Category Archives: Creativity

Post It Note Poetry 2015 Recap Week 3

How have you been going this week? Have you had a chance to write something?

Here is this week’s recap of my Post It Note Poetry. You can also see the recaps for Week 1 and Week 2.

They are posted in reverse order (Sunday 22 Feb – Monday 9 Feb) and I’ve added in the inspiration behind each poem. 

This week involved a lot of trawling through my notebook and pilfering half written ideas.

image

This poem was sparked by a random song lyric on the radio this morning on my way to playing drums at church this morning. 

image

This poem came out of a line in my notebook about ourselves being a minotaur, a hybrid of the things we have created, and putting ourselves in a maze we created. 

image

Another line from my notebook, sparked by one time when I was filling the ice cube tray. Sometimes I fill it cube by cube; other times I cascade the water until it is full. What does that say about my character?

image

No one remembers milk bars anymore; they are a relic of the past. I love watching the patterns made my shadows. Notebooks for the win for ideas.

image

Getting my wordy geek on. Finishing off a poem I was going to write last year (at about this time) as a longer exploration. Instead, the brevity worked better.

image

Another notebook find. I’m not happy with the end section of this poem; it is inconsistent with the first part. 

image

I do not remember how this one came about as it was not an idea I took from my notebook. A photograph is, for me, a snapshot of one moment, one experience. It serves as a reminder of what was, but doesn’t speak of what will be.

Final Note

For the last week of the official Post It Note Poetry season, I thought I’d go for a remix week. I will take a line from the previous day’s poem as the basis for the next poem. Starting Monday I will write a new poem, and Tuesday will be the first remix.

A Little Prompting #4

Welcome to the fourth A Little Prompting.

Are you finding some good ideas? What is inspiring you?

When I am compiling the prompts, the focal point could be the theme, the sensory suggestion or a quote. In this case, it’s the song. The groove and quiet delivery of the vocals that intrigue me in this song. One of my favourites to hear on the radio  when I was growing up.

THEME Isolation 
RANDOM LINE PROMPT She felt the coolness of the vinyl bench seats warming to human contact.
PHOTOGRAPH TN_isolation-

http://www.artshole.co.uk/justinebeckett.htm

SONG/MUSIC VIDEO Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner 
SENSORY SUGGESTION The taste of bitter, burnt coffee.
QUOTE Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth – Oscar Wilde

 

Post It Note Poetry 2015 Recap Week 2

This week I did not follow a theme for titles or content; I let the ideas sprout where they were sown. I might do a week of another theme or a week of found poetry. Haven’t decided yet. Or I might scatter some more seeds and see what comes out of the compost heap.

You can catch up on Week 1 here.

They are posted in reverse order (Sunday 15 – Sunday 8 February)

image

image

image
image

image

image

image

 

image

Which poem strikes a chord with you and why?

 

A Little Prompting #3

So, how have you all been doing with these prompts? Have they been useful? Have they sparked ideas you’ve planted like seeds in your notebook? Nothing yet?

Here is this week’s prompts.

THEME Invisible in Plain Sight
RANDOM LINE PROMPT Pages were torn from the book, not with rage or fury, but with meticulous care, guided by the ruler’s wooden edge and placed in order upon the dining room table.
PHOTOGRAPH kevin-carter-vulture-and-child

Kevin Carter http://brigitteofseon.wordpress.com/

SONG/MUSIC VIDEO Pink Floyd – On the Turning Away
SENSORY SUGGESTION A child’s red t-shirt spotted in the middle of a crowd
QUOTE If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see – Henry David Thoreau

Post It Note Poetry 2015 Recap Week 1

It is the end of the first week of #postitnotepoetry.

I have collated here the first seven poems. This series of poems began after I heard a song titled, “Things To Do In Winter” and it inspired the idea of a loosely linked thematic suite.

Instead of seasons, I chose days of the week. Each day of the week was prefaced with an idea. In my notebook I hastily scribbled down a list of potential ideas and throughout the course of the week amended, deleted or built upon the idea for the day. 

Some poems were easier to write, others took longer to compost and come to fruition. I was surprised at the thematic darkness of some of the poems as it was not the initial intention; only in the repeated readings did the layers of darker interpretation emerge.

It made me wonder whether I was subconsciously channeling a darker theme, or purging the darkness within. I think that’s another blog post/poem in itself.

image

image

image
image

image
image

image

If you want to join in the fun of #postitnotepoetry, grab a pen, a wad of Post It Notes and write. Take a photo it and upload it to twitter with the hashtag #postitnotepoetry

A Little Prompting #2

Welcome to the second A Little Prompting, a set of ideas to help you unlock your creativity. Use them as inspiration, a starting point, a brainstorm, practice.

You can find the first set of prompts here.

If you are looking for something to get your creative ideas flowing, check out this week’s set of prompts.

