Images

I woke up this morning with a migraine. I am going to bed with medication, but at least I got to see this beautiful sunset.

I started playing with Adobe Illustrator and working through the tutorials this evening. I’m filing this learning under “broadening my horizons” and “I like owls.” I know it’s not much of a thing, but I learned some new skills doing it, so I think it’s a win.

One of the things suggested in the creativity and productivity articles I’ve been reading is to create a word for the year and then monthly themes that are guided by the overarching word of the year.

The idea behind this is to provide parameters instead of leaving the horizon wide open. Sometimes too many choices can lead to analysis paralysis and inaction, but constraints can free the mind from the choice of where to begin and let it work on novel solutions within the field defined.

I think I’ve mentioned that my word for the year is “creativity.” With that in the back of my mind, I picked the following themes for each month of the year.

1. January – Word of the year (Creativity)
2. February – Self-Care
3. March – Roam
4. April – Money
5. May – Plant
6. June – Adventure
7. July – Freedom
8. August – Love
9. September – Learn
10. October – Remembrance
11. November – Gratitude
12. December – Plan

I had these themes in mind when I picked my books out yesterday, in addition to the other constraints I put on myself (Books I already own, either on Kindle or in hard copy, or books I can get through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.)

While I looked at this, I put together my book list for this year. These aren’t the only books I’ll be reading this year, but they are books that I’ve put on my “make sure to read this year” list. Some books fit monthly themes throughout the year, some are from my “I bought this. I should read this” list, and some are “I have Kindle Unlimited, therefore I should use it” books.

1. The Accidental Creative, Todd Henry
2. A Year of Creative Writing Prompts, Love in Ink
3. The Witch’s Book of Self-Care, Arin Murphy-Hiscock
4. An African American and Latinx History of the United States, Paul Ortiz
5. Balancing on Blue, Keith Foskett
6. H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald
7. How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck (2nd Ed), Avery Breyer
8. The Miniaturist: A Novel, Jessie Burton
9. Greenhouse Gardening: How to build and sustain a greenhouse garden, Emma Brooks,
10. Becoming, Michelle Obama
11. If I Live Until Morning: A True Story of Adventure, Tragedy, and Transformation, Jean Muenchrath
12. Tomboyland: Essays, Melissa Faliveno
13. The Power of Zero Expectations, Francis Ku
14. A Promised Land, Barack Obama
15. Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely, Lysa TerKeurst
16. Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath
17. The Story Works Guide to Writing Character: How to create memorable characters your readers can’t help but love–or love to hate, Alida Winternheimer
18. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Gran
19. Love, Lucy, Lucille Ball
20. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, R. A. Dick
21. Flip the Gratitude Switch, Kevin Clayson
22. A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir, Jason Diakité
23. 10 Day Outline: A Writer’s Guide to Planning, Lewis Jorstad
24. The Practice, Seth Godin

I do plan to read other books this year: Bookclub books, Spontaneous reading, TBR backlog, etc. These just represent books that I want to make sure to read.