100-day project

Cultivating creativity

You know I love books! My greatest love is fiction, but in second place comes books that help me grow as a person, writer, mom or any aspect of my life. A few weeks ago, while I was waiting for a friend, I decided to kill time in a library, one of my favorite ways to pass time apart from reading. I saw this book that was on my purchase list and decided to buy it on the spot.

This book by Suleika Jaouad is about writing, journaling and rekindling the flame of creativity that may be dormant, lost or not as bright as we wish it to be. The author shares about a time in her life where everything was so bleak that her father decided to do this 100-day project with her.

Designer and Yale professor Michael Bierut used to give this exercise to his students : perform at least one creative act daily for 100 days. It can be a sketch, a poem, a photograph, whatever medium calls you.

Suleika was reluctant at first, but then she got into the spirit of it with her dad and some of her friends. She realized afterwards that doing that project had a huge positive impact on her life. That’s how her book came to life. She asked 100 writers, artists and thinkers to write prompts for journaling.

So, I’ve started the 100-day project with these prompts. To be honest, it’s been years since I’ve journaled everyday. I take notes when inspiration comes, I write this newsletter, books, short stories, but journaling is different. The challenge for me is not to write daily, I do it anyways. The challenge comes from following the prompts of others in a creative way. In my job as an advertising copywriter I’m used to have a brief. But this is different. The brief in this case is to stimulate my creativity, push my own writing boundaries and explore differently.

I’m at day 20. So far, I like the exercises. I enjoy diving briefly in other artists’ universe. Some prompts lead to a couple of lines. Others, a few pages. I don’t limit myself one way or the other. I chose at the beginning of this journey to be open to what wants to be birthed in this project. Will it inspired a novel? A poem? A song? A short story?

Who knows?

What I’m rediscovering by diving into this project is that creativity is first and foremost fun! No matter the outcome, I love exploring those new pathways.

Would you be willing to follow in my footsteps? Embark on this creative journey? What would be you 100-day project? What medium would you like to explore?