I love August!  I have loved August since the first year I went to school (in the Chicago suburbs where I grew up, school starts in August rather than September).  There's always been so much promise in the start of a new year for me, kind of like in January, but for me I feel that new year vibe even stronger in the Fall.  I love new classes and subjects and schedules, all bursting with good new things to learn and try and practice.
I think my love of that back-to-school wave must have been seeping in even though I didn't realize it, because this week I signed up for three creative challenges for August--one for writing, one for journaling, one for photography. Â I should find plenty of new things to try with these!
Writing: I'm signed up for DIY MFA's Conquer the Craft challenge, which is actually a 29-day challenge. Â I'm going to use it in conjunction with a group I signed up for called My 500 Words that focuses on--I bet you know this one--writing 500 words a day. Â After August I plan to do it only one weekdays/work days, but for August I'll use if for the 29 days of Conquer the Craft. Â This might even fit in with my #Just10Minutes practice, at least on some days. Â If I'm on a roll, I can write 500 words in 10 minutes, so I might try to push for it a few times just as an extra challenge.
Journaling: I'm also jumping back in on Lisa Sonora Beam's ROOT 30 Day Journal Project. Â I sort of participated in January, but I was still heavily in a Lull phase and didn't get all the way through.
Photography: And finally I'm doing the Life in Black and White challenge. Thirty-one days of black-and-white photography. Â Since getting a digital camera, and then an iPod Touch, I never shoot b & w anymore, and I used to love doing that with a film camera. Â I'm looking forward to focusing on some photography plus getting back to black-and-white. Â I even got two new apps for my Pod (Noir Pro and Hueless) to try out for the challenge.
So what about you? Â Do you get the same kind of vibe I do when it's back-to-school time? Â Any plans to start something new this August? Tell me all about your plans--I'd love to hear them!
Wow what a wonderfully Creative Life you live 🙂 I didn't know you were originally from Chicago! I'm in the western suburbs 🙂 Looking forward to seeing/reading about all the goodness that is coming out of the classes you are taking!
I do so love Chicago! Well, you are so inspiring with all the creative ventures, you're involved in! I'm so looking forward to seeing the fruits of your artistic labor. 🙂
Thank you, Jill! I'm having a lot of fun already, and I'm making a point of doing all of it in those little increments I love so much which is making it very fun and easy. I love filling my little nooks and crannies of life with creative things! 🙂
I love Chicago, too, Indigene, although I don't really miss the winters. 🙂
I will have to gather a few of my favorites of the photos and put them up here. I've been sharing them on Twitter and on a Tumblr I opened to follow a few people but never used. Thanks for the reminder!
I really get what you are saying! The school year starts in September here and even through I have been out of school for 25 years it still seems like a new beginning to me every year. Maybe even more so than New Years.
Thanks for sharing this!
Feeling down and not making any plans at all 🙁
Besides, our kids go back to school only in September 🙂
So sorry you're feeling down, Rita. Sometimes it's good to take time off from making plans, pushing ourselves, striving. Give yourself a big hug and whatever kind of break you need to help you regroup. Take care!
I love that you talked about doing challenges. I used to do them a lot more, but have been hesitant lately since I so often have flaked out before completing them. I also just challenged myself to do a painting a day for 100 days. (Yikes!) In addition I signed up for Lisa Sonora Beam's Root journaling challenge. Here's hoping we both complete them!
I saw your post about your 100 paintings, Arlene. It's so exciting! I'm looking forward to following your journey.
The thing about challenges is that it's awesome to complete them, but even if we don't we've done some writing/painting/whatever-ing that we might not have without jumping in on the challenge. But yes, here's to completing our challenges! I'll see you in September to celebrate. 🙂
Deanna, I feel the same way about back-to-school time. It still feels more like the beginning of a new year to me than January 1 does. I love the energy of it! (Okay, I also love all the new school supplies, I admit it!)