I love the ideas for minimum and maximum. I think my minimum is warmup scribbles where all I do is draw random lines in my sketchbook! This usually takes way less than 5 minutes.
I wish I could commit to a daily minimum (or maximum)! I've recently accepted that I need to just ride the wave when it comes, some days nothing washes up at all, and on rare occasions there will be a tsunami.
This is a rubbish strategy for any kind of balance or the sustained, incremental effort required for larger projects, but working any other way does feel like a bit like swimming against the tide.
This is such a helpful frame! My minimum would be 5 minutes writing down what I'm grateful for or ideas for things to write/research. My maximum is one hour lol I have a toddler and we miss each other if more time goes by. Before toddler time my maximum might have been 2hours.
It doesn't seem like it, but I think my minimum is almost an hour day. I also kind of check out after 4 hours. There is a lot of other stuff that is part of my art business that is not actually creating something (bookkeeping, gallery deliveries, planning) that I need to do every day.
At some point, it's been more than several years, I start almost every day taking my coffee up to my upstairs work area and working on comics or book illustration projects I'm working on. There is something cozy about going upstairs in your jammies and drawing pandas.
I tend to make drawings in patches -- if I have a big drawing I'm working on, I try to sit down and finish at least one patch (maybe 30 minutes or so of scribbling.)
Great post! I’m doing the 100 day project and I agree with how you describe the challenge of daily task/project vs working towards a larger piece … I’d say 30 min minimum and 4 hours is my max too!
5 min is the minimum. And maybe 2h is the longest. And it all depends on the day. Because my life is a roller-coaster I cant plan my creativity time. I just take it as it come.
Today I’ve had around my minimum creative time - 5 minutes while my son played in a cubby house & another 5 when I got home and he was entertaining himself - and got a few edits done on a poem. The other day I had a (very rare) day to myself and I did a couple of hours writing all up - writing new work, editing and researching places to submit. But I also left time to fill the well—read deeply, and look out the window and watch some fun shows.
I love the ideas for minimum and maximum. I think my minimum is warmup scribbles where all I do is draw random lines in my sketchbook! This usually takes way less than 5 minutes.
I feel like my minimum is writing 500 words. Sometimes that takes 15 minutes, sometimes it takes 3 hours. But it makes me feel alive.
I wish I could commit to a daily minimum (or maximum)! I've recently accepted that I need to just ride the wave when it comes, some days nothing washes up at all, and on rare occasions there will be a tsunami.
This is a rubbish strategy for any kind of balance or the sustained, incremental effort required for larger projects, but working any other way does feel like a bit like swimming against the tide.
This is such a helpful frame! My minimum would be 5 minutes writing down what I'm grateful for or ideas for things to write/research. My maximum is one hour lol I have a toddler and we miss each other if more time goes by. Before toddler time my maximum might have been 2hours.
Love this, Carolyn! I do this too! It's been so helpful.
It doesn't seem like it, but I think my minimum is almost an hour day. I also kind of check out after 4 hours. There is a lot of other stuff that is part of my art business that is not actually creating something (bookkeeping, gallery deliveries, planning) that I need to do every day.
At some point, it's been more than several years, I start almost every day taking my coffee up to my upstairs work area and working on comics or book illustration projects I'm working on. There is something cozy about going upstairs in your jammies and drawing pandas.
I'm going to give this a go!
I know my 5 mins could be writing down an idea for a story or deciding on an idea for a new illustration.
But I need to do some experimenting to see what my maximum might be.
This took so much pressure off! Thank you!
I'll have to give this a try! Thank you : )
What a brilliant approach - thank you so much, Carolyn. 😊
This is such a wonderful way to look at it!!!
this is so smart and helpful!
I tend to make drawings in patches -- if I have a big drawing I'm working on, I try to sit down and finish at least one patch (maybe 30 minutes or so of scribbling.)
Great post! I’m doing the 100 day project and I agree with how you describe the challenge of daily task/project vs working towards a larger piece … I’d say 30 min minimum and 4 hours is my max too!
5 min is the minimum. And maybe 2h is the longest. And it all depends on the day. Because my life is a roller-coaster I cant plan my creativity time. I just take it as it come.
Today I’ve had around my minimum creative time - 5 minutes while my son played in a cubby house & another 5 when I got home and he was entertaining himself - and got a few edits done on a poem. The other day I had a (very rare) day to myself and I did a couple of hours writing all up - writing new work, editing and researching places to submit. But I also left time to fill the well—read deeply, and look out the window and watch some fun shows.