I'm Going To Moodle

I know what I’m going to do this August. I’m going to moodle. [Don’t you just love these off-the-wall words!] Fiona and Kaspa from Writing Our Way Home are running a Summer Moodle Course and as my inspiration has been flagging recently I decided that this would be just the thing to give it a boost.

The word moodle comes from a quote by Brenda Ueland;

“...imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.” ~ Brenda Ueland

An inspiring view of our garden
[tirelessly tended by Mr A]

I love the idea that being inefficient can be productive. It goes against everything we’ve had drummed into us as we grew up. And the same can be said for happy idling, for dawdling and as for puttering... when haven’t you wanted to putter and not feel guilty about it? Oh yes, this is exactly what my over-burdened, befuddled brain needs.

Fiona and Kaspa were the creators of the January Small Stones Project. You can see my small stones here. I did say that I would continue writing small stones even though the project was over but, surprise, surprise, not a single one has hit the computer screen since 31^st January. Now that I’ve enrolled for the Summer Moodle I might write a few small stones before the course begins to get myself thinking in the present. For those who don’t know how to write a small stone, it’s all about noticing a small thing/event/scene and recording it in words as a moment in time. Like I say, it’s all about living in the present.

One of the quotes included in the Summer Moodle Course information is by Natalie Goldberg. I often dip into her book, Writing Down The Bones. It feels like she’s speaking directly to me. The Goldberg quote that Fiona and Kaspa have chosen hits me right in the face;

“Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.” ~ Natalie Goldberg

Some of the work for the Summer Moodle will be taken from Fiona Robyn's book, A Year of Questions: How to Slow Down and Fall in Love with Life. That sounds suspiciously like yet another book that's talking right at me!


So it’s going to be a summer of living in the present, of de-stressing, of slowing down, of happy idling... in fact I’m just going to moodle. Who’s going to join me?

[I'm adding an addendum: I'm not actually going to be doing nothing in August even though some of you who commented seem to think I am! Fiona and Kaspa are running a therapeutic online writing course that will rejuvenate my creativity. Sorry if you thought I was inviting you to do nothing with me. It's going to be a packed month of writing! Are you still up for joining me? Then visit Writing Our Way Home.]

[My Inspiring Writing Den update: After your kind comments on my previous post we've chosen Liqueur emulsion (a pale pinky-beige) for the walls, I'm planning curtains with an inspiring green splash of colour to them and yes I will post up a picture when it's finished but it may be some time yet. The sun has just come out and Mr A would far rather be in the garden!]