<![CDATA[Creative Constraints Club]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.orghttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A6Vs!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfac2895-84de-470d-9eaf-61d0e49e9b8b_1024x1024.pngCreative Constraints Clubhttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.orgSubstackSat, 25 Jul 2026 12:43:50 GMT<![CDATA[A gentle encouragement]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/a-gentle-encouragement-0d8https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/a-gentle-encouragement-0d8Sat, 25 Jul 2026 09:30:25 GMTHello everyone

As usual, no new creative constraint today.

Simply a gentle encouragement to explore something you wrote this week for Creative Constraints Club. Plus my 30 days free membership offer below.

SATURDAYS

It’s your free writing day. If you’d like to, and have time, choose one of your responses to JAPAN and go exploring. Perhaps you wrote the opening to a story, or first few lines of a poem. In the spirit of kaizen, keep writing, keep editing, keep improving.

SUNDAYS

Each day I invite Club Members to send me a response to one of our creative constraints. On Sunday, I publish some writers. Sunday Showcase is already coming to life with wonderful writing. Take up my offer and you can appear too.

Already a Club Member but struggling to DM me your writing? Just email it to robselfpierson@substack.com. I’ll typeset it and line you up to publish.

Looking forward to welcoming more Club Members soon.

Happy writing

Rob

GROWING THE CLUB - A SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up now for 30 days of Creative Constraints Club fun absolutely free. Enjoy a creative constraint Monday to Friday, and the chance to appear in Sunday Showcase.

Hopefully you’ll love it. If not, simply unsubscribe before the end of your 30 days.

]]><![CDATA[Friday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/fridays-creative-constraint-9ebhttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/fridays-creative-constraint-9ebFri, 24 Jul 2026 09:30:43 GMTI’d only seen Mount Fuji in photos. An impossible shape, I imagined people were playing with lenses. Nope. No trick photography. Fuji is a melting ice cube, from a distance all wonderful width and drift. I found it impossible not to respond in poems.

My favourite came out Fuji-shaped. I’ve learned that a poem mimicking the shape of its subject is called a concrete poem. Let’s write one to end our week in JAPAN.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[Thursday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/thursdays-creative-constraint-44chttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/thursdays-creative-constraint-44cThu, 23 Jul 2026 09:30:22 GMTThe Beauty of Everyday Things is beautiful in itself. Soetsu Yanagi explores our relationship with “objects that fill our everyday lives”. He encourages us to look after them, respect them, even to love them. It reminds me of a 26.org.uk project.

Where 26 Treasures invited people to write a sestude in response to museum artefacts, I wonder if we could we use the form with everyday objects?

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[Sestude]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/sestudehttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/sestudeThu, 23 Jul 2026 09:25:21 GMTSo we’re writing a sestude.

I created this form alongside John Simmons for 26 Treasures in 2010.

26 Treasures paired writers from 26.org.uk with 26 objects from the V&A in London, challenging them to write a sestude.

A sestude? Collins Dictionary calls it “a reflective study using exactly 62 words”.

Over time, we’ll reflect on different things using sestudes, from treasures to everyday objects, special people to significant moments.

The rule is to keep to 62 words (‘26’ in reflection), and write in any form.

Happy writing

Rob

]]><![CDATA[Wednesday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/wednesdays-creative-constraint-934https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/wednesdays-creative-constraint-934Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:31:18 GMTTokyo was mad. So busy, so noisy, so over-stimulating. I had to get away a few days, so travelled with a friend to Lake Kawaguchiko. I stayed in a traditional ryokan, bathed in a steaming onsen, tried eating nattō (look it up), and fell for distant Mount Fuji.

One day, on a bike ride around the lake, I came across a statue. Its plaque intrigued me, and inspired this story I wrote that evening. Might the story inspire you?

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[The Source]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/the-sourcehttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/the-sourceWed, 22 Jul 2026 09:25:07 GMTSo we’re responding to my short story, ‘The Source’.

I wrote it after cycling around Lake Kawaguchiko in Japan and discovering a statue by Seibo Kitamura. It sits at the edge of the lake. Overlooking it, I imagined.

It goes like this:

THE SOURCE

A man, aged twenty-one, lived on the south-eastern curve of Lake Kawaguchiko.

He lived in the shadow of the gentle slope of the mountain and its trees, who were stark in early autumn, except for the flame red maple leaf.

