Last year at about this time I (impulsively) decided to join The 100 Day Project, a free, global art initiative where people around the world commit to doing something creative every day for 100 days. At the time I was feeling unmoored and confused, and had plenty of time on my hands thanks to a recent layoff from my job in community newspapers. I hoped that the project would help me recenter on the things I love – reading, writing, and books – and help me begin to put myself out in the world again.
And it did. Completing 100 Days of Books was an incredible experience, and I’m really proud of the work that I did during that time. I learned a lot about books, photography, and writing. Seeing a collage of all 100 books together still makes me smile.
As the beginning of this year’s 100 Day Project approached, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. This year I’m in a totally different place. I’m in a busy season at a new job, and have other projects filling in the time and mental space I have available for books and reading. I don’t need another project, but I’ve nevertheless been feeling the pull to participate again… so I’m going to try!
Two things I’ve been fascinated with for a long time are art journaling and commonplace books, both creative ways of using notebooks to collect thoughts, feeling, anecdotes, observations, or information that may eventually become useful. As you might expect, art journals lean towards the more creative, while commonplace books are more utilitarian. In the past, I’ve kept versions of each one. I have many notebooks lying around with a few pages of sketches or quotes or memorabilia that were meaningful at the time. I don’t always remember why they mattered, but I like when I stumble across these little pieces.
My project for this year – 100 Days in a Notebook – is somewhere between those two creative outlets. Every day for the next 100 days (April 3 to July 11), I am going to put something into a notebook. It may be as simple as a line of journaling or a meaningful quote, or as elaborate as a collage or watercolor painting. I’m not committing to filling a page every day, just to putting pen or paintbrush or glue stick to paper before I go to bed each night.
In order to (attempt) to work around my tendency to perfectionism, I bought a $5 Artist’s Loft dot grid notebook from Michaels to use instead of one of the nice notebooks I have sitting around my house. This is the style of notebook I use for my bullet journal at work, so in my head it’s a low-pressure notebook where it’s ok to be messy and imperfect. The important thing is making space for creativity, not obsessing about the outcome.
I don’t really have an idea of what 100 Days in a Notebook will end up looking like – the whole concept is a little bit vague on purpose – but I am excited for an excuse to sit down and be creative in a tactile way every day. I’ll be sharing a bit on Instagram as the project progresses, so be sure to follow me there!
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Great idea. I have started multiple commonplace books over the years and they all have a few pages and that’s it. I have been using a digital planner/bullet journal on my iPad since January. I should set up a digital commonplace book.
That’s a good idea! I’ve seen several good examples of digital bullet journaling, but I still think it’s satisfying to have a notebook and cross things off.
The idea of writing in a book margin bothers me, even though I know many ‘greats’ did so. However the 100 day project sounds fascinating. I’ve been wanting to write down some family history. I wonder if 100 days of random family stories counts as ‘creative’. I might do it anyway, even it isn’t strictly creative.
I think that will work. I like to think the idea of creativity broadly, so that certainly makes sense.
Good luck! There’s nothing more satisfying than looking back on old journals. I feel like I’m going through them faster as the years go by, though there’s nothing really profound in them other tan to-do lists and reading notes. But finding a style to adhere to is also fun!
It’s funny to see what things were important at the time, and whether they mean anything now. Since this is also some art journaling, I think it’ll be fun to see what style and formats are catching my attention now.
Great idea! I loved your 100 books challenge and will be curious to see where this one takes you.
Thanks!
I’ve been a life long journaler and got into art journaling several years ago. I love it. I hope you enjoy your 100 days project and hope you’ll share some pages with us or what you’ve enjoyed about the process!
I’m excited to have another excuse to do something creative more regularly and experiment in a low key way. I’ll share some pages as I go along, for sure!
I’m always a fail with these kinds of projects, no matter how much I love the idea. I think it’s because so much of my life is deadlines (freelancing for 34 years now!) that I just don’t want more of them in my free time.
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