My 500 Words, #EmptyShelf & Photo-A-Day

2014.... ready or not ..... here I come!!

I love a new year. 

Clean slate. Fresh start. Hope. Expectation. Dreams. Goals. Mile long to-do lists. 

My mind is abubble with thoughts rampantly racing through my brain, trying to catch a glimpse of what the year may have in store. 

This year is no different..... Yet, I feel this year is different. 

Maybe it’s my (yet again) naïve self living in the dreamworld of my imagination that this year will really be the year that will be the milestone marker of life. The year that I look back and say, “Wow, that 2014 sure was amazing!” The year that I conquer struggles and achieve daring deeds and emerge victorious all happy and grinning and shaking my fist in the air, screaming, “I DID IT!!!” 

A reality check in the form of a cynical and snide little voice whispers in my ear, “Sure, you say this every year, and look where you end up -- a year of wasted time, opportunities passed by, and you didn’t risk much did you?” 

But I really and truly (at this moment) want this year to be different. It feels like a “poop or get off the pot” year. I can no longer just say, “Hey, I want to do X, Y & Z.”  

I’ve got to do it...... THIS year.

So as this year is settling in (at the end of the day on January 1st), I have found myself, perhaps, already biting off a bit more than I may be able chew.  But, then again, for people who know me, this is typical. But I’m excited. I have just this month in view. A sprint of sorts. Surely I can concentrate on a couple of goals for just 31 days, right? (Check in with me around the 11th or 14th of this month... and if I have fallen away on these goals, please encourage the heck out of me to get back with it and help drive away that cynical voice that may be beating me up at that point.)

I have signed up for 2 challenges -- one for this month, and one for the year. Of course I have a little side challenge I want to work on as well. The main purposes of the challenges are to instill disciplines that will create the habits that I want my life to have. 

Writing.

Reading.

Photography. 

That is not the actual order of importance for me, but more the order of urgency of the particular challenges I have chosen. Let’s break them down.

Writing

I am about to finish reading the book You Are a Writer by Jeff Goins. Thinking of myself as a writer is difficult and I feel a bit fraudulent in declaring such a statement. A little while back, I heard Jeff in an interview where he encourages those who write to declare themselves  writers. (“I am a writer!”) And only after declaring oneself such, will that person actually start believing it, thus acting like it and pursuing the craft with more diligence. The book goes into this concept in more detail. 

Needless to say, I was a little giddy when I received Jeff’s email newsletter introducing his challenge for January -- write 500 words every day for the month of January. 

500 words doesn’t sound outlandish, but certainly an amount of discipline is needed -- especially for the every single day for 31 days part. (Even at this point, I am about to knock on the door of 600 words already.) 

What attracted me was the commitment of writing every day. Writers write. To be a writer, I have to write. And though I love the idea of writing every day, it is way too easy for me to get distracted, then tired, and come up with 12 excuses of why I’ll sit and write tomorrow. I am also aware that within the 31 days, I will likely hit a slump, wonder what in the world I should write, etc., etc.  I realize I need to hit those times and work through them anyway.  Through the challenge, Jeff has already promised writing prompts to help with the flow. 

But more than anything, at the end of this month, I want to look back and say, “I did it. I wrote every day for an entire month and logged more than 15,500 words.”  I don’t plan to have every day’s writing published, but I imagine a fair share of it will show up here on my blog. Leave me a comment and let me know you’re out there! 

If you enjoy writing, or would like to take a stab at the challenge, visit www.goinswriter.com/my500words . There is a great community forming already. Already at the time of this writing, there are almost 700 in the Facebook Group that Jeff set up, and over 400 blogs are linking up. 

Reading

If you know me, you know I love to read.  You know there are few circumstances in life in which I wouldn’t rather be reading. Day of wintry weather? Stay in, snuggle up and read. Beautiful sunny day? Sit on the porch with a delicious cup of yumminess and read. If given a few extra hours in the day, I would surely say, “I’ll use the time to read!” 

