The Case For A Tiny Daily Creative Challenge
We often think we must completely change our lives in order to live creatively—quit our job, move across the country, or lock ourselves in a studio. But sometimes it’s good to remember that we tend to overestimate what can be done in a day and underestimate what can be done in a year.
Here’s one woman’s story about finding creative fulfillment, and recognition, amongst everyday routine.
““Whatever I came up with had to fit in around the edges of daily life.””
The Catalyst
In the early 2010’s, Mary Jo, a retired aerospace engineer, saw a quote on Pinterest: “The Secret: Do good work and put it where people can see it.”
She had been creative her whole life, but so far, that creativity had been confined to journals and hard drives. “You know, it’s such a simple slogan, but it hit me,” she explained to an audience at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
All photos from StillBlog.net
The Challenge
She decided to get her work out there, but with a busy household full of kids, she knew the project would have to fit in with the life she already had. “Whatever I came up with had to fit in around the edges of daily life,” she said.
Mary Jo was intrigued by the popular practice of a daily creative challenge, doing one creative thing (e.g. one drawing) everyday. She already took her dog on daily walks where she collected bits and pieces of nature that interested her.
“Really that puggle is the whole reason for all of this. Because he needs a daily walk.”
The First Shot
Then one day, during one such walk on a vacation southern France, she collected a wild teasel. She put the teasel on her journal for background and snapped a photo, pleased with the result.
“‘I can do this,’ I said to myself. Suddenly a creative practice, and a step toward joining the online creative community I had admired for years, both seemed possible,” she wrote on her blog.
A photo a day keeps the creative blues away. Screenshot of StillBlog.net
The Routine
Not long after, StillBlog.net was born. Now, for over half a decade, Mary Jo has posted a photo a day. In the morning she walks the dog and gathers her subject. In the afternoon, she’ll take a break of anywhere from five to 50 minutes to snap a picture, and right before bed, she posts it. “So it fits. It didn’t disrupt the family rhythm at all. In fact, it quickly became part of our family routine…that everybody participated in,” she said at the institute.
After doing it “every single day, quietly on the internet for two years” she had a significant body of work that surprised even herself. Since then, she’s caught the attention of everyone from Target to the Scottish National Opera, not to mention Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, who crafted the short biopic below. Enjoy!
