hold yer horses…

I’m struggling a bit to hang in here. I’m very much enjoying “just being” in Petersham, but the writing is not coming as easily as I would have hoped. In Kellerberrin, the form of the project – blogging each day – seemed to grow from the place itself. It came easily. Here, it seems partly like I’ve taken a strategy from somewhere else, and attempted to apply it in another place. In fact, that’s exactly what I’ve done. And it’s an uncomfortable fit.

Something about the town of Kellerberrin being “different,” and “new” to my experience meant I could write with a freshness. I felt that freshness. The very task I set myself – to see if I could experience that freshness in my own neighbourhood – is proving more difficult than I expected. Or maybe, I did expect this difficulty (it’s built into the project brief), but I haven’t developed a method of moving through it yet.

So, to hammer away on the daily writing regime might make me seem a busy boy. But is it distracting me from something else?…to allow something to grow from this specific place…

…while you wait for me to work through this one (or even better, while you’re contacting me with your brilliant ideas!) have a look over at these photos of the Great Petersham Pub Crawl. Hooroo!

4 thoughts on “hold yer horses…

  1. Lionel

    Hi Lucas,
    this isn’t really a suggestion to help you work through the daily writing challenge, but rather another writing project which i thought would adapt nicely to connecting to your local environment and for one day atleast would be a different way to approach the writing task, and put it directly out in the ‘sham.

    check out ‘learning to love you more’ and click on assignment 10. web address below.
    I Have been meaning to do this assignment for a while.
    It is an inspiring site done by some US artists- Harrell Fletcher, Yuri Ono and Miranda July (the artist that last year made the film- ‘you, me and everyone we know’) in which anyone can take on the projects that they have invented- involving writing, sound, video or object making. Very oriented around the personal, the connections between people and making little interventions in your local/daily life.

    http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/hello/index.php

    “Assignment #10
    Make a flier of your day.

    Write a paragraph describing a typical day in your life. Make one hundred Xerox fliers of the description (you don’t have to include your name) and post them all over your neighborhood.”

    Obviously the very nature of the ‘sham project has altered the nature of your day, but just thought it could be something you would find inspiring.

    Reply
  2. shortleftleg Post author

    thanks lionel
    i appreciate your suggestion. i reckon its a great one. i am aware of learning to love you more, tho i havent looked at it for a while. i will definitely do this. and…while we’re at it, you should too! then we can compare notes…

    Reply
  3. Camperdowner

    Wow, you’re moving along at a cracking pace Lucas. Only one week in and you’re already feeling those familiar artist-in-residence-type feelings: self-doubt, frustration, depression, home-sickness (even though you’re actually residing at home). Has anyone written The Seven Stages of Residencies? You’re doing just fine.

    Reply
  4. cake lady

    I recently met this couple who told me about this great book they’d found. It was by an artist and had assignment kind of things you could do while travelling. It was aimed at trying to carve out another kind of travelling experience other than the usual one of the tourist. So lots of the assignments were things like ‘go to a famous sightseeing spot and take photos of everything around except for the icon itself’.

    I thought of one of them as I was reading your blog, and thought maybe you could try it out in your neighbourhood, although you might need to change it around a little …

    So the original assignment is: You and a friend / partner arrange to arrive in a foreign city on the same day. Take different forms of transport to get there. Do not make a place to meet. Try and find your friend / partner.

    Maybe you could try it out in Petersham?

    Reply

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