Diana's Writing Challenge

Diana Joiner who is "floating between Baltimore, MD and Ocean City, MD" is creating a Writing Challenge inspired by my book. 

 

She explains, "A friend of mine sent me your book all the way from Vienna to remind me to continue working on my craft. I was amazed by the different projects and artwork that resulted from your 365 challenge, but I’m no artist. I’m actually god awful at art; I’m way better with words. So, instead, I decided to start a fictional story and build on it with each challenge, incorporating the task into the next plot development. Some tasks I use in a different context to flow with the story, but I’ve loved seeing what I’ve come up with so far. I’ve got a historical cult-conspiracy on my hands; who knew that would happen?!"

 

Why did you decide to do this project? I decided to do this project to challenge my creativity and myself through writing. I’m going through that awkward, mid-twenties where-is-my-place-in-this-world phase in my life and needed something to “lose” myself in that was a fun, but applicable, release from all the stress. Plus, it was time for me to write a new badass story. I was overdue for that.

 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It’s given me a whole new sense of confidence and imagination. I’m taking my writing to the next level, staying open-minded, flexible, and inventive in what I come up with. The fact that I’m also posting my story little by little on my website for people to see my progress has been scary, but also encouraging. I wasn’t expecting people to be so invested and curious to know what happens next, so their engagement has been my virtual cheerleader urging me to keep going. Plus, it's holding me seriously accountable, which is like an additional challenge in itself.

 

Follow Diana's story HERE. 

Daily Story Seeds

Scott Walker in Los Angeles, CA is creating Daily Story Seeds. He explains, "DSS is a free daily email containing a story seed: an idea for, or the beginning of, a potential story. Daily Story Seeds usually include an element of the fantastic, even though they’re often inspired by factual posts/podcasts I’ve come across."

Image by Conor Mayling

Why did you decide to do this project?

It was a gradual, and almost unintentional, decision.

I often come across articles in Feedly that spark ideas for stories. In late February, I read a post about a Buddha statue that was found to have a mummy inside it, and I thought it would be so easy to grow a story out of this little seed. So I shared the idea over Twitter:

"Today's #storyidea 'Scan Reveals This Buddha Statue Has A Mummy Inside' http://bit.ly/1EhuNgl"

By the next day, I had decided I would tweet a story idea each day, changed the hashtag to #storyseed, and posted this:

 

“Today's #storyseed: 'The Grand Godzilla Hotel.' Godzilla is the new bellboy at a distinguished hotel. http://bit.ly/1AGvtJx“

A few days later, I realized these daily tweets were getting lost in the the Twitter stream, and I was also hitting the 140-character Twitter limit. So I talked to a few folks who had responded to my daily tweets and asked them if they would sign up to receive them via email. They said yes, so I set up a Mailchimp list, worked up a serviceable logo, and officially launched Daily Story Seeds.

I would say this started as an idea I had to share publicly and formally (i.e., a Daily Story Seed) something I was already experiencing privately and informally (i.e., I would have inspirations for stories each morning while going through my RSS feed).

While it took me a week or so to figure out exactly what Daily Story Seeds should be, the decision to turn it into a 365 project happened almost instantly, and the reason was simple: I have long been searching for a 365 project that was (a) manageable, (b) fun, and (c) potentially interesting to other people. I feel like I stumbled into just that with Daily Story Seeds.

 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? (feel free to include some specific examples of new/unusual things you've experienced)

It’s still relatively early days (the official launch was March 4th), but I love the fact that I feel obligated to stick with this project. And sticking with this project has already helped me find new confidence as a creative. And *that* has given me a ton of inspirational energy to tackle additional ideas I’ve long wanted to complete (one of them is another daily project!).

Get Scott's Daily Story Seeds in your inbox by signing up HERE!

Today's Artist

Estelle Ballot in Paris, France is writing every weekday on her site Today's Artist, an artist to (re)discover each day. She explains, "Today's Artist aims at presenting a contemporary artist each day with a short post and artworks pictures. The idea is to get to know a bit more about art, while providing a bit of inspiration for my readers to happily start their day."

