Soulvember

Last year at this time, I was frantically embarking on one of the craziest challenges I’ve done to date – National Novel Writing Month, a project of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s an average of 1,667 words a day, in case you were curious. I made the decision (with great turmoil) to forgo the challenge this year – although it was a fantastic rush, there are a bunch of other projects with loose ends right now that need my attention. So, since I’m hopelessly addicted to challenges and I work best under pressure, I am going to make my own challenge for the next thirty days, and call it Soulvember.

Soulvember is a cleanse of sorts, and also a hustle, as I’m attempting to tie up a bunch of those loose end projects before the end of the year, as well as pushing myself creatively to a high degree. I think finishing these projects will be a big relief and will free up a lot of mental and creative space for new ideas and new projects. I’m one of those people that gets stuck in “idea phase” for the longest time, just spinning my wheels. So this month is about getting those ideas out of my head, getting creative traction and making something with/of them. Produce, produce, produce! Which is really the goal of NaNoWriMo anyway, to produce and create like crazy – then worry about the polishing later. So I’m just redirecting my NaNo energies in a different direction this year – the several hours a day I would have spent writing my 1,667 words will be spent this year on these goals:

1. Morning Private Victories (Jess Lively does a great job of explaining this habit)

2. Finish the website updates that are in the works for Evergreen Lane.

3. Be caught up on all current classwork by the end of 2013 (I sign up for online class after online class and I need to just DO THE WORK! I think I have maybe 4 Skillshare classes and a few others).

4. Record some original music (and maybe play it for someone other than my cat).

5. Pick out dining chairs and lamps for the apartment.

6. Plan out and start writing Evergreen Lane newsletter content for a 2014 launch.

7. Rough draft that e-book idea.

8. Post two videos on the blog this month.

9. Try out a few of those new blog post ideas that have been sitting in my drafts folder forever.

10. Do another 30×30 clothing challenge (no shopping!) – read more about one of my previous challenges here.

11. Create blog content out of last year’s NaNoWriMo.

12. Design + order Christmas cards.

I’m hoping that posting my intentions will create the motivation I need to get my butt moving on these things that are hanging out, taking up space in the back of my head. I might not get them all done (in fact, I probably won’t), and that’s ok. But there’s few things I like more than crossing things off lists, and even if I only cross 4 or 5 off of this list of the 12, that’s more than I have crossed off today! I already know it’s gonna feel so good.

So, are there some ideas or to-do list items that are important but not urgent that have been taking up your mental space for too long? Want to join me on a little Soulvember cleanse and knock them out at last via a little extra hustle? I’d love to hear about your own tips and tricks for getting ideas out into the world!