The original 100 Days of Mythical Creatures in Haiku idea...

I like it when people get all enthusiastic, proactive and aim to use their creative energies to try and make the world a better place. The idea of A Hundred Days To Make Me A Better Person, then, strikes me as something pretty inspiring. From December the 1st to March 10th, folk will be devoting themselves to doing something daily then using the internet to spread their imagination and love, all in the name of just being nice, improving themselves and having fun. Cool idea.

'Cause I'm a wannabe hipster who likes writing and really wants to connect to some positive creative energy and feel part of a 'movement' I decided: "yeah, pledge". I'm going to be a part of this thing and so promise, every day for one hundred days I will draw a different mythical creature/supernatural monster and write a haiku about it. The results and progress will be posted up in cyberspace.

Why paranormal organisms and magic animals? Because I've just finished my postgraduate degree in Constructions of the Sacred, the Holy and the Supernatural and now there's a gaping void where otherwordly and ethereal stuff used to be. I love mythology and fantasy and have a great geekstreak for all B-movie monsters, mystical spirits and astounding legendary animals. These things are awesome; kids should be asking for baby dragons and tankerfuls of kraken for Christmas, not a puppy. In this endeavour I'll be learning more and no doubt discovering new tales, myths and mad-crazy imaginings from different cultures as I go along. Creative stimulation and fresh knowledge: nice.

Why haiku? I've never tried writing haiku before and, as an aspiring writer, I figure: why not? I'm also a rambler, so having to limit things to 3 lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables at a time is a challenge. (I'm going by Western rules and not the ultra-tradition of Japanese poetry which requires season words and other stuff. The 5-7-5 syllable structure will do seeing as I'm not a Zen master being observed by a haiku sensei...)

And that's that. Every day will bring a scrappy/amateurish doodle of a phenomenal fantasy creature and a haiku of appreciation. Hopefully my scribbles and skew-whiff verse will make some people smile, encourage appreciation of mythology or persuade people to dig out Harryhausen monster movies. For me personally, I'm hoping that I can get my creative juices flowing, find some imaginative enjoyment in a really cool project. 100 days with 100 supernatural creatures will hopefully leave me feeling happier, more creative and in harmony with the Universe. Righteous, indeed. Enjoy...

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