Create: Day 41

Day 41
You’ve almost begun.

Step 1 on June 1: Buy crayons! Boxes from Ed Welter collection, under Creative Commons license.

One of the skill sets of  incorporating creative work into your already busy schedule is  breaking plans into steps and then scheduling those steps on successive dates.

It’s tempting to put your projects off until you have a nice big block of time, but I’m here to tell you you will never get that big block of time. I am a person who finally donated the cute knitted blankie she started and never finished for her newborn nephew (now 23).

Yes, I know that by scheduling in small steps it may take you three years to finish that Elvis needlepoint pillow, but if you wait until you have big blocks of time, this work of art will be decades in the making. Few of us have the luxury of whole days devoted to creativity, alas.

In scheduling, try to find natural breaking points in the process…and build in extra time. Everything takes longer than you think.

Creative Project Completion Plan Part III

Estimated date of project beginning:
_________________
Estimated date of project completion:
_________________
Date and time of first scheduled work session:
_________________
(please put this date on your calendar and consider it an appointment)
Amount of time (hours/minutes) of first session:
_________________
Step(s) to complete for first work session:
_________________
(look back at your list of steps and decide realistically what you can accomplish in this first session…even if it’s running errands and no creative work)

Creative Project Completion Plan Part II

Estimate of hours it will take to finish project (include errand time):
_________________
How many hours (or minutes) I can realistically spend per week on this project:
_________________
How many weeks it will take me to finish this project:
_________________
(It’s OK to choose a project you can get done in one week, of course.)
Activity (if any) I can cut out of my life to spend this time on this project:
_______________
Date on which I will end activity I’ve listed above:
_________________
Plan (if needed) for extricating myself from activity:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
(Explanation: if you’ve decided, for example, to quit your investment group so you can have more time for creative ventures, you’re going to have to get yourself out of it. Anticipate the arguments your bucks-buddies will present to guilt-trip you, decide how to find a replacement, plan for your graceful exit.)

Creative Project Completion Plan Part I (you filled this out yesterday)

Project I will finish: _________________

Specific steps I must take to finish project:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
(e.g. for earrings: choose beads for earrings; choose head pin; make wrapped loop; make ear wires; hammer ear wires; attach beads to ear wire; etc.)

Supplies needed to finish project (note what you already have and what you need to get):
Have:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Get:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
(e.g. for mixed potted front porch planting: ceramic pot (have), perennials that can be replanted in yard at season end…list all separately (need), potting soil (have), garden mags for inspiration (need) etc.)

Errands required to finish project:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
(e.g. for taking and framing macro photography of flowers: mat board at Michaels, frame at Aaron Brothers, photographic paper at Best Buy, etc.)

Estimate of project budget:
_____________________

Create Month 2
What to do so far:
In case you missed a day, the reminders below are clickable.
Don’t put off creativity.
Use your limited experience with unlimited imagination.
Don’t worry about the destination.
If you’re stuck, lower your standards and go on.
Take a creativity vacation.
Value your creative visions.
Moodle every other week.
Fill out Creative Project Completion Plan I.
Fill out Creative Project Completion Plan II.
Fill out Creative Project Completion Plan III.

Need a refresher for Create Month 1? Click here.