darren r hill

the creative minimalist

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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January has been a difficult month for this creative minimalist. However, the festival of Imbolc is as good a time as any to make a creative new start. This week’s vlog explores recent creative highs and lows.
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As we begin the new year of 2025, I’m excited to share my collection of journals with you in this week’s vlog. I have a new daily planner, as well as music and fiction journals, and various vocabulary notebooks.
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My word of the year for 2025 is odyssey. It both a journey with a destination in mind and plenty of wiggle room for distractions.
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I found myself thinking about how it is perfectionism created by myself, which, ironically, destroys my creativity. This week’s vlog examines how I must embrace the unknown and let creativity flow.
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The missing purse – Friday Fiction Writing Prompt

A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

‘I reached into my bag for my purse/wallet but it wasn’t there! How would I pay?’

Writing Prompt Expanded

This week’s Friday Fiction Writing Prompt is all about getting out of a sticky situation. It’s about crafting a narrative; overcoming a conflict and reaching a resolution. In fact, you could say this is what a ‘traditional’ piece of fiction always does.

You are somewhere, let’s say a restaurant, which means you have already partaken of the service, and you need to pay. However, the means of payment, your purse or wallet is missing. What are you going to do? You need to think quickly and come up with a solution.

In addition, what has happened to the missing item? Is it a simple case of forgetting to pick it up, or is there something a little more riveting going on?

When we write fiction, we can write ourselves into a cul-de-sac, a dead end. Our main character, or another vital person, has been written into a situation they need to get out of. It wasn’t really intended, but the muse led us down that particular path. We could just erase or delete those 100, 200, 500 or more words? Or we can craft and write our way out. That’s what this prompt is there for.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your own 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 or tag me. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original vintage image by Vinson Tan ( 楊祖武 ) 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.

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6 November 2020
Seeking myself
I seem to be struggling with a few things at the moment.
- So much I want to say, yet can’t.
- So much I want to do, yet can’t.
And all the reasons I can’t are out of my hands, out of my control. And I am finding it far too easy to focus on those negatives. And when I focus on the negatives I don’t say or do what I can. I wallow. I lose myself. It’s a downward spiral I have to avoid.

Thankfully there is art, there is journaling and there are my soundscapes and lyrics. I just have to find myself amongst the detritus of current circumstances. My future will be different.

The path is ahead of me is all I have ever wanted and desired. As the sun rises and crosses the heavens, so I follow my path.
1 November 2020
The postmark – Friday Fiction Writing Prompt

A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

I recognised the sender’s postmark. But why contact me now, and in this old, traditional way?

Writing Prompt Expanded

This Friday Fiction Writing Prompt is all about the reveal. The narrator has received a letter. The postmark means they know or have a pretty good idea, who it is from. There is history between the narrator and the sender, but the reader obviously doesn’t know what this is.

The writing prompt is about revealing that history. It could be anything, from a dark, frightening event that darkened their past to something more mysterious through to happier times that were somehow lost. The choice, as always is yours.

The challenge, how you reveal that information, is also yours. Does it pour out immediately, or little by little as you read what has been written? The prompt uses a letter. This mode of communication slows things down, it is more deliberate than a text message or email. And, there might just be a prompt using digital communication on its way another day.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your own 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 or tag me. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the creative learning process.

Original envelope image by 2211438 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

30 October 2020
In rainbows

in rainbows

I found a rainbow laying around on the floor so I captured it.

29 October 2020
Creative play – journal and planner update

This week’s, the journal and planner update vlog goes on a little detour. It’s been a bit of a distracting week in one way or another, so I distract myself with a little creative play. Gesso is involved as I delve into the world of Art Trading Cards and my junk journal, before getting back into my current planner issues. Still unsure about whether the two planner system is working. Would love to know how things are going with you all, happy planning and creative distraction my friends x

25 October 2020
Fresh air – Friday Fiction Writing Prompt
A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

I opened the doors and stepped out on the balcony. The view was amazing, but it was the air that took my breath away

Writing Prompt Expanded

This week’s Friday Fiction Writing Prompt is all about comparison. It’s time to compare one thing to another.

The prompt focuses on fresh air. Our narrator has arrived at a place where the air is different from what they are used to. This could be because they are from a smog-ridden city and they are now at the coast or out in the countryside, or the other way round. The choice, as always is yours.

The aim is to stretch your descriptive powers by focussing on the differences between the two. Use…
- simile
- metaphor
- exaggeration
The bigger the difference between the two places, the more captivated your reader will be, and the more likely they might relate to one of your descriptions. Emphasise the difference between the narrator’s memory and their current experience.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your own 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 or tag me. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

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
23 October 2020