Looking beneath the surface...

Well those last few days were rather unpleasant. I will just say that the bathroom and I have become rather a lot closer!! It has been during this time spending longer in rooms than I usually would I've managed to see things that I perhaps had overlooked for a while. You could call it poor housekeeping, well it is poor housekeeping, but it is a fact that we often spend our lives looking but not really seeing what is going on around us. For instance, in the bathroom I noticed that the gloss white paint has turned that yellowish colour of old paint, and looking closer I noticed there are sections that have begun to crack. The plasterboard on the walls have started to expel their tacks, or whatever the nails are that hold the board to the timber beneath. My conclusion is - I need to redo my bathroom.  I have also looked at the other rooms around the house and have realised that the whole house is tired. I feel I may need to get the Polly-filler and caulking out along with a few rather large tubs of white paint.

So your writing challenge is to select a room, it can be a room in your own home, office or somewhere you visit often and really look at it. Do this in stages. Firstly, just glance around and note down what you see. Second, look more closely, what is hidden beneath the surface? Note down the differences. Thirdly, walk away for an hour and then return and look more deeply. What did you miss the first time? Don’t just look on surfaces, or at the floor and walls. Remember to look up. I remember I attended a workshop on screen writing a few years back and they tutor got us all to sit on the floor and look around and observe try to see something that others might not see. I pointed out the small piece of Blu-tac that was pushed into the upper corner of the room which had a small strand of red tinsel still attached from a party since past.
Once you’ve made the notes you will need to go away and describe the room in full, faults and all. Then take that and place a family, couple or single occupant inside and show us how they live.

I'm hoping that will keep you all going for a while. So what are you waiting for?

Go on, get writing.