Projects

From time to time I do projects that challenge me creatively. Below are particular collected projects that I’ve documented on my blog and on social media.

The 100 Day Project 2019: 100 Days of Heart to Hearts

This will take place from Tuesday 2nd April 2019.

100 Days of Heart to Hearts is a collaboration with my sister Sarah on Instagram. Combining words with images, we are conducting a 100 day conversation about life, creativity, happiness, and joy – a small microblogging project that should only take 5-10 minutes a day. Each day, one of us starts the conversation with a subject and an image, and the other responds, sometimes taking the idea further or writing about something else entirely.

You can find our words and images by following the hashtag #100daysofhearttohearts and following our accounts, @destinyischoice and @fateischance on Instagram.

The 100 Day Project 2017: 100 Days of Poetry and Images

This will take place from April 4th 2017 to July 12th 2017 – but I will be carrying on until I reach 100, no matter how long that takes. You can follow along with my weekly updates on the blog or on my Instagram feed, @destinyischoice – I will be posting an image and a poem, short or long, every day for 100 days. My aim is to challenge myself, to think of new ways to express myself using words and images, and to stretch my poetry skills.

This project is completed – all the poems can be found here under the hashtag #100DaysofLWPoetry on Instagram.

Project Ghibli

Project Ghibli is a joint blog and historical project between myself and my husband Dan, who blogs at Stray Dog Strut. We both share a love of Anime and Studio Ghibli in particular. We decided to watch every Studio Ghibli from from the first to the most recent; however, we decided to start before the formation of the studio itself, to explore how the directors – Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata – begun their careers and how they developed their interests and styles. Project Ghibli is an active and ongoing project. You can find all the previous posts here under the Project Ghibli tag.

NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month

National Blog Posting Month rolls around every November – an event that any blogger can take part in. It involves attempting to post every day for the month. I’ve taken part in two NaBloPoMos – in 2013 and 2016. In 2013 I took part with BlogHer, and in 2016, I took part within a community of bloggers, naming the challenge NaNoPoblano (headed by the simply wondrous Ra Avis, of Rarasaur). Both times, I leapt out of my comfort zones, writing some of my best writing and some of my worst writing, but I came out of the other end exhausted and elated.

Writer Interviews

Writer Interviews is a series of interviews from writers aiming to inspire and inform young D/deaf and emerging writers. Writers can learn a lot from each other, by sharing their ideas and resources. (Please click on names for the articles).

Sophie Woolley – Writer and Actor – 14th March 2013

Cathy Heffernan – Journalist and Film-Maker – 29th January 2013

Genevieve Barr – Actress, Writer and Disability Consultant – 26th October 2012

Melissa Mostyn – Journalist, Editor, Blogger, Film-Maker and Visual Arts Practitioner – 19th October 2012.

Amy Sargent – Deafpreneur, writer and speaker. – 5th October 2012.

Emily Howlett – professional actress, writer and presenter who plays both Deaf and hearing roles. – 28th September 2012.

Charlie Swinbourne – a writer and journalist who is famous for setting up The Limping Chicken, his film work (My Song, Coming Out), and his work at the Guardian. – Sept 21st 2012.

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

I took part in National Novel Writing Month twice – two years in a row – in November 2011 and November 2012. NaNoWriMo is an international challenge where writers the world over – seasoned and beginners and all those in-between – attempt to write and complete 50,000 words of a novel or non-fiction book. The only rule is that you have to complete the words by 12 midnight on the 30th November. The challenge takes place every year, and is hugely popular.

I completed 50,000 words both times I took part, but felt that I wanted to build an everyday habit of writing instead. It’s a great push if you want to try writing a no-holds-barred mess of a first draft, though I wouldn’t consider the finished product as good quality as something you work on steadily. It’s a great community though, and the pep-talks are second to none on the website for the challenge itself. Writers also have the opportunity to meet with each other and write together, organised by local NaNoWriMo group leaders.