Happy Llama Tuesday

How an Experiment with Words Turned into a Thing

The Story

In 2018, Tuesdays were my favorite day because new podcast episodes were published that morning. About the same time, I happened upon fun stickers in the Target stationary section that were llamas. It was something I had never seen before.

I used the stickers to record writing rejections, to decorate my planner, or just brighten somebody’s day on a notecard. At first, I thought a cartoon llama was an odd sticker but thought they were fun. The little party hat seemed appropriate somehow. I was drawn to the llamas. At that point, I didn’t realize how much of a lasting effect the llama would have on my life.

Tuesday is not the beginning of the week — it isn’t hump day — it isn’t Friday Eve- it’s just a normal ordinary “do what you need to do” day. When I needed to decide on my weekly PUSH meeting day, it was of course Tuesday! I decided it needed something special to liven it up that was my own. People make up holidays all the time so why not me? This was the day Llama Tuesday was born.

Llamas are a little ornery. They spit, they can be pretentious, and have a bit of an attitude. I think that Llamas and writers have a lot in common in these ways so I started to slip it onto the end of my blog posts. I was part of a teacher writer group and posted on Tuesdays. I figured this was the perfect venue to try out my new message.

I started posting a random “Happy Llama Tuesday” message in my regular Slack writing community on Slack and at the bottom of blog posts. At first, I didn’t offer any explanation. I just wanted to see if people would notice.

They noticed.

Now it is a regular practice and the tagline is “Happy Llama Tuesday — Celebrate accordingly!” So you might celebrate by being a little sassy that day or bring a smile to someone’s face. It is not the customary greeting which can catch people off guard pleasantly.

I invite you to celebrate Llama Tuesday today!