Blogging About Blogging
Awareness of the outside world. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.
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In an effort to bring balance to my interests, I tried a 100-day challenge. The thinking is that if you do something for 100 days, it will become an ingrained part of your life.
I chose daily art.
I would draw something, anything, once a day for 100 days. Lettering. Doodles. Random marks all over the page. Didn’t matter what. Fill up one small notebook page with ink images.
Doable?
Ha!
I lasted less than 25 days even after reducing from a full page to a quarter page. It was a 5″ x 8″ page to start. One quarter of that is 10 square inches. Not a big space to fill.
You’d think, right?
Again I say, Ha!
That 25 days even included letting myself miss a few days.
One issue is that I have trouble doing things for no purpose. Doesn’t have to be a grand purpose, but a purpose none the less. Write to order? Sure. Write a daily blog post? Okay. Journal? Fiction? Crickets.
I’m the same with photography. Almost every photo I have every taken has been to fulfill a specific need, i.e. a professional assignment, class homework, blog post, or text message. Recently, I was scrolling thru my photos to see if I had a one I could use for a quick stand-alone post. All of them had been taken for a reason and used. No spares.
I wouldn’t argue good or bad. That’s too judgmental. I will say it is limiting way to go thru life. There leaves no room for serendipity. [Accidental Art, Horse & Cart]
Good, bad, or limiting, it’s not a habit that I am likely to change at this point.
New plan.
Weekly art …
… for the Sunday post.
My internal hall monitor appears to feel that the blog counts toward purpose, see above examples. I did this with the letter B last week and the blog logo for tomorrow. Success for n=2. We’ll see how that goes. [The Week Brought To You By The Letter B]
You may not see a huge change. Since I recommitted to weekend posts, Sundays have been about about images. This will continue. Maybe a bit more of my own, probably lettering. Images from others only as they are particularly appealing. Or I need to fill the space. [Weekends NOT off]
Mostly, this is a change of internal messaging. If this works, next up is music. Possibly a lost cause. [The Music, and The Mirror, and The Chance To Dance, One Out Of Three Ain’t Bad]
Thus ends this month’s glimpse into how the sausage is made.
Do you have a current self-improvement project?
State of the Blog [archives]
Above, July logo [Blog Logo, Mesh Gradient]
Stay safe. Stay sane.
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
My current self improvement project is to look things up. I have a real aversion to learning stuff I feel as if I should already know (driving lessons were a nightmare for that very reason) but if I do check new things out, at the worst it will just reinforce stuff I DO already know, but at best I will find out new ways of doing things or better information with which to make decisions…it’s not easy though.
A daily walk. Every day. Sounds simple but I let myself go over the dog days of summer and I’m back. Feels good. The motivation is my annual checkup with my GP in December. Double challenge: last year she recommended 20 minutes, this year 30. Right now, I’m still back at 20. Goal is 30 minutes/day 6 days a week by November. Each day is easier.
A jigsaw puzzle finished daily. The app has all kinds of “objectives”. Yesterday, I completed 30 days in a row. The next is 80 days in a row. Tough but I’m gaming the system: when I have time, I finish a puzzle except for one piece. Each day, I put a last piece in a puzzle and get credit. It still means I have to pay attention every day and do the puzzles. I am getting better at it.
I too need structure. Just doing something seldom motivates me. Thank you for being a fellow traveler. (A sister traveler?)