Iâm not super into goal-setting and new yearâs resolutions. Each December, I do some lowkey reflection exercises and daydream about the coming year. Itâs not very rigorous. I donât do SMART goals. And I rarely revisit or even think about my goals throughout the year.Â
But I do pick a word for the year, and this yearâs word is whimsy. Back in March, I wrote about how mere days after selecting this word, I attended a birthday party where a balloon artist spent an hour delighting guests with his whimsical creations: A monkey! A cow hat! A sword! A corsage!
Iâll be honest, my word for the year doesnât alwaysâĻ mean much. I donât write it at the top of my planner every day. I donât use it to guide every decision. In fact, I canât even remember what my 2025 word was. But picking a word for the year does help me notice things I might not have otherwise, and I think it subtly influences me more than I realize.
So, while I usually donât reflect on my word until the end of the year, I decided to do a little mid-year(ish) check-in. Hereâs where Iâve seen and embraced whimsy so far:
I made a hot air balloon suncatcher in a fused glass class at the library
I added some stamps to my stamp collection
I got a puppy in March (more work than whimsy, tbh)
I learned a new board game, Harmonies
I went ice skating and bought my own skates
I participated in a doodle-a-day challenge called Mart May (I only did about half of the prompts, but thatâs better than nothing!)
I did some Procreate lessons to practice making digital art on my iPad
I made a succulent fairy garden in another class at the library
Iâve designed, printed, packaged, and shipped lots of stickers and goodies for Snail Mail Summer!
Iâve started experimenting with some LEGO printmaking
I made my first zine
I got two Richard Scarry tattoos
Iâve collected several Inciardi Prints from mini print vending machines in Minneapolis and Portland
When I list everything out, it seems 2026 has been pretty damn whimsical! And I didnât even include the most recent, and possibly most whimsical, development: I bought a mini print vending machine.Â
I love everything about the trend Ana Inciardi started with Inciardi Prints. I love the whimsical images and the accessibility of a $1 piece of art and the collaborations with small businesses.Â
Iâve often thought, âOh, wouldnât it be cute to have my own little vending machine, but Iâm sure I wonât be able to find one for sale in rural Saskatchewan.â Well, God or the patron saint of whimsy or some other agent of fate stepped in, and I found oneâĻ immediately. Just a few hours away. Brand new. Beautiful.Â
My current vision is to create some Saskatchewan-themed mini prints using a printmaking technique like linocut or LEGO relief printing and take the vending machine to craft shows or station it in a local gift shop or gallery.Â
Full disclosure: I wasnât planning to really talk about this until after I did it. It feels vulnerable to share my plans because what if I donât follow through or my art is bad? It feels cringey to say âIâm gonna sell my art,â when Iâm barely comfortable calling myself an artist.
But OH WELL. Iâm talking about it anyway! And Iâm planning to post updates on Instagram â follow @wishful_working if youâre interested.Â
See you next week,
Kara
Out of Office
What I do when Iâm not at my desk
Reading: I recently revisited a book I first read a few years ago, The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna. Itâs about bravely pursuing the thing(s) you feel you must do while breaking free of the shoulds that hold you back. A very quick read full of lovely art and illustrations. Highly recommend if youâre a creative person and/or if youâre facing a âcrossroadsâ in your life.
Watching: We just watched season 1 of The Four Seasons on Netflix. The cast is great, and itâs pretty funny but also pretty awkward đ
Doing: We (read: my husband and brother-in-law) finished painting our house!! We painted the front and back last summer and finally did the sides last week, so itâs now 100% green, not 50% green and 50% awful, peeling off-white.
Kara Detwiller is a writer and creative based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn.
Why Wishful Working? I want to help people thrive in a world obsessed with work and productivity. Together, weâre expanding the definition of productivity, rediscovering life balance, and exploring the many kinds of work that make life possible.
