Creativity in the Time of Corona
I have to acknowledge that this post is somewhat hypocritical. For two reasons.
One, I haven’t kept up with this website. The most recent post on here is from 2017. That doesn’t exactly scream consistency. Sure, I’ve been writing during those years (a lot), but I haven’t taken the risk of sharing those words with others. But I’m about to. And I’m going to encourage you to do the same.
Second, I’m about to suggest something that I’ve only done once.
So, keep those two thoughts in mind as I invite you into what Abby and I are tentatively calling Tales from Quarantine. It’s a creative competition with no losers. Basically, you try to write the best short story you can with a limited amount of time and in a limited amount of words. Here are the ground rules.
Time Limit
I have tried to insist on a 30min time limit, but Abby always goes over the original time and always gives herself an extra 15min bonus time to edit (not going to lie, I’ve used the bonus editing time). Whatever you decide, keep it under 45 minutes.
We’ve found that if we have an hour, we’ll spend the first 10 minutes or so just sitting and thinking. And while sitting and thinking are my two favorite activities, the goal here is to put hands on keyboards as fast as possible.
30 minutes. 15 minutes of bonus editing time as needed.
Wine
Comedy clubs are closed. This is how we entertain ourselves now. It’s a one drink minimum to get in.
Reading Out Loud
The end goal of this isn’t to write a great story. It doesn’t even have to be a coherent one. The goal is to enjoy an activity with the people you’re stuck with. So, write your story and let someone else read it out loud. And enjoy the utter embarrassment that comes with it.
There’s no judgment here. No comparison. No asking who had the best story. Just laugh at the ones that are bad and laugh at the ones that are good.
***
If you’re like me, the past several weeks have seemed to drag. I have days where I’m in a bad mood just because I’ve woken up. But for some reason, this simple writing contest has acted as the light at the end of a dark tunnel day—and it seems like all we have are dark tunnel days right now.
What makes this activity fun is that at the end of the day, you get to look at something and say, “I made that.” And in times where our world feels stifled. Getting outside of the boxes we find ourselves in (metaphorically and literally) is a game-changer.
So, I don’t know. Try it. I’ll even let you read ours if you write your own…