And no one knows more than my husband how many bins of books are residing in our attic, while I insist that I will get through them all before I leave this earth. (He has threatened -- quite convincingly, I might add -- that if I die before him, the first thing he’ll do is drag the books down and throw them in the street or have a magnificent bonfire in the backyard.  Yeah, he’s not much of a reader... but don’t hold it against him. He squishes bugs and other important things that allow me to forgive him this little insufficiency.)

Another writer/blogger/speaker I have been following in recent times is Jon Acuff.  The day after Christmas, I discovered Jon’s post from Christmas Eve -- http://acuff.me/2013/12/empty-shelf-challenge/

The Empty Shelf Challenge is about clearing a bookshelf and adding books that are read this year.  This excites me on several levels -- keeping track of the books I’ve read, but also being a part of the community that is doing #EmptyShelf, I’ll discover great books, as well as fellow readers and even other bloggers. Jon has a board on Pinterest for readers to add photos or screenshots of their empty shelves (and this includes Goodreads and e-reader apps as well as physical bookshelves) and shots as they add books to their shelves. I’m currently reading two books I hope to finish soon so I can add the books to my #EmptyShelf. 

(If you are on Goodreads, but we’re not friends yet, please leave a comment or follow me on twitter at @saranades -- I’d love to connect!)

Photography

This is where my heart lies.  In my youth, I was a musician. I couldn’t think of anything coming close to making me feel the way music did.  Though I miss my music days (you’ll still find me singing in the car and banging my hand on the steering wheel), photography, a close second, evokes emotions and thoughts that many times I cannot even express. I absolutely love being struck with such awe at a photograph that someone has taken, as well as that moment when I snap the shutter and know I have captured a moment unique in time. 

I have fiddle-farted around with my photography for 10 years. But this year. This is the year I want to really sink into it and see what happens. 

I have ideas, goals and dreams for this year in this area, but what I’m willing to share is that I want to grow and learn. I still have so much to learn -- technical knowledge that will allow me to understand my tool and my surroundings a bit better. But most importantly, I want to be still.... and listen..... and engage my surroundings with my eyes wide open.  And find that moment, that angle, that bit of wonder in the ordinary to capture and then share with the world. 

So it may seem a little anti-climactic, or confusing, to say that my challenge on the side is an Instagram challenge. I’m not hoping to capture a shot of a lifetime with my iPhone on Instagram. But the challenge does test me in consistency, discipline and looking around for a shot that will correspond to that day’s assignment. For that reason, I look forward to this challenge, and it will carry forth into grander ideas with my trusty DSLR. 

If you are on Instagram, connect with me!  My user name is saranades.

This post, aka Day 1 of My 500 Words, exceeded my thoughts and expectations. This is quite lengthy and I certainly did not plan on that, but it gives a good background of what I’m up to this month. If you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there. (And look at that! Exceeded 1500 words! Yes, I’m known to be an overachiever of sorts.... ) I’ll shoot for brevity another day... 

get inside your story... and begin

Every year, the week of my birthday, I take stock of where life is, where I’m at in it, what hopes / dreams / goals are for the coming year, what I would like to focus on, etc.  And I shared some of that here on my birthday eve.

And then I awoke on my birthday to a beautiful email. The friend who sent it, didn’t even know it was my birthday, which made it a true gift. It was authentic, God inspired, and just what I needed to receive that morning.  We were in a conversation about pursuing goals and dreams with what God had gifted us each to do. I had shared a few ideas about my photography and writing. And the advice I received is still ringing in my ears.... get inside your story.  The context was geared toward writing and losing yourself within the story being written. And to start anything, one must begin. Whatever it is in life, we must take a step, and then another, and then another.... we will never achieve, grow, or move forward, if we do not begin.  

Those two points flipped a switch in me. 

I resonated strongly with the point to get inside my story.  By nature, I’m a wallflower. An observer. I love to watch people. I have fears of both failure and success, thus I don’t try as hard as I could or ought.  And for several reasons, I tend to just sit on the sidelines of life and watch.  But as I get older, I have realized how much I would rather be on the field, in the game. I want to have a life full of interesting stories. But even more so, I want to be in the middle of the moment. I want to know that within an experience, I am taking it in, eyes wide open, and willingly participating. 

