Haiku: getting creative

Hey again folks, I thought I would let you see some of the haiku that I have been writing as part of my course in Creative Writing.  I have been trying to do at least one per day on totally random subjects that happen to come into my consciousness so they are a little strange at times.

Sorry the posts haven’t been as frequent as they have been in the past but I am battling with new medications and for some reason my brain won’t allow me to sleep at all lately so I am suffering all of the side effects that go along with that as well.  A big thank you has to go to my wife and the kids though as I can imagine I am a complete nightmare when I am tired, run down, ill and grouchy.  I love you girls loads and thanks for putting up with Mr. Grumpy-chops!

The time I have been wide awake has been spent reading loads of books on loads of different subjects and in loads of different styles and genres.  It has made me realise just how far I still have to go to be able to write as effectively as I would like to be able to.  It has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience so far though and I will try and share what I can with you lovely folks when I get the chance.

So here we go with a selection of haiku written by yours truly (oh,  a Haiku is a 3 line piece of prose that has  a 5 syllable, 7 syllable, 5 syllable line structure):

(Haiku)
俳句

(A rainstorm)

Swirling, Twirling Round

A fresh wind blows through my mind

Rain pours down ideas

(Break time)

Hot, Steamy, Milky

Sugar sweetens up the brew

Crossword time at last

(Cheesecakes)

Sharp, Fruit filled

Buttery biscuit bases

Creamy Goodness, Yum!

(Daughter playing Minecraft)

Clicking, Tapping fast

Block after Block building more

Will the game end soon?

(Werewolf film on tv)

Pitch black, moonlight skies

Changing, morphing, quite close now

Screams pierce cold night air

Books, Books, Everywhere

So many things I must read

Shh! Quiet time please!

 

Granted they aren’t anything spectacular or anything particularly deep and meaningful but it has helped me to look at things around me in a totally different light and it has definitely made a difference to the pieces I have been playing around with.

What I would love for you folks to do though is give me 3 completely random words or phrases that you would like me to write a short piece about.   I will try to write a nice short descriptive piece about the story it formulates in my mind and then I will post it up here on my blog.  If you really like the sound of it I can then look at trying to expand it into a longer story and see what comes out of it all.

So if you fancy having a go leave a reply for me with your three words and I will try and get something back up here withing a couple of days or so.

Let’s get creative together!

Until next time folks, Stay Safe and Keep Smiling

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Creativity Journal

I am going to let you in on what I have been doing for the past couple of months that has kept me away from the blog in the past couple of months.  I have been keeping a creativity journal which means I am  writing every single day on a wide variety of subjects.

I am studying creative writing at the moment through university and I have been having a blast with it.   One of the things my course asks me to do is keep a writers journal.  A writers journal is a book of observations, ideas, random quotes and pretty much anything else that has interested me or has popped into my head for some reason.  It is a good exercise to get the creative juices flowing and it is also very therapeutic to empty my head of all of the things I would bottle up inside and obsess about for ages.

Ideas, Sharing and Blogging

So that got me thinking about my blog and what I could do to tie in both the things I have spoken about before and the creativity journal that I am keeping each day.  I thought I could share some of the things that I have been writing each day and let you tell me whether you like/dislike them and it also may give me an idea to try and write some short stories or hopefully a novel!

I also thought about having a day where I will take suggestions from you folks of 3 different objects or ideas and then I will write them into some kind of short story.  I reckon this would be a good challenge and it would get me into a good habit of writing and would also let me give you guys something that I have created just for you! I could try and use the few photography tips that I have been given to try and take some photos that tie in with the story that I have written as well.

Another idea buzzing around my head is to do a photography scavenger hunt, for those of you that blog, so we can share photos about our local areas and link up to promote each other.  I think it could be great fun and I hope you guys are on board with it as I would love to see some of the places that you visit in your local area.

Sunset over mountains taken from the plane

This doesn’t mean that I am going to be changing the blog completely to talk  about different subjects though, I am just hoping to include you all in some of the things that I like to do to relax when the pressure of my own pain and Pretzel’s disability get on top of me.

