Welcome 2023

Getting Started With The New Year

So I am not one for resolutions, and I have been known to bite off more than I can chew. Welcome to my life right? This year I am adding a few things to ensure I am creating alongside everyone who follows the podcast and this blog which hasn’t been very consistent. Welcome to 2023 where we get really serious about art. Don’t get me wrong, I am not promising you or myself that I will keep this blog on a consistent timetable, but I will utilize it more than I have in the past. I am also welcoming you to join me in this new year and tell me what you are doing.

One thing I am doing this year is to take a gift that my wife gave me and pull out a card once a week for 50 weeks, there are 50 cards in the box and it gives me 2 weeks out of the year to be lazy, ha ha ha. The deck of cards is called Kickstart Creativity by Bonnie Smith Whitehouse. You can get it here. I will attempt to do one thing a week that the cards suggest and give you the results, probably in the gallery area which I really need to populate. I am going to be honest about what I think about the cards as I haven’t opened them up yet, but I figure if I am going to ask you to be creative I need to make it so for myself.

Welcoming Back The Usual Suspects

NaPoWriMo

If you have followed the podcast for any amount of time, you know that each year I do the National Poetry Writing Month in April known as NaPoWriMo which is writing poems once a day for 30 days and relating them to the prompts. This year I am still going to write 30 poems in 30 days, just not in April, you will see them in April and you will hear them in April on the podcast, if you are in the Fredericksburg Virginia area you may even listen to them on Friday nights at the open poetry mic at Katora Coffee Shop. But I am going to use another source for my prompts and post my work on the NaPoWriMo site as well. I just want the whole year to be creative not just two months compressed so hard that my life is disturbed.

NaNoWriMo NaPodPoMo

So that brings me to the other challenge I do each year which is National Novel Writing Month in November. I also do the National Podcast Post Month during November. I do it twice since I put out an episode for each poem in April, so I do this challenge twice a year. NaNoWriMo is writing a fifty thousand-word novel in 30 days. Well, November has my favorite holiday in it, Thanksgiving. I know that there is a lot of controversy about this holiday, for me it’s not about the pilgrims and all that stuff, for me it is about getting the family together, making a meal they enjoy, and telling stories of what the year has held for each person and just slowing down and enjoying each others company. So, I will be working on my novel for November, throughout the year and I will have 30 episodes to drop on my audience in November. By taking this approach and stretching it out throughout the year, there is less pressure and less impact on my family. I can be there for everyone, I can be present, I can be welcoming.

Commentary and Interviews

I have planned out the episodes for the year and they all revolve around synonyms of the word creativity or artistry. I will be talking about cleverness, boldness, flair, genius, imagination, ingenuity, innovation, inventiveness, observation, and originality. What will those topics bring to me, I am not totally sure, but it just felt right to approach the year in this manner. My initial thoughts will be to incorporate my weekly creativity cards into the topics when possible. If folks would like to come on the show and talk about one of the topics that ring true to them I am more than happy to make that happen.

Final Thoughts

As we welcome the new year and all that comes with a new year, I hope your new year starts off with a reasonable creative burst that lasts the entire year. We all know that in the gyms new people will fall off within a month or two and those who have prepared for a marathon will still be going strong. I am preparing my art that way. We will see what my yearly wrap-ups look like. I’d love to hear what you are doing this new year, or if you have already planned out the entire year.

Reaching Out To The Podcast

To reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let’s start that conversation.