Questions for Planning a Creative Year

Thinking about your creative year for 2024

Dec 27, 2023

When we give time and conviction to the importance of our creative life, we validate it in ways that are potentially life-altering. What better way to go into a new year?

This post is part of a year-end/New Year set that includes year-end reflection, a year-end sketchnote, and planning questions for the new year.

Get Ready for a Fresh Page and a Sparkly New Creative Year!

Both year-end reflection and new-year planning are important, and I really believe there is tremendous value in doing these things with a creative lens, focusing on our creative successes, challenges, pivots, evolutions, areas of focus, discoveries, projects completed, wishes, interests, potential (and followed) rabbit holes, and creative goals for the new year. This deliberate and intentional focus makes our creative lives more tangible, more real, and more important in the mix of our day to day. When we give time and conviction to the importance of our creative life, we validate it in ways that I think are necessary, potentially life-altering, and so very important.

I hope that you make time for these processes — both the reflection and the planning — as the year winds down and the new one begins. Everyone does this on a different schedule or cycle. You might do it earlier than others or later; you might do it more expansively than others or more quickly. You might still be working on this in January or not even start until January. It all counts. And it is all for you in terms of the value and potential in taking time to sit quietly and look back to what was and then look ahead to what might be.

How was the year for you in terms of your creative life? Maybe you had or devoted extra time to making art, to drawing, or to creating mindful work in your sketchbook or journal. Maybe you tried new projects, explored a new area of interest, or did a deep dive. Maybe you completed challenges. Maybe you started and didn’t finish challenges but found the process was still meaningful. Maybe certain projects were simply not the “right time” and may still resurface later. Maybe you made and nurtured creative friendships. Maybe you took part in a virtual or in-person drawing group. Maybe you drew from coffee shops or tried urban sketching. Maybe you didn’t do the things you wanted, put projects aside, or didn’t find a community to support you. Maybe life got in the way. Maybe your creative year was frustrating or challenged in ways that were difficult to navigate. Probably your year was a mix of these things.

Knowing what worked, what didn’t, and why is important for determining a path to change and setting intentions for the new year.

I hope that you look ahead to 2024 with fresh eyes, hope, and resolve to continue to make creativity an important and routine part of your life.

Year After Year – They Slip by Quickly

I have used the same set of questions for the last several years, but each year, I find that my own mindset moving into the year’s end is a little bit different. As the years pass, I notice I am more and more the same year to year, but there are always small differences. The words I wrote a few years ago feel true this year, too:

I am more settled in my creative life than in years past.
I have found sustaining projects that have meaning for me even if they are not always a flurry of newness and excitement.
My focused illustrated journal practice supports my interest in simplification and mindfulness.

My creative life may look mundane from the outside, but it is thoughtful and balanced. It is personally inspiring and rewarding. It works and fits within the contours of my time, space, and money. Most importantly, I love what I do. The creative projects that occupy most of my energy are ones I find great comfort and satisfaction in doing.

The Illustrate Your Week illustrated journal continues to be my ride or die, my most important project, and the creative space in which I spend the most time. It is the one creative thing I do every day and is my most intentional and fulfilling creative routine. It is fluid, flexible, and mindful. Plus, it combines illustration and personal documentation in ways that have meaning for me.

I do all kinds of creative projects and challenges, but the illustrated journal is my daily and is the thread that runs through the year.

I hope to work on my year-end sketchnote this week. I appreciate the big picture, visual list it provides.

I don’t expect much to change creatively in the new year. Even though the contours will likely stay the same, I know that I need to do at least a little bit of planning for the new year. That’s where the questions below come in.

A Two-Part Process

In 2017, I came up with a set of questions for thinking about the coming/new year. I am going to use them again this year. The questions below pair up as a logical follow to my year-end creative review questions.

This set of questions is specifically for planning your creative year. Nothing you write here is set in stone, but your answers to these questions may help you see the big picture of your year, identify the direction you want to take, highlight habits you want to work, or underscore changes you may want to make.

Note: I have left the questions below the same as in prior years. I am using them as a touchstone and starting point for thinking about a fulfilling, rewarding, healthy, balanced, and exciting creative year in 2023.

Sorting Out My Plan for a Creative Year

What is your topmost creative goal for the year?
Are you doing a daily or 365 (total) project? If so, what is your plan?
Do you have other “daily” creative tasks/goals planned? List them.
Do you have “weekly” creative tasks/goals planned? List them. (“Weekly” means you hope to do x once a week.)
Do you have “monthly” creative tasks/goals planned? List them. (“Monthly” means you hope to do x once a month.)
Do you plan to participate in any monthly challenges? List them by month.
What projects or explorations do you plan to do (other than any 365 or monthly challenges)? List them in order of interest or planned sequence.
What projects, not yet listed, are bucket list projects that you would like to do “someday” and keep putting off and carrying into the future?
Of your bucket list projects, which one is most important to you? Is it something you could tackle this year? Why or why not? What is in the way? (Are there any bucket list projects that you are ready to let go and remove from the list?)
Is there an area, material, or medium you would like to explore? (If so, what?) What holds you back? Could you make this happen this year?
Do you plan to take classes or workshops this year? If so, list them.
If you have multiple “daily” creative goals, look at your list and estimate how much time they might take (all together).
Is this amount of time possible in your day? (If not, return to the “daily” list and really look closely at what you want to do daily versus, for example, weekly or monthly.)
How do you “feel” when you look at your list of projects? (If your list inspires anything less than positive thought and excitement, you may need to reevaluate! If your list overwhelms you, definitely look again!)
Does your list of projects and goals/tasks allow room for discovery, flexibility, and “new” projects that will arise? If not, look closely at your list to make sure you have flexibility. This is very important! Things always come up that you didn’t plan on. You don’t want to lock yourself in for the year. You want room to take on new things that spark interest!
What one goal can you meet in the first month of the year to make you feel good about your creative life? (You should repeat this question in advance of every month.)
What is your word for the year? (If you don’t know yet, what words are you considering?)
How do you summarize your creative life or art to someone else? (1-3 sentences.)
How does that summary make you feel?
What makes you happiest or brings you the most satisfaction in your creative life?
What would you like to change about your creative life?
What steps can you take to bring about that change?
How will you keep yourself on track this year to meet your goals for your creative life? (In other words, do you have an accountability system or partner? Do you need one? How could you create a system that gives you just the right nudge?)

Panning for Gold – Sifting Projects for the New Year

🎧 A podcast in early 2019 summarizes my approach to starting off the year with “all the things” (e.g., “all the projects”) and seeing what sticks. You might like this one, even if you’ve heard it before. You might also find this show on starting where you are helpful.

Good luck, and Happy New Year!

Related Resources

WOTY (Word of the Year) thinking is important in these days, as is creating book lists, project lists, and more.

Books that may be a good fit for you as you think about 2024:

This post is an update of last year’s post. Older posts on this topic: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017.