Theme – The power of flight

Random Line Prompt – He tied the towel around his neck, a makeshift superhero cape and pulled a pair of red underpants over his jeans

Image – Flight

 http://yowayowacamera.com/banana/

Song/Music Video – Hilltop Hoods – Chase That Feeling

Sensory Suggestion – The smell of warm paper churning from the photocopier

Quote – Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes – Mahatma Gandhi

HAPPY CREATING!

Drafts and Sketches

I am no visual artist; I draw occasionally or scribble on the whiteboard when I am teaching to illustrate a point. I am in awe of what artists create but I also love seeing the progression of the image.

I like to see the process, the development of an idea from conception to completion. I am in the middle of looking at some ideas to work out some plot structures and it made me think of an artist and its applicability to writing.

The first draft of a new story is like the initial sketch or drawing. The form is laid out but the detail is lacking. 

The novella I am working on (estimating a finished first draft by the end of March) is, right now, a sketch. The outline is there and the more I write, the more the form and detail is taking shape. I know that with subsequent edits and rewrites it will become more clarified and clearer.

With each new draft, with each passing edit, the image is revealed in finer and finer detail; the adding of new thematic colours, the detailing of characterisation with fine lines not broad definitions, the specifics of description in the background to bring it to the foreground, the encapsulation of the vision of the finished picture revealed in the infinite number of keystrokes and brush strokes.

We don’t see the chisel marks on Michaelangelo’s Statue of David or the brush strokes of the Mona Lisa; we marvel at its beauty and wonder at its complexity.

When you read one of my stories or poems, I don’t want you to see the work behind the scenes, I want to engage with you in the language of the text, for you to experience the world as presented, and to learn about yourself along the way.

Post It Note Poetry 2015

It has begun!

I am collating all my poems to a separate page, Post It Note Poetry 2015.

Drop in each day for a new poem. The new poem will be posted at the top of the page each day.

Here is today’s poem.

image

Do You Need A Little Prompting?

Do you want to be creative but you’re unsure where to start?

Do you want to be creative but are yet to learn how to sift through the daily activities of life to find new ideas?

Let me provide a solution for you.

On each Friday you will find A Little Prompting(*), a weekly set of stimuli to help get you thinking and ultimately creating.

Each week there will be a given:

  • Theme
  • Random Line Prompt
  • An Image (all images will quote the original source and copyright remains with the original owner of the work. If you’d like to provide a visual prompt let me know and we’ll talk it over).
  • A Song/Music Video
  • A Sensory Suggestion
  • A Quote

The aim is to to use one, some, any or all of the prompts to get you thinking or creating. The prompts are applicable to flash fiction or short stories, poetry, photography, painting, drawing, scripts, short films.

Whatever form you are interested in there will be something here to prompt a few ideas. If there is not, try again next week.

So, here is the first week of A Little Prompting.

Theme – Fear of the inside

Random Line Prompt – Everyday she passed the STOP sign; its hexagonal shape and warning colour blithely ignored.

Image – 

Song/Music Video – 

Kate Miller-Heidke The Tiger Inside Will Eat the Child

Sensory Suggestion – the softness of a newborn’s skin

Quote – 

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;

The brain has corridors surpassing

Material place – Emily Dickinson

* Some of these prompts originally appeared on the Write Anything website and appear here with permission

What Will Your Verse Be?

What is the power of creativity to contribute a verse?

This is the ending of one of my favourite films, Dead Poet’s Society, starring Robin Williams. It was a film that defined my generation growing up, along with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club and the like. The phrase, carpe diem, “seize the day,” was synonymous with this film.

But the power of this final scene only emerges with an understanding of a previous one. It was purloined for a recent advertising campaign by a computer company named after a piece of fruit. The ad is a complete piece of onanism but the sentiment is what I want to explore.

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman: ‘O me, o life of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, o me, o life?’ Answer: that you are here. That life exists, and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”

How do you contribute a verse?

Grandiose plans to change the world are good and well but I want to look closer to home. 

You contribute a verse by starting small.

Start small by writing a poem in an old notebook.
Start small by writing someone a letter (a friend recently asked for her birthday for people to send her some thing in the mail using the good old fashioned postal service).
Start small by getting out a colouring book and pencils.
Start small by taking a photo a day on your camera (an intentional act of creativity).
Start small by joining a local amateur dramatic or musical society either as a chorus member, backstage crew, admin, promotion, anything. Ask.
Start small by taking an art class or a writing class.
Start small by learning an instrument.
Start small by asking, “What can I do?” to help meet a need.

You need a job to provide a living but you also need a cause to be passionate about, something you believe in. 

Creativity provides that outlet. 

You contribute a verse because you learned to create for yourself first. Then you understand that it can be used to help someone else. And your creativity can contribute to the job you do, the ‘noble pursuits’ mentioned above, that allows you to begin changing the world. 

But you start with one person; you start with yourself. You create, make it a habit, teach others to create, inspire others to pursue their own creative path.

That is how you contribute a verse.