For today's thing I am sharing my thoughts and experience of my first-time on thing-a-day.I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of a month-long creative sprint... despite having only been able to secure part-time work since being laid off 14 months ago, I'd found remarkably little time for all those creative projects and things I'd not done over the past decade with the excuse of having a full-time job. The "extra" time was quickly filled with tyranny of everyday life... it was easy really to replace work with household chores and the still on-going chore of looking for a new job, rather than dust off the bookshelves and dive into long-languishing projects.And I must say that my results of this month were kind of mixed... but probably in the end analysis more good than bad came of it. The biggest benefit for me was finding that there really is time everyday to create -- if you just make time for it. And I did it. I posted something every day. I'm proud that I finished... TAD gave me a chance to renew my interest in origami and to get a lot more comfortable using the tools available to you in Photoshop (or Photo Elements specifically in my case) to improve my photography. A few posts gave me the opportunity to shoot with a macro lens; a few others, subjects I wouldn't think to take or take the time to take. And I finally had a chance to use the watercolor pencils and drawing pad my brother gave me in October as a birthday present that I never thought I'd have a reason to use when I got them.It wasn't all roses though. There were certainly days that my plans far exceeded the amount of time I really had -- or thought it would take -- to complete a project so when things didn't work out as expected or in a few cases work out at all, I often felt frustrated and stressed... which was counter-productive -- at least for me -- in that I really wanted thing-a-day to help kick start the creative process. And getting angry rarely helps with that. There were other days too where I felt I had no ideas and spent so much time trying to come up with something that there wasn't really enough time to be happy with the execution phase. I understand in the past there used to be weekly themes or suggestions. I really think that would help for people like me... but would also help the group in that it would give a center to start the conversation. In the end, though, I think that perhaps a project a day might be too much -- at least for me. If I had a week per project, maybe I would've procrastinated and stressed right up to deadline... but I think that would allow time for planning, the natural process of trial and error, and coming to an end result -- with time -- that I would've been proud to share every time --- on a more extended time-line. And I could've experimented with more ambitious projects -- things like light painting and photo murals -- projects that really required learning brand new skills -- ideas Christa and I bandied about but take too long in the experimenting phase to really do on the TAD time frame.Nevertheless, I still feel I've taken away more than I came here with -- and may well have broken some of those bad habits and excuse-making that kept me from the creative process. I've appreciated the chance to see all your work, be inspired by your creations, dedication, and skills. And I thank everyone that made comments or gave me favorites -- the greatest thing about TAD is the chance to share and get feedback and encouragement from you in comments and favorites on a regular basis. It made it easier to keep going with this -- even on the days when I really didn't want to. I wish you all well in your current and future projects and keep on keeping on! It's worth the trip.
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