Things I Quite Like: Figment Daily Themes

I expected to have a few reviews up by now. I'm reading something that's currently not in the "What I Read on the 75 Bus" wheelhouse, and I've been a little bit foggy with work and general January ennui.

Rather strangely enough however, I've been writing a lot more (fictional) things that are not necessarily fit for publication or further development. Probably to escape from said January ennui, but also thanks to a little bit more inspiration from YA-orientated online writing community Figment and their Daily Themes.

I've signed up since Tuesday, and completed assignments for the themes on '20 Angry Words to describe something you love' and the 'Frame Story' where you place an anecdote about a situation into a larger narrative about another similar situation. To me, these initially sounded like informal creative writing group exercises that should warm you up before larger assignments, I've found that these gradually get more ambitious.

Take Aimee Bender's utter doozy of a Daily Theme. You have to think of ten settings and items that would fit said setting, and then choose the third and seventh settings and write appropriate stories about how the items are used in the present narrative and also as having secrets. I know what you're thinking, this homework is HARD.

Frustrating as it is, this homework is a good thing. Being frustrated about the Thursday theme meant that I could not get round to starting Friday's "dancing" theme and probably even the ones I missed last week, and this reminded me of when I was in school and university and kicking myself for not working hard enough. What's more, unlike other writing-based resolutions like trying to start writing that novel in January, the disparate stories encouraged here means that you don't get sick of the ideas you liked one time.

You don't have to be a member of Figment once you've subscribed to the themes, but I've joined so I can edit and check the word count as my assignments are in longhand.

One note, if you're like me, you'll 1) feel like the oldest person in the room and 2) resent not being able to enter the competitions due to non-US status.