One of the things I appreciate about the March Slice of Life Challenge is that it really forces me to live a more writerly life. That is, it makes me pay attention and look out for possible writing topics all the time. What is happening? What am I thinking about? What have I seen? What have I heard? But once the challenge ends, I often find myself tuning out and living on autopilot, especially when I skip a week…or weeks. Of course, this leads to more skipping of weeks.
Well, last week was one of those weeks. Tuesday arrived and I just couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for writing. There was nothing to write about. (You and I know that’s not true, but it’s how I felt.) I told myself that I would absolutely not skip writing a Slice of Life next time. But did I open up my eyes, my ears, my heart as writer? No, no I did not.
However, I did stumble across an old book I used as a mentor text for notebooks–Syllabus by Lynda Barry. It’s an art professor’s collection of notes, drawings, and syllabi that she kept by hand. One of the pages that caught my eye was the Daily Diary. I haven’t kept a diary since I was in middle school and I’m not a real journaler, but this format seems very doable. You create a frame that has a space for the following: a list of about 7 things you did, a list of about 7 things you saw, something you heard someone say, and a drawing of something you saw. You spend just five minutes completing it.
“Your daily diary will teach you to to hear, see, and remember the world all around you.” I’m going to try it and I’ll let you know how it goes. Anyone else want to do it with me?
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