Why did you decide to do this project? I'm the happy and proud Mum of a 4 months old beautiful angel. I took a year off work to spend as much time as I can with her. But as much as I love playing with her and seeing her growing up, I needed some more adult minded project to get me going. And then I realized that, like a lot of people, I love art but I don't know much about it. Writing a blog about art seemed to be a great way to get to know more and to share it with whoever would be interested.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It's quite funny how such a project can take an important part of your life. Of course, my baby girl is my very top priority, but anytime she has a nap, I rush to my computer to get some infos about the next artist to be featured. I usually write and edit posts at night, when she is asleep. This means that each going out night needs to be planned, so that I can prepare a post it in advance. Basically, Today's Artist is getting me very organized...
A surprising thing that I didn't foresee, is that writing about artists is actually giving me the opportunity to meet and/or exchange with gallerists and artists, like Noah. This is very rewarding and it definitely gives me the motivation to keep writing on those nights when I'm tired and really want to go to bed.

See all of Estelle's artists HERE.

Page-A-Day

Trekessa Austin in Queensland Australia is creating a Page-a-day. She explains, "I have a 365 page book to write something in every day of the year. I am basically doing whatever comes to my head at the time. Mostly I write thoughts I came up with during the day or were relevant to my situation. I also draw, paint, and use other mediums."

Why did you decide to do this project? I think it was a spur of the moment idea I got when I found a 365 page book in a store.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I've become way more creative so far and also more aware about my feelings. Unexpectedly, I have learnt to recognize when I'm about to take an emotional fall and what things trigger it, all through expressing my emotions at the end of every day. It's been a heap of fun as well :)

See all of Trekessa's pages HERE.

365 actions to succeed as an author

Amy Morse, author of The Bronze Box (as Amy C Fitzjohn), in Bristol, UK recently completed her Book365 project and is now spending a year on: Operation Author: 365 actions to succeed as an author...

 

Why did you decide to do this project AND How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?   When I finished Project Book365 at the end of last year, far from being relieved, I was already thinking about the next project from about day 350.

I mind mapped a few ideas and played around with the pro's and con's and eventually settled on:  'Operation Author: 365 actions to succeed as an author'.

On Day 180 of my first 365 project, I achieved a personal goal and ticked something off my Bucket List - I published my first novel.

As any author will tell you, whether you self publish or traditionally publish your book, that's just the beginning.  Writers are expected to handle their own marketing and promotion for their work (unless they're amazingly lucky, can afford to hire a publicist or they are a celebrity).

It's not something that comes easily to many of us.

The key is to make it a habit, part of your daily routine - like brushing your teeth or feeding the cat - take one action every day, even a small one, and eventually you'll be 365% closer to your dream of establishing yourself as a writer - Percentages never were my strong suit, but you get the picture!

I update my Idea-ism blogsite weekly with my seven actions.

Part of taking on a project like this is that you need to share it with others, if you don’t, there is no accountability, except to yourself, and that’s not enough to stay motivated.

By the end of the year, I would like to have raised my profile as a writer and start making some money from writing.  I also hope that my tips, successes and failures can help other writers to overcome their fear of marketing with some simple, practical things to try for themselves.  We're in it together, writers of the world, so let's help each other out.

Follow Amy's new project HERE.
Read her preview 365 interview HERE.

Coffee Cups and Grocery Bags

Sophie Therrell of Eugene, OR is creating daily in Blog with Daily Watercolor: Coffee Cups and Grocery Bags. She explains, "Everyday I make a 3x5 water color painting and write a short essay about whatever I'm thinking about. And I report how many people emailed me that day to say they used a reusable coffee cup to buy coffee.  For every reusable cup used, I donate $1 to our local recylcing company.  So far, we're up to $12, I think."

Why did you decide to do this project:  I bought your book! And after about a three months it hit me that a daily watercolor would be doable and fun.  I am NOT a trained painter by any means, but felt that exploring painting would be a challenge and probably fun.  Also, I'm sad about how many coffee cups get thrown away every day, so I thought this might be a fun way to get people to switch to reusable cups.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Its been 19 days so far, so I'm not sure any major changes have taken place.  But I am for sure LOVING every minute of time I spend on this, and it has given me a feeling of energy and accomplishment. Also, having to write something every day is helping me somehow to feel more balanced during the day.  I am hoping to get more readers and more people to quit the disposable cups!!!

