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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Let’s do this – Friday Fiction Writing Prompt
A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

She took his hand and set a mischievous grin on her face. ‘Right, let’s do this!’

Writing Prompt Expanded

A decision has been made. An activity has been suggested or planned. There is attitude in the air. What decision and what action is up to you. The writing challenge is to convey the determination over the previous uncertainty.
- What were the doubts before?
- What changed their minds?
- How was the decision reached?
- What physical and emotional changes have occurred?
A change in perspective for this week’s Friday Fiction Writing Prompt. We’re in the third-person territory. Although you can always choose your perspective, I thought I’d make this one more explicit.

Feel free to change things around. It doesn’t have to be a ‘she’ and ‘he’, it is your writing and that means your characters. The scenario can be anything as well:
- A decision to love
- Rule-breaking or lawbreaking
- A practical joke
- An escape from a situation
- let your creativity run free
Have fun and write. No word count or time rules, just take your pen or keyboard and do this.

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

Original hands image by Pexels 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.

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2 October 2020
Bullet journal and planner set-up October

Here is my current bullet journal, junk journal and planner set-up for October 2020. A little explanation of how I am using a wall calendar, a monthly weekly Bullet journal, a daily capture bullet journal and the latest additions to my junk journal. I also mention how I am using OmniFocus as my project to-do list. If you like the video please subscribe (on YouTube) and I’d love to hear what you’re doing for October and any comments on how I could improve my system. Happy planning my friends x

30 September 2020
Bullet Journal and Planner Update September 2020

An update on my Bullet Journal and Planner as we come to the end of September. It’s the second week of my new set-up and things are going okay. There are still some issues that I am working through, but I hope to sort them out as I get into October. This journal set-up is very much a work in progress, so please join me as I work things through. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel if you find the videos helpful and do stay in touch in the comments. Stay safe and well my friends x

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

26 September 2020
The Eureka Moment- Friday Fiction Writing Prompt

A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

This was it, the breakthrough, the eureka moment. Nothing would be the same.

Writing Prompt Expanded

This week’s Friday Fiction Writing Prompt is about capturing the joy and celebration of discovery. The discovery can be anything, although I had in mind some scientific breakthrough, not a text message on a phone (Sorry, I can be a bit of a Sci-Fi geek). It can be something your protagonist has been working on for years or something they stumbled upon. The challenge here is to capture the dawning realisation that things will never be the same.

And perhaps a bigger challenge will be to write without knowing the ‘science’ itself. The discovery can be medical, chemical, metaphysical, quantum, biological… the list is almost endless. But the choice of subject is yours. The only condition is that you write and hopefully have some fun. If you write regularly and often, your writing will improve, that is a scientific fact.

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

Original computer board image by Michael Schwarzenberger 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

25 September 2020
First signs of Autumn – Wordless Wednesday

23 September 2020
Mabon – Looking for Balance in the Equinox

The festival of Mabon in the revised neopagan year is all about harvest. It is the second or final harvest of the year, so time to eat, drink and be merry… once the fields are cleared. Mabon also falls around the autumnal equinox, in the northern hemisphere. The day when daylight and nighttime are equal, and when the sun rises and sets directly in the east and west, It is a day of total balance and equilibrium.

What is our harvest in a modern world, where very few of us live directly off the land? One part of me thinks it is time to be grateful for all that I have. For all that has been ‘harvested’ to create the things I consume. This includes the food on my plate to the clothes I wear and the luxury ‘essentials’ that adorn my lifestyle. However, I lose the earthiness of the harvest in such a simple analogy. There is something of nature that the festival of Mabon brings and I can’t quite connect to it at the moment.

And what a current moment this is. Every aspect of life has been affected by the coronavirus. This year, it feels like there is no harvest. The seasons are merging into one long miasma. Spring, summer and now autumn have felt no different from each other. Lockdowns have meant that even when the sun did shine, travel was limited. The view from a window doesn’t do justice to the awesome cyclical nature the seasons.

At this equinox, I stop for a brief moment. I sit and contemplate all that has and is happening. As the celestial movements are in balance, bringing equilibrium, I seek balance in my own life. Despite the monotony of 2020, the world, the universe and life still continue. The stars burn, the planets turn and despite my lack of notice the seasons continue.

This festival of Mabon I will remember that the harvest still exists.
The universe still provides.
My needs are still met.
I pray that your needs are too.

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

22 September 2020