103 Days of Creativity — Week Nine

Dennett
Dennett
Sep 3, 2018 · 4 min read

All Content by Dennett

In response to this Creativity Challenge by Lindsay Linegar:

I accepted Lindsay’s challenge as a way to work through the sadness of my grandchildren moving far away.


Sunday, August 26— Day 58:
My big creative accomplishment of the day was that I finally prepared the box to send my grandchildren. It contains art notebooks, pens, markers, pencils, stickers, and other items they will like. I used silver glitter stick-on letters to add their names to the front of their notebooks, and the first page of each notebook is a photo that I recently took at the Butterfly Rainforest — a bird for my grandson and a butterfly on a pink flower for my granddaughter. I wrote next to each photo explaining why I chose the photo I did for each child. I also wrote a letter to them and here is a portion of what I wrote:

School will be starting soon and I know you both are nervous and probably a little scared. Don’t worry — it will be fine. You are both great kids and you will make lots of friends.

Be patient, be kind, be smart.

Remember to always be fair even when others aren’t.

Work for justice and equality. Stand up for others who can’t stand up for themselves. That this the most noble work any of us can do.

Always, always do your best. No matter how small the task, do your best.

Don’t give up because something is hard. Anyone can do the easy stuff — it takes determination and strength to do the hard stuff.

You are one person in this huge world but you are one person who can make a huge difference. Never underestimate what you can accomplish.

You matter. What you think and learn and do matters. Always remember you are here for a reason. You have a purpose.

As I said, preparing this box to send simply confirms that they aren’t coming back anytime soon and that’s hard for me to accept. But, it felt good to have it done and to know they will soon be enjoying the contents.

It was an honor to prepare the Snapshots Challenge for this week:

And I created this photo post for Snapshots that I called Rain:

And, I posted 18 comments on Medium.

Monday, August 27 — Day 59:
Today, my creativity was hampered by a great deal of stress. I did take some photos of the sky in the morning before the problems of the day settled in but I wasn’t pleased with any of them. I was, however, pleased with the above photo of a neighborhood duck that I took at the same time as the lousy sky photos.

Late in the day, I worked on a piece I am writing about my dogs for CROSSING GENRES. And, I posted 18 comments on Medium.

But, what I am most proud of is that in spite of a day of mounting challenges, I took the box for the children to the post office and mailed it!

Tuesday, August 28 — Day 60:
Other than 4 comments on Medium, this was my creative day off.

Wednesday, August 29 — Day 61:
Today I wrote this poem in response to the One Line Prompt Prison on Chalkboard and it was published by Meg in her publication, Resistance Poetry:

And, I posted 18 comments on Medium.

Thursday, August 30— Day 62:
My grandchildren received their package! They called and my grandson and I challenged one another to write a story about a pencil that we will share with each other next week. He also insisted on reading the letter I wrote over the phone. He said it made him cry because he could hear my voice saying all the words I’d written.

I started writing the pencil story and I posted 12 comments on Medium.

Friday, August 31 — Day 63:
Today, I completed my piece for last week’s 103 Days of Creativity and Lindsay Linegar posted it in her publication, Creative Humans:

And, I posted 19 responses on Medium.

Saturday, September 1 — Day 64:
Today, I completed the piece about our new dogs and submitted to CROSSING GENRES but it hasn’t been published yet.

I also wrote this poem that was published by Terijo in her publication, Intimately Intricate:

And, I created this photography post about fog for Snapshots:

And, I collaborated with Lindsay Linegar for my post in response to this idea of hers:

And, I posted 12 responses on Medium.


This week felt like one of progress. Getting the box ready to mail to the children was a big step for me. Might sound little, but it was hard step forward for me to take.

This creativity challenge has me thinking differently in a way that is difficult to describe. Before, creativity was something I turned on and off like a television. Now it seems to be always on. Sometimes it’s like a big-screen movie in front of my face demanding my attention; other times it’s more like ambient music playing in the background. But, creativity is always present. I don’t recall having that experience before.

Again, I want to thank Lindsay Linegar for her part in this transformation I am experiencing.

Creative Humans

A community of storytellers who are passionate about the creative process.

Dennett

Written by

Dennett

I was always a writer but lived in a bookkeeper’s body before I found Medium and broke free — well, almost. Working to work less and write more.

Creative Humans

A community of storytellers who are passionate about the creative process.

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