This man thought himself the saddest person alive.

While his friends met every lunchtime to slurp onsen-hot houtou-men noodles with the joy of carefree boys, Sonshitsu lay under his duvet in his bedroom.

And while his father, ageing fast, fished along the east side of the lake with his ageing friends, Sonshitsu added verses to a poem about losing so much so young.

West of the lake, in a town called Nagahama, where roaring gullies rush down from distant Fuji, there lived a woman called Nozomu. Just a few months older than Sonshitsu, Nozomu enjoyed taking ‘tourist swan boats’, that’s what she enjoyed calling them, onto the lake.

‘The people get such joy,’ she would say. ‘I want to share their joy with them.’

Sometimes she would paddle alone, sometimes with friends, one time she invited a couple to join her on the water. They said yes and that they loved her rosy cheeks.

If you saw Nozomu—her wide eyes and wider smile—you wouldn’t think she had been through such hurt.

‘Excuse me,’ said Sonshitsu, one evening below the bridge that crosses the lake. ‘Do you have a cigarette?’ Sonshitsu was doing a circuit after sunset. It was his ritual.

‘Your eyes,’ replied Nozomu. ‘Who gave them to you?’

Sonshitsu walked on, away from Nozomu.

‘I mean they are like stars.’

‘No cigarettes?’

‘Your eyes are wonderful. Come back.’

Sonshitsu stopped and sighed before turning.

‘My eyes reflect the sadness of losing my mother and my brother. They were the stars. Not my eyes.’

‘We learn through loss,’ said Nozomu.

‘I have learned there is no joy in life,’ replied the man.

Nozomu picked up a stone and gave it to Sonshitsu.

‘Take this. If you see a stone, you are mistaken, my friend. You are holding a part of the universe in your hands, like the universe holds you. This stone seems hard, but stroke it and it is smooth. Through your perspective, soft even.’

Sonshitsu held the stone in both hands and felt its smoothness. He thought it as smooth as his brother’s hand when he would help him to cross roads in Japan’s busy cities.

‘It’s hard inside. I am hard inside. You are right. I am like the stone.’

Nozomu smiled. ‘You are a smart man except when it comes to your feelings.’

With that, Sonshitsu threw the stone as far as he could into the lake, shattering its surface. ‘Today the stone drowns. What does that tell you? Goodbye.’

‘You will find hope, my friend. Or hope will find you.’

Two years later, Sonshitsu was again walking around the lake in the early evening. It was springtime now and the hills were in light blossom.

He reached the underneath of the bridge at dusk and was surprised to see a group of people pointing out to the water. Friends of his father, his mother, his brother—all now gone.

They all knew and loved Sonshitsu. His mind was just too busy to notice.

‘What is it?’ asked Sonshitsu, joining the group.

A fisherman held out his rod. ‘A miracle.’

‘It is what the great sculptor showed us,’ shouted another.

‘It is his “Source”. The renewal of life.’

‘It is the essence of the universe.’

Sonshitsu knew the story depicted in Kitamura’s sculpture. The old man, aged one-hundred-and-one, visited Sonshitsu’s lake a year before he died. The two women who dance around Kitamura’s vase statue are Negativity and Positivity. The sculptor believed that when these powers meet, they reveal the answer.

Sonshitsu looked out to the lake to see a small island where he had thrown the stone given to him by Nozomu two years earlier. He had never seen this island before. Nor, it appeared, had anybody else who lived beside the lake.

Standing in a gentle breeze on the Nagahama side of the island stood a crane. Its body was as clean and white as the crown of Mount Fuji.

My tale tells the story behind the statue, and leans into the fantastical style of Japanese fiction I enjoy so much.

But what about the main characters? Sonshitsu and his loss, Nozomu and her hope.

Write to one or to the other in haiku form, 5-7-5, just you to them.

Happy writing

Rob

]]><![CDATA[Tuesday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/tuesdays-creative-constraint-352https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/tuesdays-creative-constraint-352Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:31:17 GMTLanding at Tokyo airport felt surreal. All the kanji, ordered busyness, trying to buy a train ticket. The latter got me in trouble, accidentally jumping a queue of disgruntled commuters. Oops. Eventually I got to the Shinkansen for the ride of my life.

