Thinking Book, AW Tasks Series, Word for 2026

 I've been doing a lot of thinking on paper since yesterday. Been working on getting my shit together. One thing I did this morning was (re)set up a Thinking Book, which is an idea I got from Rachelle in Theory on YouTube. She has several videos about this concept, but I just linked the most recent one, which actually walks you thru setting one up. I previously thought I was going to use the Vera Bradley spiral-bound notebook I got for my birthday, but I discovered the pages tore out too easily. This morning, though, I decided to break out the B6 Stalogy I won in a giveaway earlier this year. I've been looking for a use for that one since I got it! When I first got it, I tried using it as a bullet journal, but that didn't really work. This is going to be a much better use for it. My brain already feels a little lighter since I've done some brain dumping in it. Plus I ended up having a brilliant idea, which I will get to shortly.

First, a brief rundown of the concept of a Thinking Book. Basically it's one big brain dump space. It's a journal, mind mapping, project planning, sketching, brainstorming, whatever you need it to be in the moment notebook. It's something you can use when you need to work thru a problem you're having, get your ideas down in detail, or figure out how you're gonna get your shit together.

The most important thing to remember about it is this: You HAVE to get messy in it. That's the whole point. This is not a place for cute stickers and washi (unless they help you think thru something) or fancy layouts. It's not a planner or bullet journal. You can journal in it as part of the process, but you're not restricted to just words. You can draw, doodle, sketch, color code, all that good stuff.

On Friday, I attended one of Sarra Cannon's live Coffee Chats, and yesterday she posted a video about a planner she has set up for herself for a project she's calling Me, in Progress. She's been trying to map out a health/wellness/self-care plan for herself for the past few years. She was calling it Project 48/49 in reference to her age bc it's things she's trying to change by her next birthday. She changed the name bc "Project 50" is apparently some kind of fitness challenge going around on social media, so she wanted to avoid confusion bc this is not the same thing.

Well, I decided after watching both of those videos that I want to do something similar. I'm not limiting it to "by my next birthday" (and she isn't either, really, but it's kind of a timeline she's shooting for); rather, I'm looking at it as an ongoing project for pretty much the rest of my life.

So, I started brain-dumping a lot of stuff concerning my own version of MIP into my newly set up Thinking Book. And of course, one of the areas I want to focus on is writing. So, when I got to that, I wrote down "Blog" and "Artist's Way tasks." That's when it hit me...

Remember how I was debating whether or not to try putting my AW tasks onto sticky notes? Well, I did that. Alex happened to get me the cutest little mini clipboard/desktop easel for Christmas. It's perfect for this! I have only put Week 1 tasks on it so far bc I didn't want to overload it with sticky notes. What I'll do is whenever I complete a task, I'll take off that sticky note and replace it with a Week 2 task. I'll keep going until I'm caught up.

Now, I still haven't done any of those tasks...yet. But here's where the Thinking Book and this blog come into play. (Speaking of PLAY, that's my word for 2026! More on that later.) So, when I wrote down "Blog" and then "Artist's Way tasks" underneath it, that sparked the idea. Why not turn those tasks into BLOG POSTS?! Duh!!! Why didn't I think of it sooner?!

Introducing the Artist's Way Tasks Series! 😁

Each one of my AW tasks is going to become a post here on this blog. Even "Take your inner artist for a walk." I can blog about that experience! Why not?

So, what I'm going to do after publishing this post is start drafts for each of the tasks. They're not going to be in book order. I'm just going to keep them all in drafts and publish each one when I finish it. Cool, right?

Even though I am doing it this way, I still reserve the right to work on a task offline in a notebook or Word. The point is to DO them by any means necessary. But then I'll transcribe them here afterward. (Or copy/paste if I do it in Word.)

Now on to the subject of my word of the year. I decided on this a couple of weeks ago-ish, again while attending a live Coffee Chat. Seriously, y'all, if you haven't checked out Sarra Cannon or Heart Breathings by now, please do so, especially if you're a writer. Anyway, her Coffee Chats are super inspiring and fun. They're usually on Fridays at 4 pm Eastern time. So, during the CC, she and the chat started sharing their picks for their word of the year. Mine popped into my head almost immediately--PLAY. I want to continue playing with my writing, and I want to bring that aspect of playfulness into other areas of my life. It was inspired mainly by this year's word, (EN)JOY. I didn't want to just repeat the same word, but I wanted something similar to continue the momentum I've started building with my writing. Hence, PLAY.

Well, starting those drafts is gonna have to wait bc I just got a text from Ronal asking if we can do some work. But I will come back to this! I've written down the idea in a place where it will not get lost! Bye for now!