darren r hill

the creative minimalist

I return from a brief vlogging hiatus with a raft of excuses, some more feasible and valid than others. The creative path is winding, and sometimes there are valid reasons for not being creative. In this week’s vlog I try to explain.
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In a productive moment, I finished a creative project. In a surreal moment, I decided to interview myself about the challenges, practicalities and what exactly that creative project was. In a recorded moment, I present this week’s vlog about completing a creative project.
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There are times when being creative, writing, painting, making music or any creative activity just isn’t working out. At those times it may be that we need a break, or as I like to call it, meandering with purpose. This week’s vlog explores when and why a little meander might be just what we need
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This past week has been hard going. This creative life of mine was all over the place and a bit of a mess. So, in this week’s vlog, it is time to take a look at mountains as a creative metaphor. The next mountain may be higher, but the view will be amazing.
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How have we done with our creative goals, habits and routines as the first quarter of the year passes? I confess to what I have achieved and not achieved in Q1 as I review and prepare for Q2. Creative successes and habit failures are in this week’s vlog
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Everywhere we look there are adverts and influencers offering stuff to make our lives perfect. I have also been seeing a lot of talk about minimising what we have and what we use in our creative lives. This week’s vlog explores this very issue.
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Sound — Friday Fiction Writing Prompt
A Fiction Writing and Journal Prompt about sound to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply explore, write and create.

a sound, clear and unique despite the background noise, a pattern defined among the chaos

Writing Prompt Expanded

We all know what it is like to hear a sudden, new sound. When all is silent even the slightest noise can awaken our senses and put us on alert. However, the same is true when there is a lot of background noise. Our hearing notices the unique and different.

This prompt is all about sound, its description and the narrator’s response.
- What is the sound?
- Can you describe the sound using other senses?
- What is the reaction, the felt response to the sound?
The setting for this prompt could be anything. The same goes for whether you write in the first or third person or any other perspective. It could be a personal memory if you are writing in your journal, or it could be the beginning of a very scary story.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story, something a little more grandiose or a page in your journal. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
23 April 2021
There must have been sound because the light danced among the trees

21 April 2021
Sound — Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

All of our senses play an important part in our lives. This is shown when we lose the use of one, either temporarily or permanently. However, the loss of one often augments another. Being a composer the sense of sound plays a deep and meaningful role in my life; from strikes to melodies, quiet to loud and everything in-between. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Sound — vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear

there are other meanings for the word, but I wanted to give the broadest possible definition to begin

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘sound’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Furthermore, I want to think about sound as a whole as I create my music this week. I will also explore sound in other mediums. For instance, what does sound look like in my journal?

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
18 April 2021
Choosing my journals for the Pilgrimage

April update on what journals I am currently using as I continue my pilgrimage. It seems I might be heading straight back to where it all began, but I’ll let you watch and find out.

17 April 2021
Enough — Friday Fiction Writing Prompt
A Fiction Writing or Journal Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

That was it, anything more would be too much. It was time to stop. It was enough.

Writing Prompt Expanded

We live in a world where we are bombarded by advertisements. We are told that our lives aren’t good enough, and they could be so much better. The solution for a better life is to get more. We are urged to upgrade and collect. We discover new issues that we didn’t know existed, however, the solution is available if we obtain it. We live in a world where more is seen as better, or good.

This prompt is all about having enough. Can we think and write about not needing more? The context of the prompt is deliberately open.
- What does the narrator have enough of?
- How does the narrator know that there is enough?
- What feelings does having enough bring out?
This prompt lends itself very well to both fiction — especially sci-fi or an intense relationship — and personal reflection. Be aware that it might trigger some deep relational emotions, if so, do talk to a trained counsellor. One question to keep in mind as you do write… are there ever enough words?

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story, something a little more grandiose or as a journal prompt. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original beach image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
16 April 2021
Enough — Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

I am good at procrastinating. It could even be my superpower. I have many brilliant excuses for procrastinating. It feels like my creative energy spends more time making up these excuses than creative projects. One of the excuses I find myself using is that I need something else to create. I need this piece of music software, or I need this or that sort of pen, or paint or journal. And because I don’t have them, I don’t create. However, that is an excuse I am fighting hard not to use. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Enough — as much or as many as required

this isn’t the only definition of the word, but I love the completeness that this conveys

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘enough’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Furthermore, I have everything I need to be creative and get going. I don’t need anything more to make music, to make art, to write. Enough will also root me in the here and now to be and to do. This prompt is more than just a word. The word can and will be used, but the underlying attitude will also guide me.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
11 April 2021