Chicken Chapters

Calling All Writers, Artists, and Chickens

Chicken Challenge

Finding inspiration for writing is difficult. The creative process comes in waves.

Artists are to dawn wet suits and attempt to catch a creative swell. Sometimes one is lifted and enters a flow state like within a barreled wave. Other times these imaginative surfers fall victim to the salty sea of writers block.

A surfing metaphor might not exactly hit different in a good way, but I am stranded in this very sea — a castaway in seek of artistry.

I recently watched a video published three years ago by Campbell Walker A.K.A. struthless. I find this creator’s work to be incredibly inspiring and motivational, especially for artists. Walker speaks about how the artist, Marc Shattner, changed his perspective on how he ought to create art.

Marc told Campbell to stop spreading himself so thin and just pick one thing to practice. Shattner challenged him to draw the same thing every day for one year. Reluctantly, Walker humored Shattner and gave it a try.

As a citizen of Australia, Walker found inspiration in the country’s notorious ‘bin bird’: the ibis.

He spent everyday drawing an ibis and found that his artistic ability improved dramatically. Furthermore, knowing what he was working on everyday gave him the motivation to create consistently.

Currently, I journal every day and write creatively about five days a week. I even have an obsessive list of topics I want to write about. The problem is: I want to increase the quality and consistency of my work without hitting a creative block.

I know, wishful thinking, am I right? Pushing to post every day isn’t sustainable. Likewise, praying for obstacles to disappear is futile.

Nevertheless, I have taken it upon myself to select one thing to write about every day for a year. Drawing inspiration from Campbell, I’ve decided my topic will also be a localized bird. Chickens are everywhere around me— this is the perfect topic to write about every day!

Don’t worry, I will not be publishing exclusively chicken-flavored content; only my favorite pieces will be posted on my account with the tag [Chicken Challenge] and the kicker “Chicken Chapters.”

Any and all who stumble upon this post are free to join me in this challenge, but I will now call forth a special few to participate!

Ben Ulansey René Beauchemin - [he/him] Jenny Lane Ravyne Hawke Sieran Lane E.A. Colquitt Carolyn Hastings

Now of course, participation is not mandatory. Moreover, you do not have to write about chickens. I challenge you to pick one thing (birds are clearly customary, but not required) to write about everyday. I know you are talented writers with devoted writing habits, but everyone experiences a block in creativity from time to time.

Let’s tame the feral writing process and become better writers than we could have ever imagined! Happy writing! Cheers!