A Year of Learning - Creative Writing

Another skill I've always wanted to improve on is creative writing. I do a reasonable amount of writing for my blogs but I'd like to be better at creative and descriptive writing, feel more confident in my writing style and not have times when I just freeze up, struggling to write anything at all.

I've decided to compile a list of 31 writing prompts and write something every day for May.

On 30th April the list went up on the wall and the panic set in. What on earth was I doing? I can't write on demand every day? What will I write? I'll have to share it with my family and even worse show it on my blog! I was having serious regrets about my life choices, haha.

The 1st prompt was 'You fall down in the street.' I'd been thinking about what I might write since the list went up so when I sat down to write you'd think it'd be easy. I sat there for 10 minutes trying to decide how to write. Should I write in Word or on some sort of word counting site? I decided to just open Notepad and write in there.

And I did. I made up a story about falling down and seeing a colony of ants overthrow their leader. It's probably not great but I've made a start on writing for a month! hurrah :D

"Walking home from Sainsbury's I looked up at Erin's window to see her
waving at me. As I raised my arm I misjudged the kerb and fell with my
face narrowly missing the garden wall. I glanced at the wall to see
how close I'd come to hitting it and looked straight though a gap that
went under the raised flower bed.

I closed my eyes tight and opened them again but it was all still
there. I could see about 100 ants lining a stepped pyramid. A
slightly larger menacing looking ant was stood at it's pinnacle
holding a forked twig. He shook the twig and all the ants bowed down
to him. I couldn't see well enough to see his face but I could sense
he was smugly enjoying his authority. He started to walk down the
pyramid and the ants parted to let him pass, bowing lower as they
moved back out of his path.

He was heading towards a rough looking shelter made of twigs and
leaves. I could see the queen ant was residing just within watching
the larger ant approach. As he neared the shelter he raised himself up
to his full height and went to enter. The queen barred his way and
lifted her left front leg to point at another smaller ant behind him.
The smaller ant scurried forward and the larger ant jabbed at him with
his twig. The queen ant darted out of the shelter and grabbed the twig
with her mandibles snapping it into pieces.

The crowd of ants swarmed over the rejected large ant and tore it
apart, punishing it for its bullying arrogance earlier. The smaller
ant entered the shelter with the queen.

I slowly got to my feet and looked up at Erin's window, but she had
already returned her attention to her laptop. I walked up to the front
door, went inside and headed to the kitchen to boil the kettle."

Since that first story it's become easier every time to write. I think about the next days prompt whenever I'm doing something like washing the dishes or making food and try to come up with a good idea. Then each day I cycle, shower and have breakfast before sitting down to write. I'm still just using Notepad but it works.

Every night after our evening meal I read out my story and get feedback from my family. It helps to have a published author in the house! Once I've written I look forward to reading it out loud to everyone.

Some days it was harder than others to think of something to write about depending on the prompt. But some days I really enjoyed writing and could have written much more.

It's been an interesting month and now I know I can get into a good routine of writing if I want to take it further. I might, I've always wanted to write a  murder mystery.

If you're interested in reading what I wrote the stories are all collected on Wattpad.

For June I'm going to be trying to learn to meditate!

Previously on A Year of Learning:

Smartphone Photography

Breadmaking

Arduino Programming

Harmonica

Watch The Birdie - Half Way!

A few days ago JD and I were having lunch and spotted this goldfinch through our dining room window. It stayed for about 20 minutes hopping from dandelion to dandelion opening up the tops and eating the seeds. I'd recently been complaining about the dandelions in the front yard but I'm glad they were there as that goldfinch had the time of it's tiny life. Seeing him gave me 10 points in my I-spy book getting my total to 500 points which is officially half way!

It's been a bit slow on the bird watching front until recently. After the enthusiasm of starting off, winter came and we went out walking less and now this year spring has sprung but we've mostly been inside under lockdown. We've been getting out for walks a bit more regularly now and my bird feeder has *finally* attracted some visitors. So I am again hopeful.

Since the last update my sister Caroline has joined the challenge but both her and Sally are working from home with increased workloads due to the corona virus so they're both finding it hard to commit time to birdwatching. Hopefully things will continue to improve and there'll be news from them soon.

It's really nice to have birds come to the back garden now and there's usually something to see when I wash up. I've seen coal tits, blue tits, magpies, pigeons, starlings, sparrows, dunnocks and a brambling. The smaller birds seem to love the bird seed and sweep their beaks from side to side in it knocking a lot of it to the ground where they will fly to pick it up. It's great to watch!

Also new since last time are these moorhens and this pheasant.

