Introducing: The Kaleidoscope Project Monthly Challenge

Infinite Possibilities, Infinite Perspectives, One Theme

Every creative mind is like a shard of glass in a kaleidoscope, unique, colourful, and capable of transforming a single idea into something entirely new.

Reflecting and refracting the light into patterns that everybody sees a little differently on the other.

That’s the spark behind The Kaleidoscope Project: a monthly challenge designed to celebrate the infinite possibilities of perspective, creativity, connection and collaboration.

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Where did this come from?

This all started with a small collaboration between myself,

Mark

and

Moon Arica

. We each took the same topic, "Luck" and wrote posts from our own unique angles. It turned out that our angles were more aligned than at odds and reading Moon's post gave me that nostalgic feeling of being back in school, sneaking a peek at my mates’ homework just before handing mine in, marvelling at how similarly different we interpreted the same assignment.

Then I thought, what if it wasn’t just us? What if we opened this up to everyone?

I originally suggested "Moon and Mark's Homework club" but that was vetoed before Moon even typed a word, I could feel the silent disapproval radiating through the screen.

So I changed it, for the better I hope.

Imagine a single prompt or idea sparking essays, stories, reflections, poetry, photos, drawings, and maybe (if someone’s brave enough) a cake? The same seed, blossoming into a wild, vibrant forest of creativity.

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How The Kaleidoscope Project Works

1. The Prompt

Each month, we’ll release a prompt, a single word, phrase, or theme, to inspire you us.

2. Create Your Take

Write, draw, photograph, dance, sing, or build something inspired by the prompt. There are no restrictions on style or approach. You’ve got the whole month to let your imagination run wild. I say whole month to be precise you’ve got until 23:59:59 GMT on 31st January 2025. (Updated the date, someone still thought it was December! - Mark)

It’s also worth mentioning that I know a lot of people have publications where entering a challenge like this with a newsletter post does not fit with their brand, don’t let that stop you, enter with a note or you can write a post, uncheck the box to send to subscribers and just share that post as a note, it might still show on your homepage, but it won’t get blasted to all of your subscribers. Just a thought, no pressure. If you don’t fancy that but still want to take part, get in touch and I’m sure we can sort something out that works. Just don’t start your message “Hello Mr Mark”, that’s how all of the bots do it!

3. Share and Connect

When your piece is ready, share it, tag other participants, print it out and leave copies in your neighbours letterbox, get it out there. Not wanting to teach anyone how to such eggs, but you can type the “@” symbol in your post, start typing and you can tag me by typing “@Mark” and it should have a picture of my lovely face staring ponderously into the air and it should say “The Curious Detour” underneath. you can tag any other Mark’s you like but that’s the only one that will ensure I see it.

Edit - If you want to add your details to Moon’s extremely organised Google Docs Sheet that would make keeping track of all of the entries much easier, you can also look at it if you’re a reader and want to see all of the other posts.

4. Read and Engage

Read your fellow challengers pieces, experience what they have created and see how they approached the brief. Engage with them, like, share comment, restack their work. Spread the word for next month. (Edit: I didn't actually consider how people would read and engage with each other in this challenge. My bad. I've added a note at the end of this post to explain how you can.)

5. Round-Up Time

At the beginning of February, or as close as possible, I’ll gather all the contributions into a round-up post, showcasing the kaleidoscope of perspectives. So don’t forget to tag me in your entries.

Then next month it’s Moon’s turn to host the challenge.

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Why Join?

This isn’t just a writing challenge; it’s a creative experiment, a community effort, and a chance to connect with other brilliant minds. You’ll get to explore new ideas, amplify each other’s voices, and maybe even discover a fresh perspective on something you thought you already knew.

Will it take off? Who knows. Maybe it’ll just be Moon and me, shouting into the void, howling at the... erm… night sky. But if you’ve got even the faintest glimmer of a thought on the prompt, why not join in? Scribble a few hundred words, sketch a picture, snap a photo, or if you’re feeling daring, record an interpretive dance (seriously, someone please do this).

Let’s get curious, get creative, Dare to Fail and see what we can build together.

To give me an idea of the number of post’s that we’re going to end up reading this month, I’d be grateful if you plan on taking part if you would cast a vote on the poll. I know people are resistant to clicking buttons sometimes, but it won’t hurt and it will let you see if we’re going to be dealing with tumbleweed or Time Square on NYE.

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The First Prompt

So now the moment you, might have been waiting for if you’ve read this far without hitting the unsubscribe button. The first prompt is...

“The Tipping Point”

Take it whichever way you’d like. I’m not sure which direction to go in yet, although I am partial to the British tea time gameshow of the same name. So that’s a thought.

The Kaleidoscope Project has begun. Will you be a part of it? I’d love it if you would join us, share this post, restack it, tag your fellow creators and give me as much reading to do as possible by the end of the month! Make me regret coming up with this idea because I’ll read all the entries in the challenge. I’ll even try and translate any written in a language that isn’t English.

Connections

In the comments below

Margo Helman

asked the excellent question, where can she find all of the entries so far and how can people connect with each other. The truth is… I hadn't thought of that, you live and learn!

There's no perfect solution, and the best I have come up with is that I have written a note. I'm going to bookmark it, you can too, and I'll keep it updated by tagging the newest entrant's and you can then post your entry in the comments for people to read and connect.

This is something myself and Moon may have to have a discussion about for February's challenge.

Here's the note:

If you’re ready to read all of the entries in this challenge you can do so in the roundup post.

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If you would like to read the posts on Luck that myself and Moon write that inspired the challenge you can find them here:

Make your own luck in life

Can You Make Your Own Luck?