Tuesdays' Two Cents: Collage Your 2009

Is it time to think about what you may want to accomplish in 2010?  If you're the type of person who likes to look ahead with some sort of plan, no matter how simple it may be, than I suppose it is time for you to do that.  I contend that first, though, a simple look back over the past year is needed.  Create a sort of mental collage of what went on in  your creative life over the past 12 months.  If you're really ambitious, you could make a real collage, using bits of photos, words, or magazine cutouts to show what your year was like.  For my purposes, I think a mental collage would be sufficient.  I think you could do it by months, or events, or even by seasons.  Some things will stand out:  a special exhibit you were in, a place you learned something new for your work, a person who had an influence on your creativity.   Maybe times when you were out of the flow, so to speak, and see if there was a pattern so you'll be ready to recognize it when it hits again. Do you remember anything you did to get out of that blocked period?   Did you discover any new places for inspiration of your work?   Places that gave you peace and quiet to think about your work?  Places perfect for photo inspiration?    What did you do in the past year that you're ready to leave behind as no longer useful to your life?  Perhaps you're ready to let go of some online groups or resources that you'll still dealing with regularly and no longer seem to be offering anything useful?  You can get in ruts on your online contacts........maybe it's time to reevaulate them.  Are you ready to give up or add on your online list, be it twitter, facebook, groups, you tube.........whatever.  Do you think there was a lot of wasted time fretting needlessly over things you cannot control? Do you want to keep doing that in the next year?   How did you deal with staying creative last year........did you make your intentions clear to yourself so you had something to fall back on during those dry spells? Did you make an idea jar and just pick something and force yourself to work for ten minutes on a small project whether you felt like it or not?  Or did you just punish yourself for  not having good ideas?  did a messy studio keep you outside looking in?   Did you buy new supplies that are still sitting on a shelf waiting to be used?   How many books did you buy and actually use for your work?   Did you find supporters of your field of interest.....either online or in person?  Can you think of the single most important thing that happened that influenced you in your creative process.......will you keep doing it?  Did you honor your need to create, regardless of what others may have said, implied, or otherwise caused you to doubt yourself?  What did you learn to do to keep your creative fires alive?   Who can you count on to help with that?  did you remember to be grateful for your talents and use them to help others if you could?   whew!  that's quite a list I just wrote, and I guess I could go on.  Maybe doing something like this would work for you.  Taking a mental inventory......or creating a mental collage, of what happened, what helped, what didn't, and what sabotaged your creative endeavors.  THEN, you'd be ready to proceed with creating a vision of your mental collage for 2010.  I hope it will be one that will drive you to higher success, however you define that in your life.  and now, I'll start answering those questions for myself in the next few days, so come January lst, I'll have a clearer picture of what I'll be concentrating on in the New Year.