How to get attention, spice up your life and avert a midlife crisis in less than 400 easy steps

I’ve decided I want to start a new writing project. I’ve already released a fiction collection and I’m currently penning a novel, but I want to write something else regardless. (I’m a writer: I always want to start a new project, it’s in my nature. Whether I actually write anything down is another matter entirely.)

This project will be non-fiction. More to the point it will share a journey, but a journey for which I don’t have to do any travelling. Please don’t get me wrong, I’d love to travel but the odds are against me: I’m rubbish at saving money, I need a new passport, I’ve not even worked at eskimosoup for three months yet and I’ve got two other mouths to feed (albeit cat mouths, but they’re like mini black holes). So yeah, a journey that will enable me to enrich my life but which is low-cost, localised and long-term. Shouldn’t prove too difficult, surely?

Actually, yes it will. Of course it will. Bugger.

Then it hits me, the solution to my conundrum. There’s a nifty website called daysoftheyear.com (hence 'The DOTY Project') that gives information on… well, the days of the year. But it’s not the obvious ones like Christmas Day, Bonfire Night and Shrove Tuesday, it’s the lesser known ones that are quirky and extremely specific, such as VCR Day (how retro), Dress Up Your Pet Day (how amusing) and Hug a Plumber Day (how potentially perilous).

So what I’m going to do, and bear with me on this, is write a blog post every day in 2012. That’s 365 days, 365 blog posts, 365 random and possibly obscure things celebrated, marked or promoted. Oh, hang on a tick… Right, I’ve checked my calendar and 2012 is a leap year, so it’ll be 366 days. Challenge accepted!

In order to prepare myself for such a Herculean feat (he only had twelve tasks, I have 366!), I’m going to have a trial run the week commencing Monday 10th October. There are some real doozies that week, oh yes indeed. I won’t tell you what they are, although obviously you can check the website for yourself, but either way I promise it’ll make good reading. I prophesise that the whole project will be a rewarding journey, one of appreciation, experimentation and most likely a whole host of misunderstandings with hilarious outcomes. Stay tuned.

Oh, and just so you know, I’ve kind of already started. Today, Wednesday 28th September 2011, is Good Neighbour Day, and whilst walking down my terrace on the way home from work, I made a conscious effort not to dropkick any of the local toddlers, so I’m off to a good start. I do, however, have more pent-up aggression this evening than usual. What a difference a day makes.

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