As a photographer, getting inside my story is key. The observer in me has taken many safe shots on the sidelines, courtesy of my handy-dandy zoom lens. I can be there without disrupting the moment. But that position has also made me miss out on some incredible shots and experiences because I didn’t want to get my hands dirty. I was too afraid to speak up or ask someone if I could get in the thick of it and be a recorder of the moment. 

But to get started and move in any direction that will be productive, it is essential I begin. 

Yesterday, I realized a month of my 39-ness has already passed, and I wanted to check in with myself as to how I am doing with my theme.

The month of October, I took my camera everywhere with me. I really sunk myself into as many moments as I could. I shot almost 2000 photos (most of them aren’t any good and will not see the light of day). Of course, it was easy to be inspired as the autumn leaves were peaking in the mountains and amazing sights surrounded me. It was a great month of just being, seeing, and living. 

I also focused on making time to write. Most of it was for me, just getting into the swing of writing again. It felt freeing to get words and thoughts out, especially thoughts or stories I’ve wanted to put down for a while. 

Now I will admit, the last couple of weeks have been swept up in holiday retail schedules. The leaves are down, so although my environment is still beautiful, the urgency to catch a tree or a leaf right at that moment is no longer there. And, to be honest, I get complacent easily. I, too often, let the mess in my head distract me from the moment. 

But even in the moments I didn’t produce something tangible, I have been aware of what is around me, I have been soaking in others’ words and contemplating them, using them as inspiration for a future work session. I also have been more proactive in sharing my work with others, listening to feedback and thoughts.  

I look forward to the next 30 days and what God has in store as I continue to put one foot in front of the other, pause here and there to listen, keep my camera handy, capture amazing snapshots of life, and string thoughts together on paper.  

The theme I want to live by this year motivates me. Just thinking it or saying it propels my imagination.  What does it say to you?

get inside your story.... and begin.

Flannel. Camera. Music.

A reawakening of sorts has happened.  Five weeks ago, I returned to Iowa for a high school reunion, but what started the trip is what reminded me of something I had forgotten. 

I LOVE solo road trips. 

I had taken many as a young gal in my twenties. Moving 600 miles away from home will do that. 

Just being able to drive and let my mind wander.... to play whatever music I wanted whenever I wanted.... to pit stop where and when I wanted .... I forgot how much I loved and craved that freedom and adventure. 

The positive takeaway is that when I embark on my commute to work each day, a mere 15 miles, I enjoy that time fully. I turn up the tunes and just soak in the sights around me. 

While I was driving the interstates across the midwest, I fell in love with the land of my roots all over again. But it was really the stretch of two-way highways between the city of my teens and the town of my childhood that made the biggest impact. 

The scenery was simply gorgeous to this midwestern girl. Fields were golden with cornstalks. Barns and farmhouses dotted the rolling hills. Teeny tiny towns forced a slowdown to 45 mph or possibly 35 mph. And I loved every mile of it. 

I hope I can return next year and create a robust portfolio of rural scenes, because I regretted not having the time to stop and take the photos I really wanted to. Fortunately,  this trip made me travel with my camera right by my side in the front seat. 

And I’m getting back in the swing of traveling with my camera more than I have in the last few years. The great percentage of my favorite shots are the fleeting moments that I practically missed. And I cannot count the passed opportunities because I didn’t have my companion with me. So I’m learning (again) that I must live with my camera. I think we make a good combination anyway. ;-)

Fall is, by far, my favorite time of year. When days get shorter, the temperature drops lower, the leaves turn magnificent colors of gold, orange and red. Another reason I love fall? I adore flannel. It is my dress code when I go out and shoot. It’s comfy, it feels great, and it epitomizes fall. I cannot get enough of it. 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been dreaming and brainstorming about life -- how to better work my passions into something more sustainable. When I have a day off, running errands around town, I’m struck with how deep the drive is to make a go of my art. Driving around, music turned up, in my flannel shirt, with my camera..... “THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO!!”  The force of the sensation is scary, yet exhilarating. But isn’t that the thrill??

Flannel. Camera. Music. I’m ready.