Hi, I’m Jessica’s Creativity (that’s me in the blog header) and today I’m writing about our creative plans for the next four weeks.

To be honest, we’ve been feeling a bit creatively stale for the past few months. Dealing with illness and being cooped up indoors tends to stifle creative expression while also spoiling the beginnings of a promising tan. So, it is with great enthusiasm that I make this announcement:

For the next four weeks Jessica shall be taking in a change of scene. Not on holiday (that comes later in the year), but through the adventure of house sitting.

Four weeks in a completely different environment is a heady opportunity for a Creativity. The possibilities for creative shenanigans are endless.

I must stress that I do not mean we will be playing practical jokes on the owners of the house (we don’t know them that well yet) but there shall be plenty of playing with words, ideas and anything else I decide to turn my creative attention to (including a garden, what fun!).

This creative boost has been set off by the plethora of new stimuli. There are new books to browse, new rooms to write in, new kitchen appliances to experiment with, new decor to admire and a new pet to interact with (or should that read ‘a new pet to beat in a dastardly battle of wits’?). Everywhere I look there’s something I haven’t noticed before and house sitting gives one plenty of time to savour the experience.

But, although all this playful curiosity is bubbling along happily, Jessica has set some goals in order to get the most of out of our month of creative mayhem.

They are as follows.

Have breakfast in the sunshine every morning while journal writing.

Have you ever experienced the sensation of being drawn to a place or an object with a creative fascination? That’s what happens when your Creativity falls in love. Me? I’ve fallen in love with a beautiful little nook in the back garden.

There is a paved area surrounded by lattice work, creating a snug space which is still speckled with sunshine. The autumn weather is behaving itself at the moment so I’m looking forward to starting the morning in the great outdoors.

Well, I’m looking forward to it now that Jessica has sprayed the chair, table and general vicinity with bug spray to kill all the creepy crawlies. Poisonous spiders do tend to inhibit my creative flair.

The journal writing gets a lot of the writing bilge out of the way before we sit down to the serious work of playing around with blank pages, which leads to the next goal.

Write for a couple of hours each day.

Well, this isn’t a new goal, but new environments provide fresh incentive to recommit to previous plans. Going from a household of six to just two means there should be more time and room for writing.

Let me just add here that while Jessica believes there are far less distractions here (by that she obviously means people) she has not taken into consideration all the fascinating knick knacks and books which are catching my attention every time she looks away from the computer screen. There’s a book called Tilt on the history of the Leaning Tower of Pisa that I’m finding particularly interesting, if only for it’s clever title.

Jessica’s already realising that concentrating here may be harder than she thought. Still, I’m enjoying myself intensely!

Create at least four successful new recipes.

Remember those kitchen appliances I mentioned earlier? Well, they’re giving me so many ideas for meals that we’ve had to make a list!

Already we’ve invented ‘Green Cashew Paste’ which works well as a topping to both chicken and lamb with further variations to come. Who knows what we’ll end up with next!

Being loosed on a kitchen does wonders for my confidence and my creative spirit, which then translates onto the page later on. It’s like doing creative push ups with tasty treats to end your exercise.

It’s freeing and enjoyable and yummy!

So, that’s the plan for the next four weeks. Let’s see what we can get done!

What about you? What are your creative plans for the next four weeks? Do you have any goals you’re working towards?