“How Do You Juggle So Much, Christina?” Part One: Doodle Wisdom

The topic of how to be a constructive doodler came up on my Facebook page recently.

So, I thought I’d share a little bit of my own doodle philosophy. As part of my “How do you juggle so much, Christina?” series.

Okay, so The First Rule of doodling your way to success, is to remember that you are not Debbie Ridpath Ohi. You are not a professional doodler, who doodles with the intention of sharing your squiggles with others. You are doodling for yourself, first and foremost, to help you figure stuff out and plan.

Exception: My friend, Sage Cohen, has been privy too many of my mad doodlings over the years and she always seems wowed by them, which is kinda funny since my second grader draws better than I do.

Rule Two: I keep a big sketch pad handy, and you should too, like the kind you get at the art supply store. Lately, Borders bookstores have had some fun over-sized pads with silly covers. You might want to scoop some up when they go on sale at the end of the year.

So be messy and don’t care. Got it?

Rule three: Nobody cares what you draw with. Sometimes I’m in the mood for pencil because I like the sound on the paper. But other times I pull out the colorful pen selection. You do whatever works for you, okay?

Good.

Rule Four: When you doodle is key. I never doodle when I’m uninspired. I doodle best when I’m inspired, which for me is typically when I have so many thoughts bursting out of my head it’s like one of those New Year’s poppers (you know where all the streamers come flying out?). When linear typing is just going to be an impediment to the process, I reach for my doodle pad and get it all down.

Try it. You’ll be amazed by what comes out.

And finally, Rule Five: Act on your doodles. There is gold in them thar’ squiggles. Seriously, whatever marching orders you find staring back at you from the page, you can test them out by asking one simple question. “Would I love to do this?”

If the answer is yes, do it.

And don’t second guess yourself, because the doodles…they know stuff.

Any questions, comments, complaints about doodling?

Photo credit: “Pola-doodle” by Plastic Bat