Week In The Life™ 2018 | Q&A
As we get closer to embarking on the 2018 Week In The Life™ I wanted to start off with a Q+A post using questions collected from the Craft The Story™ and Week In The Life™ Facebook Groups.
Just a reminder that the "official" documenting week will start on May 7th. During that week I'll share my words and photos each day on my blog and then I'll start the process of putting my album together after that week.
Also, here's a post I wrote last year in advance of this project that might be helpful: Things I've Loved + Things I've Learned.
Check out all my past Week In The Life™ blog posts here (includes word + photo posts and completed album posts). Also, here's a Getting Ready post from 2016 with some good tips.
Let's dive in:
Susanne // I would love to know if you had a rough time estimate for the chipboard to be back in stock please?
Hi Susanne - unfortunately we are not restocking that product this year. Our hope is to adjust future quantities of the chipboard sets to be able to meet more of the demand. Since the chipboard set is produced in China it has a much longer lead time than other products we can get in the warehouse.
Kelly // Will you do a vlog for WITL like you did for your last DITL?
Hi Kelly - I don't think so. I am really looking forward to focusing on the photography aspect of this project. I loved doing video for that last Day In The Life™ and I'll probably do that again in the future but for this project it just feels like too much. That said, you never know what I might decide at the last minute.
Stefanie // Are any of the creative team members using the 3x8 album? All the unboxing vids had the 6x8 - I am hoping for some inspiration from any of the ladies.
Hi Stefanie - yes, a few of them are using the 3x8 album and I can't wait to see how it goes for them. I know Brandi, Ingunn, Lory, Lisa and Jenny for sure. You can find links to each of them here.
Also heads up that these have been restocked and are now available.
Sarah // How much do you plan ahead and how much is in the moment? If you do some pre-planning, how do you keep track during the week when you've captured those photos and stories?
Hi Sarah - for this project I really don't plan too ahead much. I rely more on my past experience which has taught me that I don't have to take photos of EVERY SINGLE THING throughout the week in order to love my end result. I almost always go back through my past projects just to remind myself of what I've loved from those albums - that helps me think a bit about whether I want to change my approach at all for this year.
In terms of keeping track I keep all the photos organized in a separate Week In The Life™ folder in my photo management program (still using Aperture). I don't usually break them into daily folders but you could easily do that. I upload my photos at the end of each day and then also create a blog post each evening that includes my photos and words from the day. That blog post then becomes the content that I simply copy and paste into my album when I get to that part of the process (I don't do any "making" in the album itself until after the week is over - I just focus on words + photos during the week).
I've done a few different things for keeping track of the stories/words during the day. Some years I have used Daily Sheets and other times I just use that time at the end of the day while I'm uploading and reviewing photos to come up with the words I want to go along with the photos. Some times I've also used Instagram to hold stories related to some photos - meaning whatever I type into the caption on IG is what I end up using in my blog post and then in my album.
Here's a link to a blog post that includes what I did to get started last year.
Lori // Following the same “set up” so to say for documenting each day makes getting the project done a little easier. Do you get your plan together ahead of time or just see how the first day goes and copy that the rest of the week?
Most of the time I don't usually have it all planned out in advance. Last year I did a little more pre-planning but I think that was mainly opening up the kit and thinking about where things might go. Most of the time my album follows some kind of design rhythm throughout the week. I almost always have more content at the start of the week and less at the end of the week. As I have less content at the end of the week I usually make adjustments to design plan as needed.
I would say that often when I begin the process of putting the album together is when I finalize any kind of actual formula I might follow within the design.
Mary Sara // How do you determine what pictures to take and then use? Some things we do are repeated daily and others are not. How do you decide if you want to take what pictures including food pictures? I tend to end up with a lot of food pictures and then wonder why I took so many pictures of food.
When I am taking photos for this project I am really looking to capture what makes up the pieces of my life right now. What am I into? What am I doing over and over? Where do I go? Who do I talk to?
I focus on the following (for more on my vision/voice related to memory keeping check out my Lens Of Joy workshop):
Relationships // How are people within my family connecting right now? Who am I chatting with or hanging out with? Who is part of our tribe/team at this time? I love photos where people are not looking at the camera - I love this project so much for simply giving me the opportunity to be an observer of my own life.
Nature // What's happening outside this time of year?
Loving // What are we all into right now? What are we reading? What are we watching? What are the words we are saying to each other (or what are the words you are saying to friends)?
Eating // Photos of food definitely find their way into my album but I don't at all feel like I need to include each meal of each day (for me I couldn't fit that into my album with all the other photos I want to include).
Self-portraits // It's important to see myself in my story so I definitely make a point to use my timer and get myself into my shots during this week even more so than other times when I'm just doing random documentation.
I think one thing to remember is that you don't have to photograph or write out every single detail of the week. I would encourage you to challenge yourself to go beyond the food photos (unless that's a piece of the project you really love) - what else can you show us about what your life looks like right now.
There have also been times in the past where I have taken the same shot every day - one year that was of me sitting at my table eating lunch. Picking one specific thing to repeat each day is another way to have a bit more consistency/design/story rhythm in your album.
Traci // If using prompts like watching, listening, reading, moving, driving, do you use them each day or spread them throughout the week? Do you set up//orchestrate photos or go with the flow? Do you make a list of things you want to be certain to not miss during that week?
Hi Traci - some years I have used a prompt each day to focus my journaling and other times I've tracked by time and see what I came up with at the end. I think it would be fun to use those -ing words as a story-focus for each day. For many people the simplicity of that kind of focus definitely makes the project that much more do-able.
I don't usually make a list of things I don't want to miss during the week because I feel that if it's really that important it will end up being captured. I have done this project so many times that I welcome a bit of flexibility to see how I actually feel during the documenting week vs. putting too many constraints or "must do's" on myself.
That said, if this is your first time I think setting up some parameters for yourself might be really smart.
Traci // Do you have photo heavy days? How do you handle a photo heavy day: multiple pages, pick one or two from the day, layered templates to get as many photos as possible?
Generally my photo heavy days are at the beginning of the week. When I have photo-heavy days I usually do in a couple of directions:
Add 4x6 photos that are adhered back to back and hole-punched and added to the album. Love doing this.
Use the 2x2 page protector to be able to include a bunch of small photos.
Go full page and sometimes use Layered Templates to be able to include more photos. Lots of options for layered templates in a few sizes can be found here. New ones for 2018 coming soon.
Again, I don't use every photo I take during the day. Photos that don't get used in this project often end up in Project Life® or are used to tell other stories in my traditional albums.
Tina // Are there going to be daily sheets sized for story planner?
Hi Tina - yes, I will be creating those and releasing them before the documenting week.
Alyssa // Do you think you'll alter any of the pieces? (painting the wood veneer, cutting the rubber pieces, etc.)
Hi Alyssa - I think it's possible that I will paint the wood veneer pieces and cut the rubber pieces. Those are decisions I usually leave for after the documentation week.
Kin Jal // As there are some elements with only six (rubber and hexagons), how will you approach the normal "repeating" formula for 7 days?
Hi Kin Jal - my plan is likely going to be to include one of those large embellishments each day - either the oval or the hexagon. Any leftovers I have can be used in other projects. I don't always repeat with exactly the same design from day to day - there are usually a few elements that are repeated to create cohesion and others that are added as accents depending on the stories of the day.
Lacey // My life is pretty mundane right now... empty nesters, but raising the "twin toddlers " puppies