So what do you reckon?  Are you guys up for putting your toes into the pool of creativity with me and coming on a journey?  I hope so and I reckon we could have a good laugh along the way as well.

Until next time folks,  Stay Safe and Keep Smiling!

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Refreshed, energised and raring to go!

HEY THERE FOLKS!

Sorry for shouting but I just thought I might need to wake everyone up after a prolonged absence by me.

Things have calmed down a bit for me now and I am feeling refreshed, energised and I am ready to get going again with some new and exciting things I want to share with you all.  We had a lovely week in Malta which gave us some much needed rest and recuperation time and also gave us the chance to catch up with some good friends, old and new ones.  But down to business again from now on!

Firstly, I would like to report that my creative writing has been giving me a lot of ideas, a ton of pleasure and is really starting to get me excited to grab a pen and write again!  I have had ideas from absolutely anywhere and everywhere and it is like having a new pair of eyes put in my head.  I am looking at the world in a whole new way which has not only helped my creative writing but has also helped with my photography as well.  I have had a lot of fun with both of these before I went off o holiday for a week to the lovely, sunny island of Malta.

Before I went off on holiday I had a few photographs that I had taken for my course that I thought I would share with you because I really liked them and I would love to know what you think about them.  I don’t mind if it is good or bad because I am still learning and of course it is a subjective art form as well! So without further ado here we go 🙂

So what did you think?  Some of the shots I am not 100% happy with but I think it isn’t too bad for someone who used to just point and click.  I will be taking a lot more pictures in future because they really help fuel my writing as well.

I am hoping to start including some short stories and poetry things I am writing at the moment on the blog but I am still deciding on the best way to display them and whether they should be included in the blog or just put on a separate page of their own.

Well that is all from me for now but I hope you enjoyed the photos and there will be more updates regularly now that I am back on my feet and fighting fit again.

Until then Stay Safe and Keep Smiling

What do you do with Family Time?

Hello again folks, This is post 2 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge

In this post I wanted to share with you what our family does with our spare time.  We are all creative at heart and we all love to make things for friends and family members to enjoy.  My wife’s particular hobby is Jewellery making.  She has a real talent for it in my opinion and whenever she makes a piece I am always blown away by the quality of it and the artistic flair of the design.  She doesn’t think that they are all that good but she makes them as presents for family members and friends but she has also sold a few pieces for charity.  Here are a few of the items she has made so far:

I think that they are pretty good wouldn’t you agree?  I would welcome any comments that you have on them.

My own hobby is woodcarving.  I had never even picked up a knife, chisel or gouge up until about a year ago when I decided I needed something to help me wind down and relax.  Fortunately, I have a lovely wife who allowed me to buy a full set of gouges and tools (they weren’t cheap) and I got cracking away at making all sorts of things.  I also have a crisis of confidence when it comes to the carvings so I never think they are all that good either.  I have a few here for you to look at:

Again any comments that you would like to make about them would be greatly appreciated.  I have only made things for friends and family so far but I would like to think that eventually I would get good enough to maybe sell a few pieces for charity.

Finally we move on to my daughter who is probably the most creative out of all of us.  She is always writing plays, poems, stories, scripts etc.  And she loves to make models and things like that.  She is really good and it is quite surprising what she can come up with from virtually nothing.  I have a picture here of one of the models she made for Easter with a sports theme :

Skateboarding, Parachuting and Abseiling were the sports we allowed her to include but believe me she wanted to use about 12 eggs!!!!!

Her other favourite things is to create animations and to create stories around these animations.   She also draws quite a lot and one of her drawings that she did was in a programme called Scratch and you can see it here

She drew it all using a mouse and the computer which I think is amazing as I certainly couldn’t do it.  She spends months at a time working on every little detail until she gets it just right.  If you were wanting to see some of her animation work you can look at it here

So as you can see we are definitely a creative bunch whether it is good or bad we enjoy doing it and have a lot of fun.

So what do you and your family do to relax and have fun?

Until Next time Stay Safe!