The bullet train to downtown Tokyo reaches up to 199mph. It’s exhilarating. Whoosh, we’re there! Sadly it means no time to get to know your fellow passengers.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[Monday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/mondays-creative-constraint-51ahttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/mondays-creative-constraint-51aMon, 20 Jul 2026 09:31:26 GMTWelcome back to Creative Constraints Club. This week we head to JAPAN.

A friend visited recently and brought back stories, reminding me of my visit. How I fell for Japanese culture, people and landscape. I long to return. Until then, I’ll continue to sip the sweet ginjo of books, poetry, film and art. And play in Japanese language.

One wet evening in Tokyo, I was taught to write my name in kanji. Next day, I bought Haruki Murakami’s After The Quake and had fun trying to translate bits.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT
SKILLS YOU’LL BOOST

Writing compelling openings
Enjoying another language
Allowing interpretation

Boost these skills and no language can intimidate you. You’ll embrace the unknown, allowing yourself freedom in interpretation. Your inner critic will be forced quiet.

Happy writing

Rob

Club Member? DM me a response to any prompt you take on. I’ll pick and publish some each Sunday for others to enjoy. Guests and Members can now comment.

GROWING THE CLUB - VERY SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up now for 30 days of Creative Constraints Club fun absolutely free. Enjoy a creative constraint Monday to Friday, and the chance to appear in Sunday Showcase.

Hopefully you’ll love it. If not, simply unsubscribe before the end of your 30 days.

]]><![CDATA[Kanji]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/kanjihttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/kanjiMon, 20 Jul 2026 09:25:20 GMTSo we’re ‘translating’ from kanji.

Kanji is a Japanese writing system that uses Chinese characters.

Visit Japan and you’ll see it everywhere, from road markings to shop signs.

Here’s the text we’re looking to translate. From my research*, it’s original kanji written by novelist Haruki Murakami to start his short story collection After The Quake:

五日のあいだ彼女は、すべての時間をテレビの前で過ごした。銀行や病院のビルが崩れ、商店街が炎に焼かれ、鉄道や高速道路が切断された風景を、ただ黙ってにらんでいた。ソファに深く沈み込み、唇を固く結び、小村が話しかけても返事をしなかった。首を振ったり、うなずいたりさえしなかった。小村の声が彼女の耳に届いているのかどうか、それさえ定かではなかった。

Unless you’re Japanese or know the language, I doubt you’ll have a clue what’s happening. If you’ve read After The Quake, written following the Kobe earthquake of 1995, you might remember how book one, ‘UFO in Kushiro’, begins.

Whether you do or don’t, enjoy this kanji. Interpret characters if you wish. Respond to those or the book’s subject. Know Murakami? Mimic his style if you’d like to try.

Give it a go, and embrace the freedom of getting lost in language.

Happy writing

Rob

*it was tricky to find. Hopefully it’s correct, apologies for any errors.

Only scroll down to see the Jay Rubin translation when you’ve written your own.

Promise you’ve written your own opening seven lines?

A final check. Sure you’ve finished?

Right, here you go:

]]><![CDATA[Sunday Showcase]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/sunday-showcase-597https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/sunday-showcase-597Sun, 19 Jul 2026 18:54:58 GMTEach Sunday, I publish a small number of pieces written by Club Members in response to our weekly theme. This week, we had too much fun* with PLAY.

Here’s how Fiona responded to Tuesday’s creative constraint, a limerick inspired by some bottles of fizzy water:

These bottles of fizzy water:

Fiona tells me they have something to do with an upcoming project. All very exciting!

See you tomorrow as we jet off for JAPAN.

Rob

*fake news: it’s not actually possible to have too much fun

GROWING THE CLUB - VERY SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up now for 30 days of Creative Constraints Club fun absolutely free. Enjoy a creative constraint Monday to Friday, and the chance to appear in Sunday Showcase.

Hopefully you’ll love it. If not, simply unsubscribe before the end of your 30 days.

]]><![CDATA[A gentle encouragement]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/a-gentle-encouragement-3c1https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/a-gentle-encouragement-3c1Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:31:08 GMTHello everyone

As usual, no new creative constraint today.

Simply a gentle encouragement to explore something you wrote this week for Creative Constraints Club. Plus my 30 days free membership offer below.

SATURDAYS

It’s your free writing day. If you’d like to, and have time, choose one of your responses to PLAY and have fun some. Perhaps you wrote the opening to a story, or first few lines of a poem. Like a child with sand, what else might you do with your words?

