A Day for Red Dresses

I remember reading a book whose author referred to something she called the Red Dress project or goal. I can't remember either the title or author (my apologies to whoever you are!) but the term stuck with me. A Red Dress is the project you're so excited about that you wake up & go to bed thinking about it, you have to keep a notepad next to your bed because you're generating so many ideas around it, and you lose all sense of time while you're working on it.

I suppose that the opposite of a Red Dress would be a Gray Suit - something you're doing because there's a lot of demand for it or because Writers Market says it's a hot topic to cover (but it doesn't float your boat) or because everyone else thinks you're good at it and should therefore do it for the rest of your life.

I've worked on my share of Gray Suits, and some of them have paid off. But an entire wardrobe of them leaves me feeling uninspired. And what's the point of "having a life" if the life doesn't feel much different than work sometimes does?

After learning about the Red Dress idea, I decided to always have a Red Dress to work on. I've found that having just one project I'm really jazzed about gives me the energy to tackle the Gray Suit jobs as well. One red piece makes a closet full of gray look just a little better.

Today, celebrate Valentine's Day by giving yourself permission to choose a Red Dress if you don't already have one, or to work on yours if you do.