On a rare, sunny blue-skied day (they’ve been few and far between this spring), I paused to admire this pink-blossoming tree in a local park. What a glorious sight! It makes me think ‘in the pink’ must have been born from a vision of hope and life like this.

Can you write a story stemming from this flush of vitality?

Alternatively, create something inspired by the black-clad figure hunched on the bench to the left of this image. What’s happening in their world?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Even the most pristine strip of sand  is strewn with bits of plastic rubbish these days. On a recent outing to Weston-Super-Mare in north Somerset, my sister and I couldn’t resist doing a bit of a beach clean. The more we cleared, the more we found. The hardest to gather were tiny specks of blue and red plastic that I could imagine finding their way into marine creatures’ stomachs and into the food chain.

Can you use this as inspiration for a story? You could create a piece about some strangers brought together by a communal litter-pick, or have someone change their supermarket choices, or even career options, as a result of what they see washed up.

Alternatively, focus on the animals it impacts, and don’t forget that includes us humans.

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

The other day I glanced at a  plane tree I’ve strolled past a thousand times and noticed something strange. In a small nook on the patchy, rugged trunk, a community was dozing.

Snails. Lots of them. All sitting close together and still hibernating, tucked up in their shells.

What startled me was how many times I walked so close this winter and early spring, and never spotted them before.

They aren’t covered up at all – just hidden in plain sight, and relying on their predators’ lack of attention to detail. What a simple, yet apparently effective, means of survival!

What else might we be passing by in our daily lives without realising? And, equally, how precarious is our own safety in the nooks we call homes?

Can you turn this into a tale or other creative work?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.