SUNDAYS

Each day I invite Club Members to send me a response to one of our creative constraints. On Sunday, I publish some writers. Sunday Showcase is already coming to life with wonderful writing. Take up my offer and you can appear too.

Already a Club Member but struggling to DM me your writing? Just email it to robselfpierson@substack.com. I’ll typeset it and line you up to publish.

Looking forward to welcoming more Club Members soon.

Happy writing

Rob

GROWING THE CLUB - A SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up now for 30 days of Creative Constraints Club fun absolutely free. Enjoy a creative constraint Monday to Friday, and the chance to appear in Sunday Showcase.

Hopefully you’ll love it. If not, simply unsubscribe before the end of your 30 days.

]]><![CDATA[Friday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/fridays-creative-constraint-6b2https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/fridays-creative-constraint-6b2Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:30:23 GMTYou don’t need to tell Ava to play. Whenever I see my niece, she’s turning blank paper into weird, wacky, wondrous scenes. I sometimes ask her to describe her creation. Oh the grin. Children should be an inspiration to all adults who have lost their way.

When did you last sit down with a clean piece of A4 and felt tip? And draw a thing? Then write a thing? Scribble for the sake of it? I know, I have the answer: today.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[Thursday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/thursdays-creative-constraint-a44https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/thursdays-creative-constraint-a44Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:34:52 GMTI visited Queen’s House in London this spring. Some of the classical artwork is bigger than walls in my flat! But it was a tiny modern embroidered piece about identity that drew me in. It was exquisite. Such fine detail, the thread telling a moving story.

I spotted a typo. Oh no! What a ruination! Actually, did it spoil my experience? Not at all. Now I’m not saying fill your writing with typos but— Actually, let’s do that.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[Wednesday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/wednesdays-creative-constraint-c80https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/wednesdays-creative-constraint-c80Wed, 15 Jul 2026 09:30:14 GMTI love coming up with our themes, prompts and constraints. Not only do I pay more attention to my days, but I smile more. It’s magic to nurture ideas. To encourage those seeds to grow. And to then condense into a template, my own creative constraint.

To be honest, I feel selfish keeping this joy to myself. So I’d like to invite you to have a go. If you were leading Creative Constraints Club today, what would you post?

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[Tuesday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/tuesdays-creative-constraint-0behttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/tuesdays-creative-constraint-0beTue, 14 Jul 2026 09:31:09 GMTThere once was a man from Nantucket... Oh limericks, how we love your silliness. Edward Lear is perhaps the most famous limericker. He’s as known for the oddness of his rhymes as he is the brilliance of his art and illustration. Perhaps more so.

He’s quoted as saying: “Nonsense is the breath of my nostrils.” What a wonderfully weird thought. Very Lear indeed. Let’s use it to spark our own limerick poem.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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]]><![CDATA[Limerick]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/limerickshttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/limericksTue, 14 Jul 2026 09:26:09 GMTSo we’re writing a limerick poem.

Limericks might seem throwaway. But there’s a science to their playfulness.

LINES THAT RHYME

Any poem with lines that rhyme has a ‘rhyme scheme’, where A represents the first set of rhyming lines, B the second and so on.

A traditional limerick has the rhyme scheme AABBA, where lines 1, 2 and 5 end with a rhyme, and lines 3 and 4 end with a different rhyme.

For example, here in children’s author Constance Levy’s jolly limerick:

How awkward when playing with glue
To suddenly find out that you
Have stuck nice and tight
Your left hand to your right
In a permanent how-do-you-do!

Although Constance doesn’t do it above, some limerick poets use the same word to rhyme lines 1 and 5. If Constance had, line 5 would end “glue” as well.

BUILD TO PAY-OFF

Meter is how the stress of syllables builds the flow of a poem. The meter of a limerick should build from a set-up to a fun pay-off. Without that pay-off, similar to the punchline of a joke, what comes before isn’t worth anything. Pay-off counts.

Like here in Edward Lear’s mischievous limerick of 1846, where by the end of line 2 we want to know what has happened to the Old Man’s beard:

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”

Meter is all to do with stressed and unstressed syllables. Limericks traditionally start unstressed (above: “There”), with the second syllable being the stressed (above: “was”). Think of it like the gallop of a horse: clip-CLOP clip-CLOP clip-CLOP.

(Note the repetition of “beard” in lines 1 and 5, as I mention above.)

