Inspo Monday

My Monday started at 2.oo am when something – someone? – rapped on some glass – a window? the backdoor? – and woke me up. I asked The Accountant if he had heard anything but given that he didn’t even hear me ask the question, it seemed unlikely he had heard the rap rap rapping. I thought about going upstairs to confront whoever it was but it was quite cold and there were no other sounds. So I decided it was a possum and went back to sleep. When we woke up at the appropriate time there was a fly screen at the threshold of what I rather grandly call the sitting room, given it is a room I sit in, as distinct from the lounge room where the television can feel as though its dominating.

The flyscreen did not fit any of our obvious windows. It was a mystery until we looked up at the high windows in the kitchen. Quite possibly a possum or even a bird crashed into one of those windows and the vibration dislodged the screen.

So – after that introduction to the week ahead, I thought I’d offer some writing inspiration!

This a hands-on writing exercise I think should be done seasonally. Ask yourself what it is you want to invite into your writing over Spring. The answer may be quite specific – I want to explore the sonnet form. I want to learn about linebreaks. I want to invite time into my writing life and carve out ten minutes each day for a freewrite. Or, it might be more general – I want to play with some different forms or a different genre. Or, simply – I want to play.

I’d offer a small warning that if you do choose something general, set up a specific way in which you’re going to allow this to happen.

I’ve had a break from writing for a few weeks – work has swamped me temporarily and I’ve given myself until the end of September to finish some big jobs before settling back into the swing of regular writing However, come October, I’d like to invite some evocations of childhood into my poetry but in such a way as to shake up a simply narrative approach.

What would you like to invite into your writing? Or, indeed, what would you like to invite into your reading – an equally important question. Perhaps a broader range of reading? Perhaps a concentration on short forms? Me, I’m inviting critical reading into my life in the next couple of months – I have some back issues of the London Review of Books that I’m going to study.

Spring – time to clean out the cobwebs – literal and metaphorical. So, what are you inviting into your writer’s life?