Melody Thinks She Can Pull This Off

Melody Reed in Columbus, Ohio, created for over a year inspired by 365: A Daily Creativity Journal... 

Why did you decide to do this project? In October 2016, I attempted the Creative Sprint challenge. It started more out of boredom than anything. A friend posted she was going to participate, and on a whim, I joined up. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I also tend to be fairly optimistic, so I figured I could keep up.

That led me to purchasing the book, 365 A Daily Creativity Journal and I decided I could totally keep up with it. I really liked taking the few minutes each day and making something.

Reading the introduction in the book led me to think of a way to organize my masterpieces. What can I stick with? I get bored fairly easily. (Oh look, a squirrel!) That's part of this challenge for me. Commit, stick with it. Commit, stick with it. "Lather, rinse, repeat and lather, rinse, repeat and lather, rinse, repeat. As needed." My gut instinct was to give myself a different subject or medium each week or month. That way I explore and try different ways of messing with it without feeling like I'm tied to it. 

I work in arts administration and I surround myself with creative people day in and day out. I'm energized by them. I do their admin, because I don't have their passion and, quite frankly, they suck at the mundane. In return, I key to feed off their excitement about their art. But in this small way, I feel like I was for once not just feeding off, but adding to the creativity all around me.

I also wanted to set a good example for my kids. They all like to color and draw and build with blocks. Every now and again, they'll get down on themselves. Especially at school, they'll see what someone else does and think theirs isn't good enough. I want to show them that it doesn't matter what you make or how well you do it, but that you made it, and it was yours. This project helped me do that.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? ​I think I knew going in that there would be days it just wouldn't happen. And I was right. I forgave myself when I missed or skipped a day here and there. Some days, I just couldn't find a way to tie in the prompt to my theme. Other days I just couldn't find the time to take that few minutes. Still others, I couldn't spare the brain power. But I decided I would keep track of all of them and swing back around later so that I still made 365 prompts.

I took October off completely. I started a new job and something had to give. The couple prompts I churned out weren't much to speak of. I was feeling kind of drained. When I came back in November, I was definitely recharged and I started enjoying it again.

​More than anything, making the concerted effort to spend a few minutes each day doing something just for me has been therapeutic. I like sharing the prompts and getting comments from my friends (whom I think I've surprised by my actually sticking to it).

To finish out the project, I've decided to return to my favorite medium. Writing haiku has always been a joke with my 4 closest friends, so it makes sense I'd enjoy it the most, but it's also where I feel a comfort. I like that there are strict rules to follow and you have to work to use just the right words. Hopefully I'll carry that need to use the right words into other aspects of my life too.

See all of Melody's 365 project HERE.