SUBJECT

Finally, some limericks are naughty, even filthy. Though most are just a little bit silly. Let’s aim for silly over filthy at Creative Constraints Club.

Or the man from Nantucket might blush...

Happy writing

Rob

]]><![CDATA[Monday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/mondays-creative-constraint-aa2https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/mondays-creative-constraint-aa2Mon, 13 Jul 2026 09:30:12 GMTWelcome back to Creative Constraints Club. It’s week seven, and time to PLAY.

Things have got a bit serious around here. Let’s have some fun. Play is the best way to learn anyway, according to science. It reduces pressure. Gives us a dopamine hit. And motivates us to keep going, keep trying, developing our skills as we go.

Kids have mastered play. Give them bricks and say, “Make something” and they’ll get creative. Say it to an adult and they’ll ask, “Like what?” Time to be more child.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT
SKILLS YOU’LL BOOST

Unleashing your creativity
Developing a character
Playing with plot

Boost these skills and you’ll soften the outer edges of your writing. You won’t just be silly, you’ll be playful with words. Readers will love you for your imagination.

Happy writing

Rob

Club Member? DM me a response to any prompt you take on. I’ll pick and publish some each Sunday for others to enjoy. Guests and Members can now comment.

GROWING THE CLUB - VERY SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up now for 30 days of Creative Constraints Club fun absolutely free. Enjoy a creative constraint Monday to Friday, and the chance to appear in Sunday Showcase.

Hopefully you’ll love it. If not, simply unsubscribe before the end of your 30 days.

]]><![CDATA[Sunday Showcase]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/sunday-showcase-4dehttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/sunday-showcase-4deSun, 12 Jul 2026 19:56:53 GMTEach Sunday, I publish a small number of pieces written by Club Members in response to our weekly theme. This week, we flowed with the RIVER.

Our regular contributor Fiona Thompson responded to Thursday’s creative constraint. Fiona tells me she very much enjoyed this Joni Mitchell exercise. And it shows in her writing, which is both uplifting and grounding.

I responded to Friday’s creative constraint. Which river reflects me?

See you tomorrow as we begin a week of PLAY.

Rob

GROWING THE CLUB - VERY SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up now for 30 days of Creative Constraints Club fun absolutely free. Enjoy a creative constraint Monday to Friday, and the chance to appear in Sunday Showcase.

Hopefully you’ll love it. If not, simply unsubscribe before the end of your 30 days.

]]><![CDATA[A gentle encouragement]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/a-gentle-encouragement-a48https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/a-gentle-encouragement-a48Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:30:08 GMTHello everyone

As usual, no new creative constraint today.

Simply a gentle encouragement to explore something you wrote this week for Creative Constraints Club. Plus my 30 days free membership offer.

SATURDAYS

It’s your free writing day. If you’d like to, and have time, choose one of your responses to RIVER and follow its course. Perhaps you wrote the opening to a story, or first few lines of a poem. Allow it to trickle or to flow on towards the ocean.

SUNDAYS

Each day I invite Club Members to send me a response to one of our creative constraints. On Sunday, I publish some writers. Sunday Showcase is already coming to life with wonderful writing. Take up my offer and you can appear too.

Already a Club Member but struggling to DM me your writing? Just email it to robselfpierson@substack.com. I’ll typeset it and line you up to publish.

Very excited to welcome more Club Members soon.

Happy writing

Rob

GROWING THE CLUB - A SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up now for 30 days of Creative Constraints Club fun absolutely free. Enjoy a creative constraint Monday to Friday, and the chance to appear in Sunday Showcase.

Hopefully you’ll love it. If not, simply unsubscribe before the end of your 30 days.

]]><![CDATA[Friday's creative constraint]]>https://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/fridays-creative-constraint-8ebhttps://www.creativeconstraintsclub.org/p/fridays-creative-constraint-8ebFri, 10 Jul 2026 09:30:07 GMTFrom a soaking below Rio Iguaçu’s falls in Argentina to staring in awe as the Columbia floods the Pacific near Portland, USA, I’ve experienced some of our planet’s most spectacular rivers. But there’s one closer to home that speaks to my heart.

A wooden bench at Fishers Green in Essex invites you to watch the River Lea trickle by. And often I do. If rivers reflect us, I am the Lea – happiest when life gently ripples.

TODAY’S CREATIVE CONSTRAINT

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