See all of Sophie's daily posts HERE.

Four Each Day

Scott Lee Williams in Brooklyn is doing a project called Four Each Day. He explains, "Four Each Day is a blog in which I write four sentences each day, about something that happened that day (within the previous 24 hours). After some false starts over the years (I've been doing it on and off since 2007) I am well on my way this year to actually accomplishing my goal of 365 days of posting."...

Why did I decide to do this project? It started initially as a response to James Kolchalka's "American Elf" comic. I was frustrated by the fact that I love the webcomic format, but had very neither drawing skills, nor much inclination to learn.

Since I'm relatively fluent in the English language, I (rather stupidly in retrospect) decided to write a blog post as if each sentence was a panel in a comic, as if the two formats could somehow transpose in some meaningful fashion. Of course, what ended up happening had very little resemblance to a comic, web or otherwise, but I liked the restriction, and decided to keep it.


How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected my life? The format itself had an interesting effect on my writing style, in that I've had to learn how to construct sentences with both greater economy and greater density of information. If I only have four sentences in which to communicate the details essential to whatever story I'm trying to tell, I'd better be able to pack exactly what I need into what little space I have. This leads in two directions:  simplicity, and byzantine elaboration. I've become conversant in subordinate clauses, abstruse punctuation rules, and in using the precise word in the exact spot. This has made my longer form writing more interesting to read, and more crafted.

The effect of doing something every day, on the other hand, has been of a different sort. The blog is a way of transforming my life.

A quote I read recently pretty much captures it: "Stories happen to those who tell them." If I'm paying attention to my life in order to have a story to tell everyday, I begin to pay more attention to my life in general. As I pay attention, my life becomes more interesting, more fun, and wiser. As I write out the stories of my life, more stories come to me, in an increasingly positive feedback loop. I also come to recognize how much the story that is my life is constructed, how much I create it in the telling. From this, I'm learning to tell stories more to my liking, and thus to create a better life.


Read all of Scott's sentences HERE.

ZOELAB 365

Zoë Edmonds in Elias Calles, Baja California Sur, Mexico is creating ZOELAB 365. She explains, that it's, "365 days of words and image (with additional music and video on occasion) every day for one year. A spontaneously unfolding autobiography about my past, present and future as I build a creative life with my husband and son off the grid in Baja, Mexico. The goal is to live life as art, and keep up my creative flow as well as balance, and inspire others to give up a little practicality in order to live an enchanted life."

Why did you decide to do this project? In September I was inspired by reading The Happiness Project and decided that I wanted to create my own improvised Happiness Project in blog form. The key features of my happiness project are: creativity, productivity and honesty. After moving to Mexico and becoming a Mom, I really missed my inner creative world as well as being connected to other people--and thought that this blog would increase my connection to a creative community. I wanted to chronicle and share the amazing and unusual life that we are living--which truly leaves me feeling grateful everyday. I have discovered that the keys to my happiness are: creativity, community, balance, compassion and honesty. I am using myself as a guinea pig and learning tool in these pursuits--to see how I can apply my lessons learned to my work as a creativity teacher and coach. (www.arforlifebaja.com)

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This project has gotten me in touch with my creative dreams and my true self, which has sped up my path of spiritual, artistic and vocational development. My site creates a space of integration for dual aspects of self as well as my varied interests--and the result is I am developing deep compassion for the complexities of being human. I am learning more about how to be a communicator and have reconnected with my life long desire to use the arts to communicate on a large scale. I have been experiencing intense feelings of passion, creative flow, inspiration, intellectual curiosity and desire to connect with people in honest, yet aesthetic ways. I am also getting back in touch with the importance of feminism and empowerment--to support, not only women, especially women who want to be communicators and leaders, but also to support the feminine principle--receptivity, intuition, emotion, wholeness, right brain attributes--in a culture that overvalues the linear logic of the left brain. The most surprising thing that I have experienced is that this drive and passion has helped me to overcome the fear and shyness of putting my work and beliefs out in the world. I find myself willing to connect with people in the public eye with no fear of judgment or rejection. This challenge has made me far more capable and productive than I previously imagined I could be.


