Auto-writing while a harpist plays live was not something I ever expected to do, but it worked. One simple prompt, a few bars of music, and we were off. No stopping. No editing. Just writing whatever surfaced in the moment.
The harp changed everything. It slowed the pace, softened the room and made the words arrive in a way they never do when you’re staring at a keyboard trying to be productive. I had to stop myself drifting off and thinking about Guinness, but that’s fairly standard.
A small shift in atmosphere can open up a completely different kind of creativity.
Below is my writing created whilst listening to the piece Interlude by Benjamin Britten (link below). The writing cue was “I don’t want to write”.
I don't want to write
I don’t want to write…about what’s going on in the UK, in the US, in Brazil, in the world, in outer space. No one listens. No one reads. No one learns. No one hears.
Repeat it. Shout it. Show it. Stream it. Scream it. Post it. Ghost it.
Forget you’ve seen it. You haven’t. I didn’t write about it.
You saw it. You didn’t like it. You wouldn’t have read it.
You wouldn’t share it. You wouldn’t understand it. You wouldn’t like it.
That’s why I’m not writing about it.
I’ll shout about it instead. And then you’ll listen.
When it’s all gone quiet and it’s too late.
No writing. No words. No comment.
