On August 11 1942, actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr and her collaborator, composer George Antheil, received their patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that has since provided the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi. Hedy had fled both her country and her marriage in 1937, escaping from Vienna to Paris, and then on to America. She later said of her husband “He was the absolute monarch in his marriage. … I was like a doll. I was like a thing, some object of art which had to be guarded—and imprisoned—having no mind, no life of its own”. I think that moment of receiving a patent (and with it recognition of her own agency and brilliant mind) must have felt like real freedom.

So today’s prompt is to write about a moment when you escaped, felt release, or finally realised you had broken free – but framed through an object or seemingly-unrelated event. Or, write about the things you need or wish you could invent – a fantasy list of what you’d like to give the world, or yourself, or a specific someone else. This could be a list of many things, or one specific thing. Don’t let boring old reality get in the way of what your inventions could be or do..

One of the books I’m reading at the moment is Opacity-Minority-Improvisation, by Anna T. The book is looking at queer slangs from around the world, like Polari, and how they construct a kind of linguistic closet for the users. The author often writes in Greek without translating, and leaves gaps in the text when there is no translation, no appropriate word or the gap is simply the most eloquent way to express absence or loss or the unknown. It’s a really playful, enjoyable text to read. So today’s prompt is to start with your DMs, posts/social streams, whatsapp messages etc, and/or news articles or any other content you have a response to, or want to reply to, and construct a found piece out of that: play with blanking out words, abbreviating, translating into/out of slang, or emojis, or other languages you might speak. What can and can’t be said? What secrets can you dig out of the texts? What secrets can you hide in them?

My response: I used a D*ily M*il article about the residents of Richmond employing private security patrols to stop “yobs”. I put it through Google Translate a few times, via the languages of several of the countries covered by Anna T’s book, and a couple of UK languages. It came out much more profound than it went in, so with a bit of editing, cutting and judicious punctuation I have a mystic but rather pertinent piece about police violence. It starts “I turned to walk to the ways / of the inhabitants of Emergency”

I’ve been reading about lots of AFAB warrior queens (having long had an obsession with female pirates), so today’s prompt is inspired by Queen Amina and others. Amina was a Hausa warrior queen in the city state of Zazzau, now north-west Nigeria. You might also like to check out Gráinne Ní Mháille, Sayyida al Hurra, Boudicca, Cheng Shi/ i Sao and Rani Lakshmibai. I was particularly struck by Amina’s first announcement as ruler; a call for her people to “resharpen their weapons.” Amina is still celebrated in song.

So the prompt is: write about what you are resharpening your weapons for – what’s your protest, anger or power centred around? Or, where in your life would you like a sharper blade – a more incisive or precise understanding? Or, write a ballad for the warrior/pirate queen of your choice, or imagine/celebrate yourself as a warrior and commemorate your own feats and battles.

My response: I wrote a protest in the form of instructions for sharpening a blade – what to sharpen it on and what to do with it once resharpened.

I just read Kae Tempest’s beautiful announcement about their name change and gender identity. In the post, Kae talks about their new name being a name for Jay birds – I’m copying this directly cos it’s so nice: “It’s pronounced like the letter K. It’s an old English word that means jay bird. Jays are associated with communication, curiosity, adaptation to new situations and COURAGE which is the name of the game at the moment. It can also mean jackdaw which is the bird that symbolises death and rebirth. Ovid said the jackdaw brought the rain. Which I love. It has its roots in the Latin word for rejoice, be glad and take pleasure.” (From their Facebook page).

So today’s prompt is to write something about your true name – the secret name (or names) that maybe you don’t even know what it is yet. Or to write about a bird that represent or displays qualities that interest you (love or hate!). Or to look up the root of a name and see where that takes you (try https://www.etymonline.com/)

My response: I wrote a kind of spell for how to find your true name. I might try it out..

#DailyWritingPrompt for today:

On August 6 1926, New Yorker Gertrude ‘Trudy’ Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, a task previously thought impossible for a woman to achieve. Whilst I’d never impose a sexuality or gender identity on someone else, I think it’s interesting that she never married and lived all her life with a group of female friends in NYC.

The prompt: Write some form of tribute to Ederle’s cross-channel swim; or write about a time you were immersed in water and something shifted for you; or write about a challenge you’ve overcome, using water as a metaphor within the piece.

My response: I wrote about the effort of the body striving to reach the shore. Pretty obvious metaphor! but I enjoyed some things around repetition and rhythm, thinking about how I feel when I swim hard, the feeling of getting through it.