Three great things happened as the result of my June 30 Day Photo Challenge:
- I started spending lots more time on Instagram, which turns out to be a very calming and friendly place.
- I wound up taking an unplanned hiatus from my personal Facebook page for part of June. Within a few days of leaving Facebook alone, I started feeling happier. I have to believe spending more time on Instagram, marinating my brain in its the creative juices, was part of that transformation.
- I stretched my brain in new and interesting ways. What image represents Patience? How am I going to explain (very briefly) the association I made between the image and the idea? How do I want the image to be composed? Or processed? I was looking for a creative challenge, and I certainly found one.
And that’s why our July challenge is going to follow from June’s success. This month, our challenge is to Make Something every day.
Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself Make what? I don’t make things. I’m not a crafty person. You don’t have to be crafty to create. For the purposes of this challenge, make something simply means that by the end of the day, something that didn’t exist when you woke up in the morning will exist before you go to bed that night.
You might write a thank-you note or a long overdue letter (or even an email. Writing is writing!) Keep taking pictures, if you’ve been doing the 30-day photo challenge. Or make vacations plans. Making yourself breakfast counts, if you transform the ingredients. (That bread didn’t toast itself. The sliced strawberries didn’t jump into the yogurt on their own.) Making lunch or dinner also counts, of course. Whether or not you use a recipe–who cares? If you’re making something, you’re on track.
If you are a crafty person, adding a few rows to your current crochet project qualifies as making something. You don’t have to finish the project to create. Drawing in a journal qualifies as making something, as does planning out a larger painting. I’m a big fan of the collage, which means I’m always collecting interesting ephemera–words and images from magazines, art from greeting cards, scraps of wrapping paper, stickers, fortunes from long-since-eaten fortune cookies. I have a file folder stuffed full of these bits and pieces. Perhaps this month, I’ll get started turning them into something.
Rather than offering up a prompt for each day, as I have for every other month, I’m leaving this one more flexible. You know best, when it comes to the kind of creativity that feeds your soul. Do you like to cook? This is the month to plan, shop, buy, and get busy in the kitchen. Do you tend to take on large projects, then procrastinate on finishing them (or even getting a good start)? This month is an excellent time to hold yourself accountable.
As I’ve been working on a new book this summer, my goal has been one page a day. That doesn’t sound like much, I know. But what I’ve discovered is that one page often leads to two or more–the big challenge is just getting myself to sit down and do the work. And that’s the point of this Make Something challenge: to provide you with the incentive to get it done, whatever it may be.
I’ll be posting photos of my creative work on Instagram–follow me if you want to see what I’m up to. I hope you’ll share photos of your creative work as well. Use the hashtag #MakeSomething so I can see what you’re up to!
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