Three months of this year have passed us by already? How crazy is that! Tempus fugit, as they say, so we must be having fun, right? Progress has been made on many of my bingo squares, so I am happy, and some decisions have been made regarding others. Let’s get into the review of March.
Journal Once a Week
I think I let this drop a bit. Yes, I did some journaling, but not as much as in previous months. As I write this I am going to do some afterwards, of course. I don’t journal because I have struggled to see the benefit for me. I’ve read the articles, how you can work things out through writing and words, but, I don’t know, it doesn’t really do it for me. But I will persist.
New Podcast
As a writer, I tend to lean towards things to do with writing or geekery, such as Imaginary Worlds. The challenge this year was to find some podcasts to listen to, and educate myself, that were not writing-related.
I discovered Darkness Diaries, which is a podcast that talks about the dark web. I don’t use the dark web, but I am curious about it. It has an ominous name and is always portrayed as a den of scum and villainy on procedural TV shows. To be fair, the episode I listened to was about The Kill List, talking about assassin-for-hire sites and the scams that they are etc. Fascinating.
I feel that I may educate myself about the dark web and include it in some cyberpunk stories in the future, maybe?
Articles for Websites
I am keeping up with posting an article per month for both this site and my Written Off Writing site. This month, I took a topic from a friend about trying to write and be creative when you’re working full time. On the back of this, I posted the link to LinkedIn, and I have started talking more about Written off Writing, and how it is a passion project of mine.
I need to learn more about Patreon and suchlike, but it is a thing I am building, slower than I thought I would, but it is moving forward.
Art Event
Attended a local art event. The coolest thing was the big art guest, who performed and had the big VR exhibition, all serious and formal, smiled and waved to my wife, because they know each other. Felt special.
It was a video-based art event at Realm, in Ringwood, and the VR exhibition was utterly fantastic. And there were snacks.
The rest of the Bingo Card
Looking at the rest of the card, reading books, 3rd draft of my novel and such, I have not added anything significant to these. March was a quiet month.
And for both of us, we realised, that March was quiet, although my wife did get herself a sticker for one of her boxes.
This bingo card of creativity for the year is not a firm set of rules. It is more of a motivation thing, but you don’t want something on there you don’t want to do. It’s perfectly fine to change them out, we have decided.
My writing group has now discovered my reading goal, and that I have not read a horror book. So now they have set me a specific challenge to read a horror story. I have a growing inkling to use a fountain pen, perhaps learn calligraphy. No, I have never used a fountain pen.
My wife has some similar things. A lot of her boxes are challenges that will take a whole year or so to do, and wants to change some out. We chatted, figured there is no reason why we couldn’t, so we will!
That’s the thing about this exercise and creativity. While I say it is important to set goals and challenges and to take some of the ethereal out of it, it’s also a case that you need to enjoy yourself. No point challenging your creativity if it becomes a chore.
I am writing this halfway through April, and already I have achieved more this month than March.
I wonder if my Bingo score was lower because I’ve stepped back into the world of Skyrim. Hmmm…