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Getting Your Feet Wet With the Mini-Challenge

by | Mar 3, 2011 | Books, Goals, Photography, Writing | 2 comments

I recently read The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin.  The book chronicles one woman’s attempt to increase her own happiness levels over a year.  She uses a variety of research and techniques, which are all documented very nicely on her blog, happiness-project.com.  Anyone interested in starting their own Happiness Project can use the tools she provides there.

I found the format of her project particularly intriguing, namely the dividing of her year into a series of what I call, mini-challenges.  You may be familiar with the mini-challenge.  If you have been reading my blog, you’ll know that I have engaged in one myself, writing a novel in a month (check out Nanowrimo).  This was one of Gretchen’s mini-challenges.  Some might call them resolutions.  Others goals.  But, mini-challenges are a bit different.  They are small (or sometimes large), manageable (and sometimes daunting), accomplishments that people dedicate themselves to doing.  They usually have a start and end date, and they usually involve some personal fulfillment or betterment.

In The Happiness Project, Rubin refers to her book as “stunt non-fiction.”  A term she borrowers from a reviewer of her book.  I like it.  Because I like stunt non-fiction.  Reading about how someone else had set themselves some fascinating goal, and then gone about accomplishing it.  A.J. Jacobs comes to mind immediately, as does Eat, Pray, Love.  Mini-challenges are a big part of stunt non-fiction.  Whether it be the man who tried a new job every month for a year, or the one who devoted his year to volunteering, it seems everyone wants to challenge themselves.

The blogosphere is littered with mini-challenges.  My own novel in a month is one.  So is my participation in a weekly photo contest (MCP Action).  Wordpress’s PostADay is one.  More and more people are attempting a daily photo as well.

I would like to applaud the mini-challenge.  It is fun.  Engaging.  And, I think, it works.

Here are a few of the writing mini-challenges that I have come across:

Post A Day: Self-explainatory WordPress Fun

Script Frenzy: Write a 100 page script in a month (April)

Story a Day: Write a story a day – in May

SmithMagazine’s Six-Word Memoir: Tell your story, in six words

Six Sentences: Write a story in six sentences

What’s your favourite mini-challenge? (Or maybe you hate mini-challenges.  Think they are the scourge of society.  I’d like to know about that, too).

I like the mini-challenge, and, as long as I’m enjoying them, I’ll keep trying new ones, as the spirit moves me.  Maybe you want to join me?

All That is Beautiful in Life: A Weekly Photo Challenge

by | Feb 19, 2011 | Goals, Photography | 5 comments

One of the most exciting things in my life right now is my new camera!  I finally joined the digital photography age, and got my first Digital SLR camera this Christmas.  I so missed  being able to take photos manually, with a camera that allowed me to set the aperture and other settings.  I now feel sorry for my son, Dylan, who only has mediocre photos of himself as a baby. Sylvie, if I can help it, should have some real stunners!

I have dabbled in photography for a long time.  My undergraduate degree is in film production and studies, and during that time I studied the elements of framing shots to tell a story and convey meaning. I took photography classes in university, and learned about developing in darkrooms (I process which I love).  But, when the digital age hit, I guess I was a step behind.  My point and shoot was not cutting it.  So, now I feel as though I have finally arrived (well, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but I do feel good).

And so, in honour of my new camera, I have made myself a promise to take photos everyday.  Partly, to see all that is beautiful in life, and partly for practice, practice, practice.  I have dreams of a little home studio, and am excited about reconnecting with the art of photography.  I started off wanting to take beautiful photos of my kids, but now that I am on a role who knows how far I might go?

Yesterday, while flitting around the web, I landed on a great site.  MCP Actions is a company that sells photoshop presets for your photos – to make them look really pretty.  They have a weekly photo challenge, and I thought, “Perfect!  A challenge I can handle.”  You submit one photo a week, and they even give you handy little themes to follow.

So I have a new banner on my blog and a new commitment.  I’ll be posting my weekly photo on my blog, so you can all see how truly lovely it is.

Carving a Creative Space Around the Kids’ Toys and Cat Puke

by | Feb 13, 2011 | Books, Creativity, Goals, Photography, Writing | 0 comments

A few weeks ago I started reading, The Creativity Book, by Eric Maisel.  It is a step-by-step weekly guide to bringing out your own creative potential, and helping you work on a specific creative goal throughout the year.  So far, I am really enjoying it, and I have already attempted to create a few habits based on its suggestions:

  • Make sure to carve out an hour each day for yourself, and your creative pursuits (usually at night after the kids are in bed).
  • Take a few moments every morning to drink a cup of tea, sit and think of/repeat a dream you’ve always wanted to accomplish  (Currently: “I have always wanted to write”)
  • Make space in your home & your bookshelf for your creative projects

Okay, and it’s the last one that has been the most challenging.  I never have trouble with the bookshelf, as it is always littered with way too many books that I am trying to read simultaneously.  All of which, in some way, are influencing my journey towards my dreams.  But the workspace is another story.  I am supposed to find a space in which I want to sit and, well, muse.

So, looking around my house I found a tiny corner of the couch.  It’s covered in cat hair and littered with toys most of the time, but it’s there.  And, if I’m careful, some mornings I even avoid the cat puke on my way there.  It isn’t much, but there is a nice lamp beside me, and there is space for my notebook on the coffee table.  I am starting to find it enjoyable, because of the reading and thinking that goes on there.  I wouldn’t say it is sacred, but it will do for now.

I have dreams of converting our garage of horrors into a useable space, and then a photography studio.  A personal goal for another post.  And when I do, because I am now bound to accomplish the things I write about here, or be shamed by my readers (see how that motivates me!), I will take some nifty before and after photos and post them, too.  Yes, I just used the word nifty.  Sorry about that.

So, for anyone reading this who has a creative space they love (or some tips for creating an impromptu studio in a garage!), I’d love to hear about it.

And anyone following my 30-day novel challenge: 4500 words and counting.  I added a cool 2000 words today, but got stuck on a yellow sticky note.  What will it say?!