| Today is February 5, 2012 |
Susan Andrus is the founder of the Consortium of the Creative Nudge. She can always use a nudge. She lives in Bozeman, Mont.
Write to Susan.
It’s time to get started on the silliness that is the annual Foolish Words collaborative writing project. Each year(I believe this is the eight year!) an assorted group of writers from in and around Bozeman contribute their own unique voices, outlandish twists and 200–400 words to an add-on story. Just like you may have done as a child, one person writes his or her part then we pass it along to the next person. The story usually gets more and more complicated and silly as we approach April Fool’s Day. On April first we gather together to read what we’ve wrought.
Please visit foolish.creativenudge.org to see last year’s effort.
Last year’s gathering was great fun–one writer even brought back-up singers–I hope you’ll join us this year!
If you’d like to participate please send me an e-mail at susan.andrus (at) gmail.com!
January’s nudge is: Losing Weight.
What do you do at the beginning of a new year? You vow to lose weight. Or at least that’s what I’ve been led to believe. Magazines publish healthy recipes, exercise plans, and tips on how to stick to it. The cookies are replaced with salads and people head out to jog in the cold.
Whether or not you’ve made a resolution to lose weight this New Year’s Day make a resolution to write or otherwise create something about losing weight.
It’s the first day of 2011. Time to begin again. So, here I go…
I resolve to find my creative side.
My New Year’s resolutions have turned into a cruel April Fools joke, so this month I’m starting over.
Every now and then everyone wants to start over. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t. Sometimes starting over only leads you to a place where you just want to… start over. But sometimes, oh, sometimes you can start over and do it right. And pretend the first pass never happened.
So here’s to New Year’s April Fools resolutions! Go ahead, start over!
Tonight’s the night!
At 6:30 p.m. the writers(well, many of them) will gather at the Leaf & Bean in downtown Bozeman to read their terrible, wonderful work!
Hope to see you there! 
I am not athletic.
Maybe that’s not quite true–maybe it’s just that I haven’t found a sport or activity I like. Or, perhaps, it’s because I’m too shy and self-conscious to enjoy things when people might be watching. Maybe, having chosen drama as my extracurricular activity at a young age, I haven’t had enough opportunities to become athletic. Could it be that some people just aren’t?
All I know is that some people are extremely athletic, including my younger siblings, and I’m not. Are you athletic? What does “being athletic” mean to you? Why do you think you are or aren’t athletic? Was there someone who got you started or a time when you remember becoming more, or less, athletic? How does it make you feel?
I’m trying to get some exercise this month, breaking out of my usual routines. I might like it… I encourage you to try something new this month too: If you usually write, try painting or sculpting to express your thoughts about being athletic. If you are a photographer, try starting with words. If you’re a musician, try creating a short skit. Who knows? You might find new dimensions to your art by breaking out of your usual routines. And I might actually be a little athletic.
If you act(and by act, I mean write) quickly your short, short story could be read aloud on National Public Radio. If nothing else it looks like a fun exercise to try. The deadline is February 28th and the details can be found HERE.
February’s nudge is: Lace, a fabric that was once carefully crafted by women, a talent handed down by grandmothers, but is now produced in factories with computerized machines.
The idea came to me while thinking about Valentine’s Day. Cards and lingerie decorated with lace. Two lovebirds “lacing” their fingers together. Frilly and fine and fancy.
Of course, the second example I used refers to something entirely different–you know, those things that help keep your shoes on your feet when you go out for a run. Or maybe, if you prefer a more romantic notion(depending on how you look at it), the laces could be on a corset.
Or another unromantic idea: a yellowed piece of lace on the musty sofa of the dead woman. Hey, wait… that could be a pretty romantic story depending on how you write it…
What can this little word inspire?
2009’s Chief Officer of Fools, Ray Sikorski, abandoned(yes, abandoned!!) Foolish Words for adventure in far away lands, so I’m heading up the silly marathon this year!
What is Foolish Words? Foolish Words is an add-on story created by writers in and around Bozeman each year. Each writer adds his or her 200–400 words to the story and when April Fool’s Day rolls around we all get together and read aloud our contributions to this unholy document of pure foolishness.
Quite a lot of fun, I must say!
If you’d like to check out what 2009’s fools produced, it’s all online at http://www.foolish.creativenudge.org/
Now, I’m running a bit late getting this started, so please let me know ASAP at susan@creativenudge.org if you’d like to be involved. Also let me know if there is a certain time over the next two months that would be either really bad or really great for you to write your piece.
Thanks! And away we go!!!
Susan Andrus
Another new year is upon us. Are you ready? My desk has been cleaned and my resolutions have been made. I resolve to… actually, I’m not going to say just in case I fail miserably. Again.
As we transition into 2010 many people have been reflecting on where they were and what they were doing ten years ago, their memories pulling them back and pushing them forward into a new decade.
This month: reflect. Find a memory, good or bad, shared or yours alone and make something of it.
Ready… set… CREATE!