I started this project in 2025 with the aim to write 'poem' a day. This was partly because I've always struggled with poetry - being much more drawn to prose. I thought that perhaps if I wrote poetry it might help me to appreciate it more - and certainly to read it more.

I made four blank notebooks (with material from Learn Bookbinding) filled one for each quarter of the year. At times it was easy, at other times almost impossible. Mostly I managed one each day, but occasionally I would end up with a run of 4 or 5 days to compose. In the beginning I experimented with styles of writing, but by the end it was primarily short sharp blank verse.

I really enjoyed the project - I have always been a diary writer so I didn't find the discipline of daily writing too irksome. I tried not to over think them by scribbling a draft in a notebook and then copying it out hardly altered. some of them seem to work, others less so, some are utter rubbish. But I did it.

What did I learn?
I was interested to see that the focus of my diary writing often wasn't the focus of my poem.
It allowed me to explore emotions and ideas through a different lens - especially more speculative areas where I was trying to put myself in someone else's shoes for example.
And yes, I have read a bit more poetry - and am prepared to work at it in a way that I never would have done.

In 2026 I didn't want more poetry - I felt that it might just become a chore. I decided to go for sketching instead and made myself 12 little concertina notebooks (my own plan using stuff I already had). When I started in January I was drawn to black ink and to sketching something from each day. it would have been an interesting exercise to continue this throughout the year, but I decided to vary things, introducing new 'rules' each month. Some were easier to stick to than others. 'Only things inside' did include outside things and abstract patterns from life became more figurative. I'm trying not to mind! I'm currently only 6 months in, but have ideas to get me through the next 6. As for next year...I'm thinking that a daily stitching routine might be the way to go - but my planning hasn't got any further than that.