See all of Zoë's projects HERE.

Running and Blogging

Jane Burk in Plano, Texas is spending a year Running and Blogging. She explains, "I am writing a 500+ word blog about running. I am a morning runner.  After each run, I would write something.  It could be about the run itself, the route I took, the things I saw, or the people I ran with."...

Why did you decide to do this project? Here is the entry in 2010 that started the blogging series.

"During one of the freezing cold morning runs in early January, Michael and I struggled uphill in his neighbood near the University of Richmond.  Luckily the darkness hid the steep ascends from our very naked eye.  Only the heart pounding and puffed breathing revealed to us that we were conquering a hill.  At the top of the hill while catching a breath, I asked Michael if he wanted to renew our vow to run 2010 kilometers in 2010.  "Yeah," an excited Michael repsonded, "It is totally doable."

That day I plugged in the number into a KM to mile conversion.  2010 km is 1249 miles -- a bit more than 100 miles a month, about 26 miles a week.  This is really achievable.  During the fall marathon training, I easily rack up a 40 to 50 miles a week.

The next day I bought a Ultimate Work Log on sale, and started to record my January miles I have conquered."

I was about 50 miles shy of achieving the goal in 2010.  That year I traveled four times to China to be with my ailing mother.  The same year I lost my mother to cancer.  I wrote a few pieces about my mother, especially the gifts she imparted to me during her last day in the world.  It was through running I found calm in life.  It was through blogging I found balance in emotion.


How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I kept blogging for the entire 2010 (after each run), but stopped in 2011.  Fast forward to 2012 I resumed blogging.  After my morning run and before a day is over, I'd write a 500-word piece describing my running experience.

Just like running, blogging had good days and bad days.  On a good day my eye would observe the tiny changes, and my blog would capture them in details -- the change in the air, gossips on the run, or strange facial movement. I also read more attentively to authors I like.  My blogging would imitate a clean and brief writing styles of my favorite writers, yet I want to project an image in the readers' head when simple and concise verbs are used. 

English is not my first language.  Writing with a recognizable personal style is harder to accomplish. The 3 to 4 times a week of writing help me to improve incrementally.  Now looking back, I can proudly say how far I have gone.


Read Jane's tales of running HERE.

365 words a day for 365 days

Sarah Harris in Southern California is writing 365 words a day for 365 days . She explains that it's about "Sharing my experiences from any point of my life (and life around me), but with mid-life job (since I'm presently unemployed) and life transitions, being a single parent, trying to redefine myself to hopefully bring along folks who want to have a friend to go through their own stuff with, or just help have a positive impact on life in general and make people feel better in the moment."

Why did you decide to do this project? When I ask myself the question: What would you do if you knew you could not fail? the answer is always "Write" but I was too intimidated to work on a large novel, or submit things to magazines or e-zines, even just web content jobs without more of a portfolio.  This gives me the discipline to write daily, in small daily amount so it's not too big a bite to take, plus share my experience with others.  I envision it as a daily cup of joe with friends!


How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? So far, 28 days, it's been an immediate shift.  I look forward to it every day, I enjoy thinking about my topic - and photos - every day, writing it every night. I have also immensely enjoyed the steps to try to drive traffic to one's blog and am working on different things and learning a TON about social media so as a bonus, I'm receiving a new great skill set to make me more employable!
 
Read all of Sarah's words HERE. 

That Which Excites Me

Sarah Eddenden in Whitby, Ontario, Canada is spending a year creating That Which Excites Me...

Why did I decide to do this project? I write and enjoy writing yet I have always had a secret desire to draw.  But I always stopped myself before I started because I thought I would be really horrible at it.
I started to draw despite that about 2 years ago.  I know that I need to draw more.  I also should write more.  When I found your book and your creative project that needed a new idea every day, I thought:  Crazy. I took some time to decide exactly what I could be inspired by every day for 365 days.   I like writing about normal life stuff and so I decided: what would get me excited (mad, happy, laughing, crying, some kind of emotional involvement necessary)?

