This is a ‘Drabble’ – a piece of flash fiction that’s 100 words long – that I wrote this morning.

I have one posted on my FB page today, too. See it here!

I can be VERY patient with other people but when it comes to me and my work, I can be extremely impatient. I always think that there must be faster way to do Thing X and I get annoyed at myself for taking so long.

Of course, things (X, Y , Z or whatever) take as long as they take. All I accomplish by getting annoyed with myself is the annoyance of being annoyed.

I drew this for myself on January 1, in the hopes that it will set a tone for my year.

I’m doing pretty damn good so far.

I’m doing the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge this year.

I feel kind of odd picking a challenge to read more since being ‘a reader’ is a huge part of my mental image of myself. And I am a reader but I have found that in the last couple of years there are SO MANY books that I want to read that I have trouble choosing where to start.

That leads to me skimming all kinds of books and not really getting into them. And that, in turn, leads to me getting on my own nerves. Which, oddly enough, I do NOT enjoy.

I still read a huge number of books each year (I haven’t kept records before now) but a lot of them are either for my work (coaching/writing/storytelling) or they are such quick fiction that I almost immediately forget the plots and characters. I’m not putting down either of those types of books, I love reading in my field(s) and quick fiction is really enjoyable. But that is not all that I want to get out of my reading.

So, hence the Read Harder challenge.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Long time, no see!

I want to break my blog silence but the pressure is almost too much to bear.

So, I am posting this silly post then I will have done a ‘first’ post for the year and the next one will be much easier.

See you tomorrow!

Holy crap, I had no idea I would be able to do it.

I mean, I know that I am good with a challenge but I didn’t know if I would be able to draw something every day for 61 days. It helped to be able to switch to lettering or a quote when I needed it but I am super happy to have actually drawn as much as I did.

Here are some things I discovered

1) I can draw a lot more than I realized.

I guess I have it in my head that artists just get the idea in their head that they want to produce and they just pick up the pencil and create it. But they have to practice and learn too, of course. So my looking up tutorials and the like is not ‘cheating’ it’s learning.

2) I really LIKE creating images for some things.

It was a challenge to come up with a visual that I could create in some cases but I enjoyed the process of thinking about it and turning the prompt one way and another to decide what to do with it.

3) I also like making hand lettered quotes.

I’m not particularly good at it yet, but I am enjoying the process of learning about it. Figuring out what words to emphasize and how to present them best has been really fun.

4) Drawing things helps me organize my ideas.

I have added a lot of drawing to my to do lists and gotten into figuring out a bullet journalling process so I can maximize my fun in creating a list.

5) I don’t have a big desire to learn to draw ‘real life.’

There are few things I would like to learn to draw accurately – like an apple and a person’s face – but mostly, I like my sort of quirky style that has been emerging over the course of this challenge. I haven’t fully developed it yet but I am getting there.

6) I think I might like to create a web comic.

I don’t know exactly what it will entail but the idea is growing for sure.

7) I feel like I can communicate differently with images.

I have always been good with words and I love to make words do what I want BUT I have discovered that there are things that I cannot say in words that sort themselves into an image – a visual representation – and have a lot more impact. Well, an impact on me at least. YMMV.

8)I really like art supplies.

This isn’t exactly a new piece of information, but I have developed an even greater affection for specific pens and paper since this challenge began.

9) I am inspired to share my drawing.

I think because I feel like I have a handle on my writing, I generate a set of expectations for myself about it and then I think twice before sharing it. With my drawings, I don’t take them as seriously so I just fire them out into the world, no matter how bad they might seem to me. I like sharing my work more frequently and I want to figure out the best way to do that for my writing.

10) I REALLY LIKE CREATING ON INDEX CARDS

I though, before this challenge, that it was just writing on index cards that was fun. Turns out I like drawing on them just as much. Index cards are perfect for keeping intimidation at bay.

11) I want another art challenge so I keep drawing.

I want to find another challenge so I can keep myself drawing every damn day. This is exciting and the prompts (and the size of the cards) give me enough of a sense of limits to keep me focused on what I am doing. I have a tendency to do too big too soon with projects but there is no way to do that with a challenge. Especially if it is limited to cards or to a square in a notebook. I am looking forward to figuring out this next step.

12) I want to create something that helps people as much as the index card a day challenge has helped me.

I want to find a way that makes it easy for people to create like this. It’s exciting and easy-going but yet, somehow it helped me move my drawing forward. Go team!