … here’s cheers to a creative year…xx
Belle, so glad you decided to join CED.
Don’t pressure yourself & you’ll be fine.
Love the OPENNESS writing in your journal…
Happy new year & welcome! xoxo