How has my yearlong daily project affected my life? Life is small moments,  simple pleasures, seconds of WHAT, moments, snowflakes, smiles gone like that.  I remember better.   I aim to appreciate more.

See all of the things that Sarah's found exciting HERE.

Slugline

Donna Mae Foronda in Santa Clara, California is writing a one paged script every day for 366 days, she calls the project Slugline...

Why did you decide to do this project? After inspired by Ira Glass' quote on creatives, I knew I had to "do a huge volume of work" to ever be a strong writer. I also had so many story ideas in my head, but no time or energy to fully complete them. They existed only as moments, but I felt like those moments, at the very least, needed to be shared.

How has doing the project affected your life? Surprisingly, the biggest way this project has affected my life is through the feedback from friends, family, and even strangers. I've always lacked so much confidence with my writing and kept it under wraps so I'm grateful for this project to help expose my voice.

Read all of Donna's scripts HERE.

The Dabbling Mum Speaks

Alyice Edrich in South Dakota is making daily posts to DM Speaks (short for The Dabbling Mum Speaks) where she shares "off the cuff" movie, book, and product reviews and more...

Why did you decide to do this project? The simple answer: I needed to jumpstart my creativity. I needed to find my passion for writing again.

The long answer: A few years ago I lost my mother...her death, accompanied with the dramatic drop in my business due to our economic situation here in the U.S., and a nasty bout of seasonal depression since moving to South Dakota, sent me in a downward spiral. Though I was functional, and upbeat around family. When they were away at work or school, I simply had no desire to do the things I loved, the things that used to drive me. Over time, I simply did "just enough" to get by.

Then last March (2011), I realized that if I wanted to get my passion for writing back, I needed to be inspired.

It wasn't enough to simply post a few reviews on a blog, or join in group discussions in forums, or even write queries for possible paid writing gigs. I needed to feel the passion others felt for their writing.

And I figured that if I needed that, there were probably other writers who did too. After all, so many have shared with me that they were in the same boat when it came to their writing... losing their passion because they have to work so much harder just to make ends meet or to land a decent paying gig as a writer.

That got me to thinking, "Why don't I pay it forward by allowing others to showcase their talents and their books?"

One of the prerequisites for getting published on my blog is that the author has to be willing to take their eyes off themselves, for just a moment, and answer questions that essentially "pay it forward"...answering questions that may help a seasoned writer get out of a rut or help a beginning writer find their way. Then, and only then, can they talk about their latest book.

At first, I had planned on doing one featured interview a week, but the response was so fantastic that I had enough material for 3 features a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.


How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I have been doing this project since March of 2011, so nearly 2 months now. But it feels like so much longer since I currently have 3 months of posts scheduled to go live on the blog, with at least 3 months worth to go. And I cannot tell you how AMAZING it's been.

First, to be able to help a deserving writer spread the word about their book and their talent as a writer is a wonderful feeling. I forgot how great it can feel to do help an author spread the word about their books. And truth-be-told, there's no way I would've been able to offer that many unbiased reviews. So being able to pay it forward through these interviews has been great.

Second, the interviewees have loved the whole "paying it forward" idea and it's been so inspirational reading about the different ways they handle certain situations; especially how they deal with writer's block.

Third, the readers can't get enough! Though the blog doesn't get a lot of comments, I, myself, and the interviewees, themselves, have received personal emails thanking us for the letting them know about the books, and for sharing so many personal stories.

All that aside, it's also done wonders for me on a personal level. I can feel my writer's soul coming back to life and I know that soon, my passion for writing will be rekindled.

See what the Dabbling Mum is saying today HERE.

Become More Me

Carol Sessums, who lives "near" Jackson, Mississippi is posting every day to her blog Become More Me. She explains that her blog is about, "daily strategies for self-improvement and personal development, such as self-improvement book studies, as well as anything else I can use to better my life and help others to better theirs."...

