Postcardinating

I was looking for some inspiration this morning and Googled "random postcard". The objective was to pull up an image I wasn't expecting and then write about it until my student showed up.

I didn't find an image, but i did find Postcrossing, which might become a new obssesion.

The idea is simple. You sign up, request an address or two (you can have five outbound cards traveling at any one time), send that person a postcard, and then wait for someone to send you one.

Cool enough. I went out and bought a stack of cards on my coffee break and have now sent off mini-missives to Lisbon, Beijing, Seattle, Hamburg and Lieto.

Now I'm very excited to see where I'll get my cards from.

But, Bob, isn't this just another means of procrastinating on your writing?

Nay! I say nay to that! I've decided to make a little creative project out of it. When I receive a card, I'll use whatever picture is on it to inspire a piece of flash fiction. I've also told the sender that if they want to include any details for their specific postcard-story, to include them in the message.

We'll see what happens.

In the meantime my student arrived and as we discussed weekend plans she decided it was going to be too cold in England. She and her friend were jonesing for some warmth, so we went online (filling out web forms in English is a practical skill) and booked them a flight to Istanbul.

Today's vocabulary word turned out to be imprompu.

Tags: postcrossing, postcards, creative procrastination, invoking the muse