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First Post

I have no idea what to write about, or even how to express myself. I'm not a writer.

 Hi, I'm Dani, an illustrator (but currently a WoW addict supported by a relentless husband and family business), and I'm stuck in a loop I would like to call "The Nothing". I decided to start this blog to document my daily attempts to escape Nothing and find my mojo again. I haven't drawn anything worth mentioning in 18 months.

 I'm not really sure how I got myself stuck in Nothing, but here's how it is-- There isn't much in life that I don't find boring. I have lost interest in just about anything, including cooking. The only thing that I can tolerate doing is playing  WoW. I'm not sure why, but it offers a shut-in like me some kind of easy enjoyment without having to leave my home. I'm not really saying that being a shut-in is necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it works for some, but I can say that it's not making me happy.

 Before Nothing, I had a life and aspirations-- I had just completed a course about starting a small business (the one I'm still planning to start 18 months later), I was running an active sketch group locally, I was in the process of writing a comic with a classmate from uni, and I was even creating some concept-art for a small game project by two talented game-developers. I had a daily schedule and a very detailed Trello to-do list with deadlines and goal break-downs. All these projects turned into anxieties, and one by one got consumed by Nothing.

 I know what you're thinking-- The Nothing took over my life because I'm a reactive person who is blaming everything on circumstance and others, not on herself. Believe me, I'm not a reactive person. I know that the most successful people are the ones who like to think everything is their fault.

 Today I decided that I want to get out of this. I still can't muster-up half a decent sketch though. I can't bare  the thought of holding a brush or wiping the dust off my tablet. I don't want to smell the aroma of my recipes or hear the sizzle of my cast-iron pan. I hate the thought of booking a ticket and hopping on an airplane to visit my beloved friends/relatives. I can't force myself to go through the boredom of going out for a coffee with my husband.

 So.. I'm still telling myself that I'm not a reactive person, yes?
Come tomorrow, I'm going to research and implement one strategy a day. Just one thing that will help me find my mojo, and I'm going to blog about it.. because why should I have to do it alone..... assuming anyone else bothers to read this ;-)

According to "How to Write a Lot" by Paul J. Silvia-- To ensure a project's success, one needs (1) a scheduled time to stick to, (2) a simple break-down of daily tasks (a to-do list that you scratch off to get a sense of accomplishment), and last but not least, a deadline.

The general daily break-down of tasks

  • 8:30 (before taking the dogs out)
    Research and reading
  • Blog about chosen idea
  • 11:00 (after dogs and break)
    Blog about implementation (compose "the sense of
    accomplishment to-do list")
  • Implementation
  • Blog about the results (with images and such)

This list will of course be subject to change based on what I find works or doesn't throughout the iterations.

My deadline? It's really hard to set a long-term one. Perhaps when "The Nothing" has been defeated and erased from existence! Let's say (for now) that my daily deadline is to be done before 15:00

Let's do this!

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