Day 264: Creative Kids

This week I've been helping out with a kids club, it being half term and all. It has been so much fun, singing songs with actions, colouring, sticking, and all other creative things. Don't you think kid's creative stuff is so much cooler than ours, well, sort of?

Anyway, on Thursday, the 4/5 year olds blew me away. (Not literally, they've only got little lungs!) We did this craft thing where they made a little field with sheep in. The sheep were made out of plasticine and I thought, 'man, they are gonna struggle with this. Maybe I'll encourage them to just make one big sheep instead of three little sheep. It's too fiddly.'

But, you know what, their sheep were amazing! They were probably better than any sheep I could make. And they loved it.

I think sometimes I really underestimate exactly how much a 5 year old can actually achieve. Children are so creative. I'm pretty sure that, given the choice, most of them would spend all their time being creative if they could. I know I would of. (Well, I still would now!)

What fun it is to be young, eh? (Man, I sound old!) How could YOU use your creative talents to help kiddies? Why not get involved in a local club for kids and get them creative. It's more fun than you think!

Day 263: Bath Literature Festival

It's today, it's today! The Bath Literature Festival is finally here!

There is soooo much inspirational stuff going on this week. I've booked up for 7 talks so get ready for some serious inspiration in the next week or so. there's bound to be tons of creative thinkers around...

Check out whats going on over the next week here.

Day 262: There's no business like show business...

I have spent the afternoon interviewing people to be in a short film. A short film based on my story! How exciting is that? To see these people fulfilling the roles of characters I have created is quite amazing and it has given me a new enthusiasm for my writing.

Do you need a lift in your creative work? What could you do to get it?

I never thought that thinking about acting and casting would help me, but it has. I guess being creative is about thinking outside the box.

If you are into drama, why not put yourself in the shoes of a painter? If you're a dancer, why not think about getting involved in singing/music? Could you learn anything from other creative areas?

It doesn't have to be much. It might just be talking to a friend or sitting in on another class at school/collage. Go see a play/movie/dance show/exhibition/book signing...

Remember, creativity feeds creativity!

Day 261: Performance Poetry

So last night I went to an event in Bath called 'words.' There were loads of people cramped into a tiny little coffee bar with a little microphone in the corner (to be honest, it probably wasn't needed by hey ho).

All in all, I had a pretty good night. I enjoyed listening to all these creative people and admiring how they'd managed their thoughts into a poem or two.

What struck me was how different their deliverance was. Some people read from their notebooks, mumbling or reading too fast, but others had memorised their poems. The difference was amazing. The ones who spoke without words in front of them were so much more confident. They added emphasise and feelings, moving their hands, arms or even their entire body to the rhythm of their words, like they were using all of themselves to share their poem with me.

It's funny really. You'd think the people who had books in front of them would be more confident. You can't forget them if they're right there in front of you. But actually, knowing your words means you don't have to concentrate on reading, but on saying. Isn't that what performance poetry is all about?

Just to give you a flavour of performance poetry, check out Anna Freedman at a poetry slam in Vancouver, Canada:

Day 260: Get invovled in your town's creativity

Being at a creative uni like mine is such an amazing place to be. As you may know I have teamed up with film students and graphics students in various projects this year, but that's such a small representation of what's going on.

On my way to Sainbury's today I saw a friend who is running a film competition. She gave me a poster to put up at work and I thought I'd email the film student I'm working with to tell her about it too.

Last night was knitting group, which was loads of fun. We had new people come too, so it was great to see them joining in the fun. Tonight I'm going to an open mike night with musicians, poets and comedians. This weekend sees the launch of the Bath Literature Festival too. So many students I know are invovled in some way, doing readings, volunteering and loads more.

Creativity is part of where I am and I feel really lucky to live here in Bath. It's just a case of being active and getting ivolved.

What's going on in your town? What about your school/college? Can you get invovled? If you can't find anything you fancy, why not start it up yourself? What's stopping you? Why not share your creativity with the people around you...

Day 259: Annoying Knitting!

For the past two weeks I have been using every spare moment I have knitting. I've been working on a (pretty complicated) hat for my sister and I wanted to get it done quick so I can send it to her. But when I got to the end the depressing truth became all too obvious. It's way too small!

Don't be fooled by its pretty appearance! I don't know how many hours I've spent on this hat and now what am I going to do with it? I've got to start all over again to make a bigger one, which will take even longer!

Sometimes being creatively ambitious can be so annoying! You know what I mean? Does this mean we shouldn't bother?

No! I will damn well carry on and make a better (bigger) hat for my sister and she will love it!

Day 258: The Sound of Space Music

I don't know about you, but sometimes it blows my mind to think about things outside our world. Even imagining what life must be like in other countries is difficult, but thinking outside of our solar system, well, my thoughts never go there. That was until today!

I found out that over the past three decades astronomers (people who study space) have been listening the the sounds of stars. Even our sun makes noises similar to a bass amp. They kind of vibrate, making sound waves that we have been able to pick up with all our amazing technology. Isn't that incredible! Even the stars in the sky create music.

I mean, this takes creativity to a whole new level for me! What do creative thinkers like us do with this information? We've all seen swirly pictures like the one above and thought how beautiful space can be, right? But to think that things outside our own existence make music too...well, like I say, it blows my mind.

Creativity really is everywhere!