darren r hill

the creative minimalist

We mark the seasons and festivals. This is my sculpted sound celebrating the Wheel of the Year as imagined and realised by this temple eden. Album available to stream.
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In this week’s creative field notes, I am getting things done, despite the blips that all creatives have.
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A short exploration of Easter Saturday, weaving a narrative and basking in the ifs of who and what takes place between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
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The site needs a bit of a refresh, so as they used to say it is under construction. As such things might not look right, work right, or even feel right. But only until everything is new and shiny. After that… who knows.
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This month has been productive despite global chaos, and I have noticed the importance of maintaining a positive and intentional creative practice.
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This week’s creative field notes include how I am keeping up with February Album Writing Month and coming up with a few other creative ideas.
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Imbolc and fresh starts
I’m no expert on the Neo-pagan festivals, but over recent years I have found myself drawn to the natural seasonal cycle to which they relate. The solstices and equinoxes create four astronomical festivals and the other four find themselves pretty equal between. Which brings me to Imbolc, which traditionally is celebrated from the evening of 1st February to the evening of the 2nd. Although, astronomically speaking, it actually occurs about 3pm on 3rd February (GMT).

Imbolc¹ is all about new beginnings after winter. Bulbs begin to sprout shoots, ice begins to melt and life, that has lain dormant through winter tentatively emerges. It is a metaphor that resonates more so this year with our world in the grips of the coronavirus.
- Life has been dormant beneath the ground and within bare branches.
- Life has been dormant while we endured lockdowns and loss.
Like the shoots budding on the trees and the snowdrops and bulbs thinking about breaking through the earth, there are hopes. We now have vaccines and better treatments for those who suffer are being developed.

Like a late winter storm or spring frost there may be further setbacks. Imbolc doesn’t say winter will not go without a few cries. Imbolc does say that spring is on the way. It is the herald of new life, new opportunities and new hope. That for me is a good feeling.

Imbolc blessings my friends, may you find hope in the lengthening days ahead.

¹ This is only in the Northern Hemisphere. But each festival offers its positive outlook on things. Wherever you are, may you find hope for the future.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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2 February 2021
Begin – Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

The festival Imbolc takes place this week. The exact timing depends on how close you want to stick to the astrological calendar. There are many myths, legends, and stories about what Imbolc is about, with different belief systems vying for prominence. However, what is certain is that the date has historically been seen as the beginning of spring. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Begin — perform or undergo the first part of an action or activity:

if you are in the grip of winter weather it may be hard to believe, but beneath the snow and ice, life is getting ready to begin

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘begin’ written on the board above my computer. I am hoping it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. So far, this year I have struggled with motivation and my creativity has been minimal. Using begin this week, I hope it will kickstart things.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
31 January 2021
Friday Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the Full Moon
A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

The cloud drifted aside. The light grew gradually. The moon was full. That meant…

Writing Prompt Expanded

The moon orbits the earth and plays a vital role in life on our planet. Its influence can be seen through the gravitational effect on the tides. However, I often wonder what effect this satellite has on our bodies, considering that they are approximately 60% water. This week’s creative prompt is full. It was partly inspired by the knowledge that there was a full moon yesterday. So, that’s why we are here thinking about the full moon.

The challenge in this writing prompt is to decide what effect the moon will have, or, if you are journaling, does have. There are many legends, myths and stories concerning the full moon. For millennia people have been guided by the moon. I use the lunar cycle as a time to set and achieve goals. Here are a few ideas that might trigger your creativity:
- Werewolves or other creatures of the night
- the power of crystals and/or magic
- an unknown energy influence from the moon
- the dangers caused by a high tide
- the timing of a harvest, or fishing trip
I hope this writing prompt enables you to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Inspiration is sometimes thought of as a lightbulb. When lit we are creative. Here is a prompt that contains the light itself, it may be the lesser light in our sky, but it has a significant influence.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story or something a little more grandiose. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original moon image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
29 January 2021
Full – Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

Later on this week the moon reaches its brightest moment of its lunar cycle. On Thursday, there is a full moon. Anyone who has followed this blog for a while will know I like to use the moon in my planning rituals and I am fascinated by our local satellite. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Full — containing or holding as much or as many as possible; having no empty space:

this isn’t the only definition of the word but striving to be the creative minimalist, the phrase ‘having no empty space’ resonated

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘full’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Furthermore, I can already feel it impinging on how I create my music and how I play in my journal.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
24 January 2021
Friday Fiction Writing Prompt exploring shade
A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

It was subtle, but it was there. The red carpet was stained. From a certain angle, the darker shade was clear.

Writing Prompt Expanded

We live in a universe of cause and effect. If we do something, then something happens. It’s why time flows forward for us. And, unfortunately, we can’t at this present time, change that. This week’s creative prompt was shade and so that’s being explored in this writing exercise. Although geared more to fiction, you can easily use this as a journal or self-care prompt: what causes and effects do you need to think about in your life?

To begin you need to explore why the carpet is marked and then decide what you are going to do about it.
- What caused the stain?
- Was it expected?
- What are you going to do?
There are two obvious possibilities that you might want to explore. I did make them pretty unsubtle with the wording of the prompt. A red carpet: could it be blood or could it be wine? But you don’t have to go down the obvious route, in fact, the real creative challenge for writers is to explore the unexpected.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story or something a little more grandiose. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original carpet image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
22 January 2021
Shade – Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt. These weekly prompts are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

The first creative prompt was ‘light’ and this week’s prompt is related. We see colour because of light. And light enables us to see colour in all its varieties, which leads me to the prompt.

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Shade — a colour, especially about how light or dark it is or as distinguished from one nearly like it

there are other meanings, but I loved the idea of something being distinguished from another nearly like it

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘shade’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. At the very least, it will remind me that things are rarely black and white, there are colours and there is shade.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
17 January 2021