Here is my chapter 2 homework:
I've been putting ideas in my Notes app in my phone for awhile now, so I went through those and pulled out the most important/relevant ideas. I allowed some ideas to die there and not be transferred to this list at all. There are a couple that might be on this list due to the whole Sunk Costs/Idea Debt Type N that the chapter discusses.
This was a great exercise for me, even if its a bit overwhelming to see all at once like that. The thing I was most surprised by was how many ideas I had for topics I want to talk about on my blog--apparently I have a lot to share! That is something I was pretty good about doing pre-kids, but ever since I had my first baby blog posts have been pretty sparse and spare--usually just posting about a new illustration and showing a bit of how it came together. I'm realizing that if I want to make a real dent in my Idea Debt, I'm going to have to give some love to my blog. My picture book and comic ideas loom so much larger in my brain I feel like they're the things I always have to pour all my work hours into, but they are such big time-consuming projects they take months or years to complete.
The nice thing about blog posts is they are so much more approachable! I can finish one and hit Post and have a finished (not perfect thing checked off the list to give me a sense of accomplishment.
Another interesting insight for me was my participation in Storystorm--or lack of it. I participated in January of 2017 and generated a whole list of ideas (some good, some terrible) and continued noting down ideas for the next few months, though that habit petered out after awhile. (Many of those ideas made it into my Idea Inventory above.) In January 2018 and then 2019, I had little interest in participating again, even though a lot of writer friends were posting about how great it was and necessary for creatives, etc. etc.
I realized that part of the reason I didn't feel like participating was I still had some ideas left over from the first time that I hadn't yet had the time to complete--why give myself a whole list of new ideas to feel guilt over? This was a great insight for me, because I had the question in the back of my mind--why am I not excited to do Storystorm? I got alot of great ideas last time, maybe I should try it... now I know. I didn't want to add to my Idea Debt.
And a note on the exercise from the introduction, the time tracking: I consciously chose to let myself off the hook for this one. My arms are full of kids most of the day and trying to track what I was doing when I often didn't even have a hand free was adding stress. I do believe it is a good activity, but at this time in my life the cost was greater than the benefit. I did get two entire days mostly tracked and a few more partially. The bit I did complete was helpful in that it showed me... I actually am using my time quite well. I DO make time for my creative projects, despite being the primary caregiver of two toddlers--go me!
I don't have many time wasting habits--I don't watch TV, play video games, read novels, or do any other common time wasters much or at all. (Which, just by the way, are wonderful fun things to do and I don't fault anyone who does them! I'm going to make more time to read more novels... someday.) My one vice is (surprise, surprise) social media... and even that I have been working hard to reduce. Since I started tracking my screen time months ago, I've reduced my daily average screen time significantly. I am very proud of that. What I am hoping to get out of working through this book isn't the determination to make time to work, I'm doing that already. My focus is on effectively using that time to actually complete projects and get them out into the world.
So, how are we all doing? I'll tag everyone who has been participating for an extra nudge to get this week's chapter complete: @ThisKateCreates @hannahmccaffery @Laurel-Aylesworth @ajillustrates @demotlj @Whitney-Simms ... @kaitlinmakes @Eli and @Kristin-Wauson also showed some interest