2024W52: Challenges That Were Unmitigated Successes
And here were the two challenges this year that did what they were supposed to do, in their entirety:
From July 1-Dec 31 (well, as of this writing but I will make it through to Dec 31!): Hobonichi daily pencil lettering. I bought a Hobonichi planner in small size A6, with one page per day, and every single morning for 6 months I hand lettered a small piece in pencil. So many good things came of this! I had to wake up and think creatively and problem solve from moment one. This journal contains a small chronicle of each day for six months of my life. And at the end of this year, I will have some 182 pencil drafts that I can use to inspire future work!
As good as this experiment was, I also see a few drawbacks: I felt such urgency to do this piece that I didn’t often thumbnail, so there was a significant step of my normal process that was often sidestepped. Since every drawing was in pencil, it gave me no additional color experience. And I didn’t finish many more pieces this year than I did last year, despite having ~182 pencil drafts.
November Nonfiction Writing Challenge: I wrote a manuscript!
I’d had ideas for something to write since 2016 (my earliest notes were dated Dec 2016!) but assumed it was going to be a workshop. But no, it was a book. Technically, I co-hosted this writing challenge with three colleagues and that itself was an experience! But the whole idea was to help support each other on a journey to writing the book we all say we have in us and somehow don’t get around to writing.
The good: I wrote just over 30,000 words in November. The experience of writing 1,000 words a day shows me I can do that most days and gives me a benchmark to calibrate from in coming years. I realize now that this book may be the thing that opens doors in new (to me) industries. I’m super excited.
The challenging: I need to figure out what to do with this manuscript now. And quick.
Looks like I get one more bonus blog post, as Monday 12/30 starts the very last week of 2024. Stay tuned!