A Month of Fridays

What! Exclaims my readers - this isn't Friday. No, it isn't - but it is the first day of 

a month of Fridays 

 Yes, for the next month - from now until September 10 - I will be running my old Friday Challenges. I'm not sure if I will do it consequently or randomly, but as I have sixty of the things - I can easily fill a month - I will probably cherry pick for the best. And why? Because I've decided that I want and need to concentrate on finishing this revision. In a month - get it ready for the pitch the publishers in September and get on with things...

Please comment, and oh - you lurkers - join up, let me know you're there, give me some love - I'll be needing it!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Friday Challenge!

Dear Readers,

I challenge each and every one of to a duel! Nah, I don't. I've decided that Friday will now be Challenge Day on this blog. I will challenge my readers to do something different each week and you all can let me know how it goes (or not - you are free of course to ignore challenge day but you'll be missing out on lots of fun).

Here is today's challenge - a walking quest. Yes! Get off your duffs and walk somewhere in your neighbourhood or near where you work. This can be a short walk but you are to bring back something creative. If you are writers you can bring back an image, an overheard conversation or perhaps even the genesis for your next work. If you are fibre artists - look for something to inspire you in a way that you haven't worked before - photographers, visual artists - same thing. If you see yourself primarily as a householder or work where creativity does not flourish - use your inspiration to create a table setting, a letter to your old aunt, a fridge poem, a desk shrine, or as the seed of a prayer or contemplation. Do not restrict your inspiration to nature, there is much in the constructed world that could be inspiring. Look beyond what the things are (a sunset, a plastic bag blowing down the street, a mother's hand touching the hair of her child) to what you see without laying those ideas on them ( a splash of red orange, a dancing form, the texture of lines intersecting). Above all - allow yourself to be surprised by the moment.

I look forward to your responses...