Why did you decide to do this project?   I needed to make more time for reading.  So, I did.  I got up a bit earlier than normal.  I started to read the intro to The Purpose Driven Life and had an epiphany!  I need to share this!  What an inspiration!  How can I do this?  Get a book club together – Nah!  No time for all that.  I need to do something that will bring people together, get people to read, get me to read, get people motivated to change their life, get me motivated to change my life, and do all this while not taking any quality time away from my daughter and our daily routines.  A blog!

So, then I decided this would be the first book, and then I thought of others that inspired me, jotted those down, and decided to make it a part of my daily routine.  Get up, get coffee, sit down, read the chapter, journal about it, blog about it and how I can relate.  Perhaps others can relate.  We are all different and interpret what we read differently and figured this would be a good way to share with each other.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?  I’m only 73 days in, but it’s made a tremendous impact on my life, thus far.  I see so many ways I can better my life and I want to be the best I can be, not just for myself, but also for my wonderful daughter, mom, family, as well as anyone I come in contact with.  I want to help others do the same – to be their best.

Since beginning, I’ve also started a weight-loss self-challenge, posting pictures of myself before, during and after, keeping up with numbers (weight, size, calories consumed daily, length of workouts, etc.), hoping to shrug off 52 pounds in 17 weeks (March 13-July 10) and actually be ok with wearing a swimsuit this summer.  I’m going to do it, too!  Who’s with me?

Read more from Carol HERE.

Lucretia's Letters

Maaike Klarenbeek & Jo Tunderman aka Lucretia LaLune in Dordrecht, The Netherlands are working together on a project they call Lucretia's Letters (in Dutch, English version is HERE). They explain, "In Lucretia’s letters we follow the life of socially somewhat awkward Lucretia LaLune in words and pictures. Lucretia’s thoughts and behavior are recognizable in a funny, sometimes little embarrassing way, but also shows us that our personal idiosyncrasies are not that awful… Maaike writes Lucretia's love letters to Amadeu, who is the man Lucretia sees on metro rides and is in love with. Jo's illustrations complement the letters and bring them to life."
 

Why did you decide to do this project?  We both wanted to challenge our creativity in a 365 project. First we thought of doing our own projects separately, but it seemed so much more fun and inspiring to combine our strengths in this project. We wanted to create something (or someone) that is recognizable to a lot of people, but at the same time is such a caricature, that most people feel relieved that they're not THAT bad. Lucretia puts thoughts that every person might have, into word. It's fun to be able to say anything you want and hide behind an alter ego. ;-)

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? For now is hasn't really effected our lives yet. It might though. It's going to be a real challenge to commit to this every day, while jobs, social life and other activities also require a lot of time and energy... :-)

Follow Lucretia's correspondence HERE in Dutch and HERE in English.

Dear Anne

Hyesu Lee in Brooklyn, NY is spending a year writing illustrated letters to a friend every day in a project called Dear Anne...

Why did you decide to do this project?  Hello I am Hyesu Lee, you can call me Hey! Hyesu. I am from Korea and studying Illustration at School of Visual Arts, since I am an International student, I have found everybody and everything in NY fascinating. So a lot of times I just wanted to talk about these things casually to my friend. So I started this project.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? it has affected me in so many different ways. But what I appreciate most is that now I more care about things that I didn't care as much as before, for example banal conversations I would make with people, things I see everyday, people I run into on a subway, etc.

See all of Hyesu's letters to Anne HERE.

The Daily Cootie Catcher

My friend Michelle Taute in Cincinnati, Ohio is spending a year creating The Daily Cootie Catcher. 

She says these old school paper fortune tellers, "are [mostly] for adults and they cover all kinds of topics (Valentine’s Fortunes for the Chronically Single, Will You Reproduce?, Tattoos and You). Each one is available as a free PDF that you can download, fold up and start having fun with right away."...

Why did you decide to do this project? First, I’m a big fan of Skull-A-Day and your book! They both made me want to do a daily project. Once I started thinking about ideas, I remembered how much fun I had with cootie catchers—those little paper fortune tellers—in grade school. So, I thought, why can’t adults still have fun with those? One of my designer friends made me a template, and I started writing fortunes on a different theme each day.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I’m a busy freelance writer, so my personal projects often get pushed to the side by client work. This forces me to do a little of my own work each day. It’s also helped me be less of a perfectionist. I can’t think about the copy too long if I’m actually going to make a fortune teller every day. Also, it loosens me up because I know I’m going to make 365 of them. If I don’t get it right today, I’ve got another shot tomorrow. And the next day, and …

Download all of Michelle's cootie catchers on her blog HERE.

