Introducing Your Messages

The Garden Monkey's always a good source of entertaining or thought provoking material and yesterday I was delighted to be sent this link to the intriguing Your Messages project. The challenge is to write a 30 or 300 word response to a thirty word theme and a different one is posted each day in November.

My regular blog is just on a year old and although I have posted more than 1 post per day during that time, I live in constant fear I'll run out of things to say. That's why I signed up for a WEA creative writing course at my local Arts Centre recently. It mentions fear of the blank page and is aimed at both fiction and non-fiction writers, so I thought I would give it a go. I'm finding I'm well outside my comfort zone. For me the class exercises are quite trying - we have 5 minutes or so to come up with a response to an idea, write it down and then talk or read to the class about it. That spontaneity is very hard: everyone busily writes away and I stare into space looking for inspiration. It's my transition from logical, informative viewpoint to a more creative world that's getting in the way. By the end of each class I find myself close to having a panic attack.

So I've decided to try Your Messages as my own class exercise to get over the problem. A quick read of the theme, then 5 to ten minutes to come up with a response. I'll be trying to avoid cliche whilst keeping an awareness of what if and the element of surprise. My responses are posted as Comments on the website - but I also want my own record of what I've come up with - where better than here in my Box of Delight?

This post forms the start of the series, but of course will be published as the latest one posted, even though it's the first. Ahhh, the joys of blogging!

Here's the explanatory blurb from the website - together with my commented response to it. Using 30 words of course!

November 2008 and Your Messages is Back...

...by popular demand! But in a different incarnation because there’s no way we could duplicate November 2007’s amazing project that culminated in the launch of Your Messages at the Poetry Café in London in February this year.

Every day during the month of November 2008 we will post a writing prompt of exactly 30 words and you’re invited to respond, via the comments box, with your own original piece of writing which may be either exactly 30 words or 300 words long.

At the end of the month we’ll be choosing one response as the overall prize-winner (although we may well comment on one or two others as well) and the writer of that piece will receive signed copies of our books: Leading the Dance, Learning How to Fall, Something Beginning With and The Oven House.

And how will we make our decision from so much fine writing? Here are a few things to bear in mind:

1.There should be some kind of link to the prompt, e.g. theme, image, word or phrase
2.It should be a stand-alone piece of writing.
3.It has to be brilliant! :-)))

We look forward to meeting up with as many old and new ‘Messagers’ as possible online from 1st November.

Let the writing begin. Again!

Sarah & Lynne

My Comment (the 17th to the original post):

What a brilliant idea! I'll get my thinking cap on now. And if that doesn't work, I'll enjoy everyone else's contributions. A great way to brighten our dull November days.

And then I looked more closely at the two organisers and realised one of them is Sarah Salway, who kindly donated to my Open Garden fundraiser. Even more reason to keep on trying with this during November.