Every Day

May 6th of 2015 found me filling the last two pages of a journal I had been nursing my way through for 10 months. I cannot tell you what exactly catalyzed my rage that day, but the last page ends with this paragraph:

"The lack of failure has made you feel good about yourself

 when you should realize it means you haven't been trying."

I continued my entry on into a new journal, and I have written every day since.

I write... a lot.

I didn't know at the time I was going to write every day. My initial goal was to just try to fill a notebook about once a month like I used to, just to try to get myself writing again. After that notebook was full, I started another one and somehow I just kept coming back to my notebook every day until it became clear that writing daily was just part of my life again.

Most days I write in my journal, if I am working on a bigger project I type on my laptop, occasionally, I pull out my typewriter. I write about my day, I write about the weather, I write about food and conversations I overhear and lizards I see basking. I write poems and rants and novels and scenes that have no defined characters or context. I write lists of words, I write haikus and excuses, I follow prompts and record my weird dreams. Over the last two years my notebooks evolved from plain black pen to illustrations and shit glued in and millions of obnoxious colors, but the important thing, the only thing I care about, is that every day, I write.

Some of my writing I share with the world (like my blog posts), some of the writing I hope to share with the world eventually (like my novels), but the vast majority of the writing is just for me. I write to get all the ideas out of my skull so I have room to think of new ideas. I write to record the things I want to remember. I write to get better at writing. I write because I like how my handwriting looks on the page.

I write because I am drunk and have "too much chapstick my face".

Now, I have failed at many daily projects before. Of the three times I have tried to "make something every day" I got 170, 45 and 30 days consecutive successfully before everything went to shit. I have tried smaller projects where I only managed to get a week into it before failing. Doing things every day kinda sucks, so I wanted to share how, exactly, I managed to actually pull it off this time with a few tips.


How to do start doing something every day
if you're me
which you probably aren't
I'm no expert, but this is how I do things

Define "Rules" Clearly 
(but leave wiggle room)

Before you get going on your project, figure out what counts towards your goal. If you are aiming to make art every day, what counts as art? stick figures? finger prints? shadows?
Is your goal based off of showing up? spending a certain amount of time on your project each day? producing a certain amount of work?
Leave yourself some wiggle room, but do not be too broad or aimless.

"Making something" every day failed for me because every day I had to struggle to decide if breakfast counted- with no set boundaries for my goal, it did not really mean anything. At the same time, do not set such lofty goals that you are doomed to fail. You probably won't make an 8x10 oil painting every day, you likely won't fill a new journal every week. Do not set yourself up for failure.

Consider What "Every Day" Actually Means
(the toothbrush rule)      

If you asked me what I did every day, writing, eating, and, brushing my teeth would be the first things to pop into my head. Admittedly, in the last two years there have been days I missed doing all of those things. Days I was too sick to eat. Days my jaw was too swollen from oral surgery to open my mouth and brush my teeth. Likewise, there were days I did not write. But that doesn't mean I do not eat, brush my teeth and write every day.

Make Time, or Don't
(take advice with a grain of salt)

Some people swear by writing/making art/ whatever at the same time, same spot every day. They carve out a chunk of time and it is just their routine like someone might eat breakfast at the same time every day. This has never worked for me, so I do not do it. If you are the type of person who thrives on structure, do it. If you're the type of person, like me, who gets discouraged if you miss a scheduled time to the point of not doing at all- don't!

Same with every other bit of advice people give about starting and maintaining daily projects, if it works for you, you aren't doing it wrong. If it doesn't work for you, do it differently.

Spice Things Up
(doing things daily is tedious)

Join challenges, challenge yourself. Try new things, set little sub goals, find accountability buddies who are working on similar projects.

Share prompts and inspiration with other people, go outside your comfort zone. A million ways of me saying- do not let yourself fall in a horrible little rut because it can make something you love a horrible chore.

One of my favorite writing spices is doing informal events with other writer friends. We agree on a goal or theme (poetry, sex scenes, dialogue) and at the end of the week report back with how we did.

Keep Inspiration for Later

You will not always be inspired. Even if you keep showing up to your workplace, you make your creative routine, some days you will draw a blank. So when you are overflowing with inspiration, leave yourself notes for later.

Compile the things that resonate with you, make playlists of those songs that sound just right, set aside ideas for later, collect images and anything else that makes you feel something. I keep a little writing cubby for this purpose with books, trinkets and mascots that I keep coming back to when I need a push.

Some times when I have too much inspiration I set up notebooks for future use, I go through and add the quotes and images and prompts that inspire me.


Share
(but not too much)

Support and accountability is great. Especially with art or visual daily projects. It can seem like a great idea to commit to posting your daily drawing or whatever online until you hit that day where ding dang damn this painting looks like shit and I don't have time to do another. or ding dang damn I just am drawing a blank no matter how much I work on this thing. Don't put extra pressure on yourself to produce something shareable every day. Just putting the effort in is enough, share when you are happy with what you created and let the rest fester on a dark shelf knowing you still tried.

Know When to Stop

I was going to say, go as long as it makes you happy, but if I believed that I would have quit writing on day two. If you find yourself not getting anything out of your daily habit, consider changing it so it works for you. Some days it might feel like a chore, but if it consistently is something you loathe doing, stop!