Creative Challenges

I just heard about a creative challenge called The RPM Challenge, and that got me thinking about all the events out there that challenge you do something creative in this or a given month. Here are a few, but please leave me details of others you have heard about, in the comments.

100 Words.net
www.100words.com/about.php

One of my first and favourite creative challenge sites. Write 100 words a day for a month. No more, no less. It is surprisingly challenging, doesn’t take up great wodges of time, and still keeps you on the look out for inspiration every day.

National Novel Writing Month
www.nanowrimo.org/

The big daddy of writing challenges: write a 50,000 words novel in November. Why November? Because the originators thought it was a good idea to do this in a month with a long weekend built in. (I might have voted for one with a holiday that didn’t have lots of social obligations – Memorial Day, perhaps, or President’s Day – but I guess they were young and unmarried at the time).

NaBloPoMo – National Blog Posting Month
http://nablopomo.ning.com/

Like NaNoWriMo, this challenges writers. This time it’s a blog post a day. You can join the network at ning.com or just post in your own blog. Each month has a theme and you can email the creator to be added to each month’s blog roll. I found some good blog friends by browsing the blogroll one month.

Script Frenzy
www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/whatisscriptfrenzy

Write 100 pages of scripted material during April. This one has sponsors and prizes.

The RPM Challenge -Record an album in 28 days, just because you can.
www.rpmchallenge.com/content/view/844/1/

(Write and) record an album of original music in February. 10 tracks or 35 minutes of music. The creators say (and I agree) “Don’t wait for inspiration – taking action puts you in a position to get inspired… February will come and go whether you’ve joined in or not, but do you really want to be left out? “

Tell Me More…

Smirking

It was a dress-down day at school today, which means the kids get to wear their own clothes instead of uniform. Wooo.

When you have an almost-six-year-old boy there is really no problem with this beyond ‘does he actually own a pair of clean trousers and is there a top that he hasn’t smeared food or paint all over?”. And that’s just me. He doesn’t much care if his clothes are dirty or ripped or clash or, for that matter, fit him properly (although he objects to ‘too big’ more than ’so small you can see my belly and ankles’, even in winter).

So we stomped between piles of snow towards the school, and I wasn’t giving the dress-down day much thought until I saw a gaggle of 8th Grade girls coming towards us.

Now, I know I risk crossing the threshhold into curmudgeonliness when I say this, and I know there is no going back, but in the interests of full disclosure, I have to confess.

I laughed out loud.

These girls had swapped out their short kilts and knee sock uniforms and now walked towards me, a veritable wall of skinny dark-wash jeans, Ugg boots, puffy jackets and long, straight hair.

I know. I know. But I can’t help myself. I have to say it: they had swapped one uniform for another.

Still, I bet they were warmer than usual.

Newbery Award

Woo-hoo! My Favourite Book of last year just won the Newbery Award (which is a big deal. Like the Oscars of Children’s books).

It doesn’t hurt that the author is a really nice guy and blogger (and now Twitterer), which makes you feel like something nice just happened to someone you sort of know.

His blog post is here, but his rather-less-filtered and rather-more-sweary Twitter posts were fun too!

It’s A Beautiful Day

The branches outside my office window are wearing a layer of fluffy white snow, three inches deep.

Through the branches I can see a small orange disk nudging its way upwards, spreading red light over our very white world.

And the radio is full of happy news about people having a huge party in Washington.

It’s A Beautiful Day

The branches outside my office window are wearing a layer of fluffy white snow, three inches deep.

Through the branches I can see a small orange disk nudging its way upwards, spreading red light over our very white world.

And the radio is full of happy news about people having a huge party in Washington.

Frugal Friday – Vegetable Stock

I LOVE soup. I could live on it. And when I’m not eating soup, I’m using stock to boil rice or other grains.

It occurred to me recently that buying stock is probably quite a lot more expensive than making your own. I haven’t steeled myself for boiling up fish heads or giblets yet, but I did make a rather nice vegetable stock last weekend, and it was extremely simple.

The frugal beauty of this is that the most expensive thing in this were the dried mushrooms that I threw in (and they probably cost me about 50 cents). Everything else was stuff I had anyway, and stuff I would have thrown away (I wasn’t planning on using the beet leaves or the hard stems from the kale, the outer cabbage leaves or its heart).  Shopping around, I found that vegetable stock can cost $6 for the same amount of the cheapest one I could find, $11 for the nice organic brand I like.

So here’s my recipe. It’ll need salt, of course, but I thought I’d leave that out until I’m actually using it.

JULIE’S VEGETABLE STOCK
4-5 Red cabbage leaves and heart
Beet leaves (from a bunch of three beets)
3 spring onions
thumb-sized piece of ginger, chopped
Kale stems
1/2 red pepper
soy sauce (a few splashes)
handful of flat leaf Italian parsley
5 dried morrel mushrooms
1 potato
10 black peppercorns
3 taps of ground sage (sprinkler lid)
16 cups of water

Chop up vegetables roughly. Place in large stock pot. Heat until it reaches the boil (which takes quite a long time) then simmer for 30 minutes (or longer). Leave to cool. Put 2-4 cups into freezer bags, mark quantity on bag, and freeze. Use as needed.

Makes about 12 cups of stock

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US Riverways

I’ve just been watching the coverage of a US Airways commercial jet floating in the Hudson.

One of the passengers called in to NBC’s TV studios. As they talked to him you could hear, in his voice, the realization of what just happened, sinking in (if you’ll pardon the phrase). He started off all excited and ‘woo-hoo’ and within a minute or so, he was shaking and cracking up and babbling.

So far it seems like everyone got out. I think the pilots and crew are in for a lot of TV air-time, and maybe a medal or two.

Phew!

New Story

I know, I know, you’ve got to finish stories as well as start them, but I couldn’t help starting a new story this morning.

I blame Debbie, who asked me yesterday how my writing was going, and Russell T. Davis whose “The Writer’s Tale” I’m reading at the moment. It’s full of the joys and angst of writing. It reminds me of the horrible work-part in the middle, but also of the satisfaction that comes when things start to come together.

Also, I think this is a story I can really tell. Fun.

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Bookcrossing Success!

Hey, I just got an email informing me that a book I released into the wild (i.e. gave away) has turned up on the other side of the US, five years after I set it free!

So thanks to the anonymous finder who posted the find at Bookcrossing

Now the questions are: where has it been for the past years and what has it seen on its travels across the US. (Also: why haven’t I tagged every other book I’ve given away since?! Must get back to doing that!)

Writing Buzz

I woke early this morning, sure I had heard my doorbell.

Of course, it wasn’t.

But, since I was up, I decided I might as well finish off a bit of work that was looming over me, tapping me on the shoulder at inconvenient times and whispering “what about me? You know I’m due soon, right?”

So I wrote it.

Then I did a bit more.

And now I’m happy.

All before my first cup of coffee.

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