Here We Are

This day. This year. The start of the next four years.

On Sunday mornings twice a month, I host a Writing as Resistance group. People come with ideas and coping strategies, a willingness to connect and find meaning, and they write beautiful things and I hang onto it, look forward to it, spend time finding brilliant words to share with the group.

A member of the group, Alison Johnson, shared with us her plan to make something every day during the next administration. As soon as she said it, it made a home in my chest and started to take root. (Thank you, Alison.)

I've decided to make one small drawing a day for the next four years. It's a small thing but it's a commitment to stay in my creativity, to devote a few minutes of each day on the power of making something.

Making the first one was uncomfortable. The idea of 1,459 more to do is daunting. I didn't love my first sketch and started over, deciding to try a collage. I realized it's not about the end result. It's not about how many there are and it's definitely not about whether each one is "good" or not. And I'm not sure I can completely articulate what it is about at this point. I think I will figure that out as I go. I often tell my students that you have to write into the meaning of your work, that you can’t know everything until you’ve stacked up some pages. This is a visual exercise in this concept.

When I invest in creativity, either my own or someone else's, it is always time well spent. This was always how I wanted to live. Even in the years when I was lost in my addiction, all I really wanted was to find a way to live in art. There are two things I know about my life right now: I love to make things and I love to support other people who are making things. Whether that's my son, my friends, or my students.

I started with a few supplies I had on hand.

These are artist trading cards, blank cards that are 2.5 “ by 3.5”. You can buy them in many art supply stores.

Gray scale markers.

A traveling watercolor block with a paintbrush that screws inside its bottom half to protect the bristles.

Day one.

I imagine this entire wall covered in drawings over time and the way it will feel to build it.

I want to invite you to join me in this practice. Each week, I will post one of the drawings from the previous 7 days and I invite you to start your own practice and post what you've made in the comments. Let's become a community of art makers. You don't have to be a paid subscriber for this and you can make anything- a poem, needlepoint, pottery, a piece of flash nonfiction or fiction, a photo, anything at all. I will comment on every post I see. You also don’t have to commit to every single day. Whatever feels right for you.

I will still post the occasional essay or thoughts here as I have been for the last year.

And for paid subscribers, I will be posting writing prompts from some of my classes about twice a month.

I don't know how your day is going and I have no idea what the next four years will be like but I do know I will keep making art and supporting other artists and writers because that is where I find meaning and joy. Join me, won't you?

Thank you for reading.