Creative Fusion of Tarot and Verse

Kelly St. Claire here in Richmond, Virginia is doing 365 Days of Tarot and Verse. Which she says is, "A dynamic marriage of Tarot and verse. Every day, for 365 days, I will choose a card, or a card will choose me, and I will use the image in a photograph. I will then create a short Haiku or verse to match both the card, and to offer a snapshot of my life that day as expressed through the lens of my camera, and the Tarot."...

Why did you decide to do this project?  I love writing, and I love the Tarot.   The reason I decided to do a 365 project was that I saw it offered me the opportunity to merge two of the things I am passionate about, to create something new and dynamic



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has just begun, but so far, it has stocked my creative pond with a seemingly endless supply of fish!  I can see that by doing even a little bit each day, it keeps the vein tapped, so I am more available for my other projects.   I also want to mention that this whole act of joining others who are all a part of the same project/movement builds community, the kind I want to be a part of. One that is brimming with people who are supportive of and celebrate each other rather than competing against each other.

See how Kelly's year has fused HERE.

Jon Grinder's Bicycle Stories

Jon Grinder of Denver, Colorado (whose Pix X 366 was featured here previously), has started a new 365 project in which he's telling a bicycle related story every day!...

Why did you decide to do this project? I wanted to do another 365 project, because I felt my last one had led to some personal growth.  As I also wanted to work on my writing skills, this seemed like a good way to work on both skills and growth.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I am only in the second day of this particular project, as I write this.  But, I am very excited by the prospect of weaving these tales, on a daily basis.  And, I am curious to see if I have 365 discreet tales floating around in my vast cranium!


Read all of Jon Grinder's Bicycle Stories on his site HERE.

Beingwoman

My friend Bridget Gethins here in Richmond, Virginia started her Beingwoman blog back in 2006, but it was just this past December that she decided to make it into a daily project in which she answers the question "What did women do in the olden days and how come we don't know about it?"...

Why did you decide to do this project?  I ran a poll – completely unscientific – in conversation I have been asking the question for the last 4 years.  "Did you know Mrs. King, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s mother, was shot, murdered, assasinated?  99.9 percent answer NO!  June 30th, 1974, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA. Sunday Service – Mrs. King at age 71, was playing The Lord's Prayer on the organ and a crazy man from Ohio walked in and shot her dead!  This should be common knowledge.  AND this is the tip of the iceburg.  I am so surprised every day at the amazing lives  women have lived.  So the saying "Women are written out of history."  It is true. And so we need another way to look at the events of the world – "Her-story!"  Maya Angelo spoke of "she-ros"  So, I say as many others Her-story.

(image via Mike Glenn Collection)

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This blog has profoundly affected my life – it is over-whelming at times. But, it is also – thrilling, amazing, exciting, and I am brimming with ideas and stories – I have been writing a play about it.  "Mrs. King was Shot!!"  And each day I drift off to this world of mystery- because women are so left out – it is has the excitment of uncovering past. And hopefully I am helping to make the future aware of her past.

(Regina Jonas image via: Jewish Women's Archive)

Another woman who amazed me- August 3rd, 2006.  I was searching and came across, "First female rabbi born this day in 1902, Regina Jonas."  So, I followed the trail.  Rabbi Jonas was ordained December 25th 1935 in Berlin Germany.  I could not find a lot on her, but there was educational book that was published in 2003-ish in Germany and I ordered it.  Regina Jonas was an amazing human being. Like Mother Theresa. I just Googled her and now she is all over the place! But, in 2006, my blog was one of the first sites that popped up about her. So, I have an idea that the blog helped put her-story on the map.  Rabbi Jonas is in a ton of blogs now. And that thrills me.

The impetus for writing it was to support a performing arts group called The Women's Mercury which was founded by Bridget and her partner Keri Wormald.

Learn a lot more about "her-story" on her blog HERE.