301 - Decent Advice

Day 301. Another blackout poem. In this text a short poem emerged as I crossed out lines of text and just left a few words here and there. It's not bad advice for life actually.

Share mistakes. Courage is absolutely essential.
Develop an instinct, check your plan.
Be ready today, tomorrow.
Carry a passenger, swoop down,
Look. And set attention to the potential.

229 - Standing On Other Shoulders

Day 229. I got a chance to share a little about my Daily Create project at the Ignite, Innovate, Integrate Conference in Melbourne on Friday, where I was invited to give the closing keynote. It was fun to share this project and I'm thrilled that something I'm really doing for my own reasons seems to resonate with so many others.

I received an email from Sarah Carroll who was at the conference, with the following note...

"I attended the Kingswood conference today and like so many others I was incredibly motivated by what you shared. So...just in case you are ever out of inspiration or time I have attached a 'drawing' for use should you need it along your journey. Creativity drives creativity so surely, you can be permitted to include the creativity of others you have inspired to create along the way! On the off chance you ever use my dabble in the ways of linking technology you will also need to credit Tim Minchin with the words. I choose this as my grade were practicing singing this song whilst I was away from school practicing being creative with you today. Loved every minute!"

I'm humbled by the idea that something I've done might have inspired someone else to do something which they then offer back to me as a way of closing the loop of sharing. It's a lovely idea. So Sarah, thank you (Tim too!)! I wasn't sure whether using someone else's work should be allowed to count as my creative act for the day, but then I though it's my project, so I make the rules. And I say yes!

176 - Have More Questions

Day 176. Another blackout poem, this time ironically from the source of blackout poems... I was not aware of Austin Kleon when I created my first piece if blackout poetry, but Kleon is the guy who came up with the idea (or at least wrote a book about it).

This time I used a piece of writing out of his book called Show Your Work, a book about creativity which I highly recommend. I took a screenshot of a page from the Kindle editin of that ebook, imported it into Notability, blacked out some words to leave a poem, then screenshotted the result, keeping the entire process digital.

The finished poem reads like this...

 

If you're good, ask yourself why.

Maybe you're supposed to have more questions

When you start.

 

102 - You Will Create Something

Day 102. I completely forgot where I found this quote, but I remember really liking it at the time so I recorded myself reading it. I then forgot all about it, and only just found it. I think it has great wisdom in it.



Note to self: Would make a good remix with music...

065 - A Random Destination

Day 65. I saw this idea on an English classroom wall today. The students had apparently taken pages from books and used a black marker pen to identify sentences and phrases that they liked, then blanked out all the other text to leave just the selected words, leaving a poem. I say apparently because I'm assuming that what they did. Either way, I liked the idea so decided to have a go at it myself.

I went to my bookshelf at home and selected a book at random (The Joy of Winning by Michael Beer), then opened it to a random page (69), then selected a bunch of phrases that sounded interesting to me. I crossed out all the rest with a marker, and was left with this...

The final poem reads like this...

Destination

Take a very careful look.

It would be terrible if you tore your life apart.

I don't eat picked olives,

They taste of vinegar.

People would say: "Wow".

One day it dawned on me.

I had never liked them.

They tasted of vinegar.

What is your destination?

The people around you believe

your destination lies thataway.

Stop and think, because everyone else does.

Do you really want the power?

Or does the olive taste of vinegar?

049 - Devoid of an Idea

Day 49. I was completely devoid of an idea for today's daily create, and I crawled into bed without having made something for the day. As I lamented my lack of creativity, Linda started making some suggestions... Most of which I was probably too dismissive of.

But I opened up a doc and jotted down a few ideas based on her suggestions, and ended up with this little piece of poetry...

 

"Creativity is finding good solutions", Linda said.

Still, little inspiration seemed to float around my head.

"What about a song? A cartoon? Or a superhero?"

But my creative processes were turning up a zero.

"Maybe you could make a web account for something new?

There's always new things on the web to see and try and do!"

I didn't think that signing up was honestly creative,

So I sat and pondered further, feeling somewhat brain depletive.

I couldn't think of what to make to finish off my day,

So I jotted down a few ideas and words (if just to play)

And as I wrote to make those words, I felt an urge to grow 'em,

And pretty soon, hey how 'bout that! I wrote a daily poem!

 

015 - Cream Dreams

Cream Dreams

There may be bigger issues,
So you’ll think me quite a dreamer,
But I don’t enjoy my coffee
If its missing coffee creamer.

See, Woolies used to have ‘em,
But their aisle shelf is bare.
I’ve looked each time I shop,
But they’re simply never there.

It’s been three weeks since Christmas,
when I saw them on the shelf.
and without my coffee creamers,
I am simply not myself!

I’ve tried with milk, I’ve tried with cream,
It’s simply not the same.
I need that nutty hazel taste,
and that branded Nestle name.

So Woolies get your act together!
I’ve tried that other stuff.
I want, no NEED, my creamers!
Three weeks is quite enough.

Day 15. The backstory: My fiancé Linda loves her coffee, but only if she can have it with Nestlé coffee creamers. Just before Christmas they went out of stock at our local Woolworths store and are still unavailable. Needless to say, she's starting to have withdrawal symptoms.