Planning my summer creating

Do you take time to plan what you do creatively?

I am particularly bad about not thinking much about it but just moving from project to project AS FAST AS I CAN GO!!

I have mentioned before that I appreciate the work of Cal Newport and have listened to his podcast “Deep Questions” since it started in 2020. His latest book is called “Slow Productivity” and has three main principals…..

• Do fewer things

• Work at a natural pace

• Obsess over quality

I was listening to his podcast while I was driving to my retreat so naturally it was on my mind during the retreat.

One of the joys of the Spring retreat is to make some plans for what I want to accomplish in the summer, and I have a special swing that I love to go to but this year was a bit more problematic…..

There was a LOT of construction happening between our building and the swing!! But I was able to wind my way around all of that busyness and get to MY SPOT…..

I was concerned about noise so took my headphones with me and started out with some ambient music…..nice, soft and relaxing….and most importantly, blocking any construction noise. Fortunately, there wasn’t much going on at that point in time.

My first task was to prop my head up on my hands and take a short nap!!

That accomplished, it was time to start planning!!

Following Cal’s instructions, I started thinking about my goals for the summer. In particular, asking the question “What am I doing this summer that is going to advance my goals?”

Since one of my big goals is to continue to grow the “Frances Quilts” brand, my first thought was to put more energy into that side of my work. To that end, I want to work more on my social media presence. Also, I am currently developing an online FMQ course and I want that out sometime in June.

On the project front, I want to sew to ENJOY the creative process and not just to FINISH the project. This includes the writing of blog posts….enjoy and not just FINISH.

As I started thinking about projects these are the ones that I want to make priorities…..

• Clean out my scraps by working on ALL of the scrap quilts that I already have started….

• Make a quilt that I have planned based on the carpet from the Holiday Inn Express in Houston….

(maybe I will leave my feet out of the quilt)

• And, MAYBE I will play with the MQG Fabric Challenge…..

So, those are the big projects that I plan to SLOWLY make progress on.

AS the final part of my planning time, I listed out some smaller projects that can be finished in a few sessions. I want to intersperse them when I need a break from scrapping!!

I left the swing encouraged, excited and motivated.

NOW…..ON WITH THE SUMMER!!!

And don’t worry…..I am taking all of you along for the ride.

.

.