It's almost been a year since we started this challenge on 22nd June 2019 so it's all taking longer than we thought for a kids challenge! Still, we're sticking with it :)

Previous posts:

Watch The Birdie

Watch The Birdie - Update

Family Game Review - Puppet Fever

Puppet Fever is a game on the Oculus Quest that we've had some fun with. It's like charades but with a theatrical/puppet spin on things.

You pick a card from 2 options and then you have to use puppets and props to act out the card for others to guess. The person wearing the Quest can see all the props behind the scenes but the people guessing can only see a stage with whatever the player puts up there. We cast it onto the TV so everyone can see easily.

The above picture shows Val trying to convey the card 'Dreaming' to us. And the below picture is JD attempting to portay 'Werewolf'. Some of the cards are really tricky as you only have a certain number of props so it's hard to find what you want in the time. The music gets faster and slightly frantic as the time runs out which gets a little stressful.

It's a funny game made funnier by some of the cards you have to act out. There's an option to include risque cards too which we haven't tried yet. I did a fantastic portrayal of Brokeback Mountain which JD said he'd got a picture of but mysteriously it vanished. I think he's jealous of my skills.

It's a game that's easy to play for people of all ages. JD said it'd be better with difficulty settings for different people. Some cards are too easy but some are really tough. More props wouldn't hurt either. But overall it's a good family game we all enjoyed.

Ratings: Emma - 4, JD -  3.5, Val - 5 and Erin - 4.

Home-made Takeaways - Doner Kebab

I'd usually make this kind of blog post to extol the benefits of saving money by making your own takeaway at home. BUT, due to this corona virus lockdown it's more about enjoying some food that isn't accessible right now.

In a previous Harrogate Cheap Eats I enthused about our favourite kebab place I Am Doner. It's currently closed so there's no way to get my kebab fix. So I decided to have a go recreating it at home. I don't expect it to be as fantastic as the real deal but I'm desperate!

I had to use beef mince rather than lamb because I've been unable to get hold of lamb mince lately. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, coriander, garlic and onion granules. Mixed it well and cooked it in the oven at 200 C in a loaf tin for 20 minutes. Let it rest a few minutes and then slice it as thinly as you can. (Not very if you're me and too excited about having a kebab soon!)

This recipe is similar if you want to make your own.

I'd bought some huge flatbreads to serve the meat on and I garnished the kebab with pickled cabbage, red onion, cucumber and lettuce. Finally I gave a good squeeze of some garlic mayo and we're all set.

It was a huge kebab but so are the I Am Doner ones.

It was really nice to have our favourite takeaway made at home and it'll keep us going until I Am Doner re-opens. In hindsight I missed out on feta cheese and halloumi which are usually in there. Next time! It was delicious either way. JD ate his the traditional way in his hands whereas I used a knife and fork to ensure I got a bit of everything in each mouthful. We thoroughly enjoyed our home-made kebabs :)

A Year of Learning - Harmonica

For April I'm going to be learning how to play the harmonica. I bought this Lee Oskar harmonica when I was about 16 and I've kept it for years meaning to learn how to play it. I did have a go when I first got it and managed to learn a couple of songs (Camptown Races and She'll be coming round the mountain) but I've long since forgotten (it was 30+ years ago) so I'm starting again.

I signed up to a 30 day course on Udemy. It was £10.99 with a money back guarantee. I'm also using Youtube tutorials to learn simple tunes as well as the site Harmonica Tabs 4 Kids (haha!).

I'm enjoying the course and it's very thorough for 2 minutes a day! I've learned how to hold the harmonica properly as well as different techniques such as chugging and train sounds. I've also learned how to play puckered notes, tongue split notes and tongue blocked notes! I'm making some slow progress on playing a tune as well, shown in the video below. :D

Halfway through and I'm finding this month difficult to be honest. A lot of the learning is very repetitive, just trying to play a tune over and over. I struggle with this kind of learning and motivating myself to do it. I'm perservering but it's hard to! The Udemy course has moved on to single notes, scales and tunes. I like the structured approach to learning the theory of playing harmonica.

I'm worried everyone in the house is getting sick of hearing Oh Susannah now as I've been playing it for a few weeks. I'm holding the harmonica correctly in this video at least. I'm playing constantly without pauses to check which hole I should start the next line on which feels very accomplished.

I'm pleased with my progress this month as I've only practised for a few minutes each day along with 2 minutes of the Udemy course. I enjoyed it overall even though it got a bit repetitive at times. I've learned that this kind a learning isn't as enjoyable for me. I like more variety.

This year of learning is partly to free up my mind of all the niggling things I feel I should do. Playing harmonica (or trying to) is definitely one of these and finally I can tell myself I've done it and move on. If anyone needs a harmonica player to play a slow, unsure rendition of Oh Susannah I'm available for weddings etc :D

Next up: Writing

Previously on A Year of Learning:

Smartphone Photography

Breadmaking

Arduino Programming