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Memoir Preface ( Day 22 )
The Challenge for Day 22 Today’s challenge is to write about “Fear”. Will you give in or fight it? What will you do with it? The funny thing is that I’ve just started a course on Memoir Writing with Pauline Clooney. My assignment for this weekend was to write the preface for my memoir, even though I haven’t even started the book yet! Anyway, out of laziness or practicality, I decided I’d combine the two prompts into this post for Day 22. It’s just an outline, a work in progress, but at least it’s a start. Memoir Preface The blank page can be a scary thing. I’ve just…
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Poem: A Dark Vision ( Day 21 )
The Challenge for Day 21 Today’s challenge is to “Write a Confession”. It could be about a time you messed up, maybe even felt like a failure. And here’s the important part…What have you learned from it? Could it help anyone else? So I decided to share a poem with you, one I wrote when I was going through a period of depression. At the time, I felt so alone, so lost, so helpless. I remember looking at my reflection in the mirror and not recognizing the person staring back at me. It was as if I had left my body and no longer understood that I had any connection with…
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Compassion ( Day 20 )
The Challenge for Day 20 Today’s challenge is to write on the theme of Justice and what changes you would like to see in the world. I’m going to focus on Compassion because I think it is the best way forward for saving the planet. Read on and let me explain why… Compassion What does it mean to have compassion? Is it the same thing as empathy? Empathy means feeling the emotions of others, but sometimes it can be over-powering, even leading us to despair. Just think how often you have to turn off the TV because you can’t take any more of those awful scenes. The children going…
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Drama: Knockmeaden( Day 19 )
The Challenge for Day 19 Today’s challenge is to “Write in someone else’s Voice.” I’ve just recently been reading some of the works of Martin McDonough, author of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, so I thought this might make for an interesting challenge. My first attempt at Drama. Apologies in advance for the language, but these characters are a bit naughty 🙂 Drama: Knockmeaden Here are a few, brief details of the play. I’ll probably add more when I get time! Background: This Drama is set in Knockmeaden, a rural village located about three kilometers from Westport. It revolves around the relationship between two brothers, Micky and Tommy and their…
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Waiting ( Day 18)
The Challenge for Day 18 Today’s challenge seems straightforward enough, Jeff asks us to ” Write about Waiting.” One particular incident comes to mind, not one of my proudest moments, but here goes anyway: “Waiting” Waiting I’m sitting beside my son and daughter, on an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin airport to Faro, waiting for take-off. The hand luggage smiles down at me from the rack, reminding me that this is an adventure. Enjoy the journey, it’s part of the holiday, says my logical self. The rest of me is relying on a few pre-flight wines to stay calm. And loads of Hello magazines for distraction. Reading anything more serious is out of…
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Journalling ( Day 17 )
The Challenge for Day 17: Pick a Fight The challenge for Day 17 is to write about something you are passionate about, promoting it as beneficial to society. If this involves annoying some people, all the better. Hmm. Not usually one to pick a fight, but some things are worth taking a risk for. So here goes, my thoughts on the importance of journalling in this modern day galloping world. Journals and Diaries In the past, everyone seemed to keep a journal, most often in the form of a daily diary. Many of these have been lost, but those that remain provide us with great insight into the…
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Dream, Hope, Fly ( Day 16 )
The Challenge for Day 16. The challenge for Day 16 is to write about hope, that thing which pushes us forward even ( Or especially ) when the going gets tough. It came up in a previous post of mine, Hope, so it’s obviously something close to my heart. This time I thought I’d expand it a bit and talk about hope in relation to following a dream. The quote below is by Jonas Salk, author and medical practitioner, the man who developed the polio vaccine. There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality. Jonas Salk Dream…
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Writing Evaluation ( Day 15 )
The Challenge for Day 15: Writing Evaluation We are just at the half-way mark of the challenge and today Jeff Goins asks us to record our thoughts on our progress. Are we feeling overwhelmed or energized? Has your writing improved? Have you noticed any changes in how you approach your writing? Overwhelmed or Energized? Sometimes it can be difficult to churn out 500 words a day, especially something fit to put in a blog post. The irony is that publishing is not part of the challenge, but many of us add it to the list ourselves. Why is that? Well, I can only answer for myself, but I know…
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Traditional Irish Food ( Day 14 )
The Challenge for Day 14 Today’s challenge is to “Write about Food”, so I thought it might be nice to combine this prompt with my Ireland theme and write about traditional Irish food. History of Traditional Irish Food As I said in Ireland Calling, we Irish love our food just as much as the Guinness. Real traditional Irish dishes are made from cheap, locally sourced food and tend to be quite simple. That’s linked to our history, most people lived on small land holdings and were dependant on these to survive. They supplemented their diet by foraging for things like berries, mushrooms and shellfish. Under British control and with the arrival…
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Pampering ( Day 13 )
The Challenge for Day 13 Today’s challenge is “Tell us about your Day”, maybe throw in a bit of pizazz so it won’t bore everyone. I happened to have a hairdresser’s appointment today, so immediately the theme of Pampering came to mind. Not sure how much pizazz it contains, it’s just a day in the life, but here goes anyway. Pampering Snow? They said we were meant to have snow. But when I awoke this morning, the ground was just a more glistening shade of grey. Puddles of rain had formed outside the back door and even the cat refused to venture out. Definitely the most miserable looking day of…