Starter for Ten - April 26th 2023

Experiments don’t always end with the result you are expecting. Today’s freewriting went better than I expected, but the visual not so much.

Starter for Ten - April 25th 2023

I thought I would try something new and write outside today. I also recorded myself reading the freewriting I created and have posted it below. Goodbye, comfort zone!

Starter for Ten - April 24th 2023

After I finished the ten minutes of freewriting I read it aloud. It let me see how it feels, if it’s working and where the language is clunky. If I’m feeling bold I will record myself reading the next one. Today my husband was my audience, he looked a bit concerned at the end. I’m not sure he is convinced it’s fiction. It is!

Starter for Ten (S410) is a daily creative exercise that I am doing for 30 days. I set a ten-minute timer and write whatever comes into my head. After that, I do the same to create a visual. The idea is to loosen up, create daily and get over the idea that everything I make needs to be perfect or have a purpose. I’m over halfway there, 18 days in a row completed, these are my latest reflections:

Starter for Ten - April 23rd 2023

Shan knows I love a prompt card and sent me a set from The School of Life for self-exploration. The card I chose from random today asked me to think of three things that annoy me about someone close to me. This inspired today’s story, for the record this is fictional, if anyone I love has a jaw that clicks or loves chicken cup-a-soup it doesn’t annoy me.

Starter for Ten - April 22nd 2023

Alcohol and Pidgeons. I had an idea that I would have some time off from drinking. Almost all of my friends my age have had children which means at least a nine month break from booze, so I thought I would give it a go too. The break, not having children! It’s been challenging and at times uncomfortable but I’m loving feeling fresh and ready to go instead of hungover and beating myself up over stupid things I may or may not have said. The following is a true story and my epiphany on cocktails.

Starter for Ten - April 21st 2023

Vicki and I are working on a branding job for a nursery that focuses on attachment-led practice. This morning I have been reflecting on what I loved at age four to see if it gives me any ideas for the feel of the brand. It also feels like a list of things I should revisit if I’m not currently doing them, apart from perhaps sucking my thumb!

Starter for Ten - April 20th 2023

Whoa, we're half way there! Day 15 of the creative experiment, I didn’t know if I was going to share this one today and contemplated doing the exercise again to create something that didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. One of the items on my personal manifesto is that if something scares me then I should do it, so here it is.

Starter for Ten - April 19th 2023

Last week I had a conversation with Shan... It made me wonder about skin experts, do they love their jobs? This idea made it into today’s writing.

And I found inspiration on my desk in the VS+YO studio for todays visual, the hoptimist! Created in the late 60’s by Gustav Ehrenreich they are designed to bring joy and a smile to everyone.

Starter for Ten - April 18th 2023

This morning at the train station a man shouted at me for exiting through the in door. The encounter left me wondering what made people shout at complete strangers. What he was thinking at that moment? I used this as inspiration for writing today and the writing inspired the concept for the visual based on censoring.