Please Please Me

A few weeks ago I wrote a series of twenty or so posts on this blog with the titles of the posts being songs by Simon and Garfunkel, or lines from Simon and Garfunkel songs, or puns on the aforementioned titles or lines. And, surprisingly, all the titles of the posts really did have some connection with the topics of the posts.

It was something of an exercise in mental creativity and lateral thinking, a way of brainstorming new ideas of things to write about. By choosing a starting point (Simon and Garfunkel songs) that seemed to have no real connection with the main theme of the blog (sailing and related subjects) I was stimulated to address all sorts of topics in a variety of different ways.

So, for this month's group writing project I would like you to try something similar. Please Please Me by writing a post on your blog whose topic is suggested by the title of a Beatles song or a line in a Beatles song. The title of your post should be that Beatles title or song line (or a pun on one.) It must bear some relation to the topic of your post. And that topic should be one that fits naturally into the theme of your blog, which for most of my readers is boating and similar stuff.

Of course you could be really boring and do something easy like writing about your boating exploits on the previous day and calling it Yesterday (but I will probably mock you unmercifully for lack of creativity if you do that.) A post on boat repair called Fixing a Hole or a tale of a rescue at sea called Help! would show somewhat more originality. But I am hoping that some of you will expand your imagination to write boating-related posts with such titles as Polythene Pam, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da or She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.

If you don't know the Beatles songbook all that well, feel free to seek inspiration at this list of Beatles songs and this database of Beatles lyrics.

If you need further suggestions, here are some of the ways in which my own Simon and Garfunkel theme stimulated me to write posts I never otherwise would have thought of. The song Old Friends got me digging through old Laser class newsletters to find a grainy black and white photo of some old sailing friends. The song Save the Life of my Child triggered me to write down some semi-serious ideas that I had been mulling around on the whole "Saving Sailing" topic and to call it Save The Life Of Our Sport. And on realising that March 14 was Pi Day, the line from America about Mrs-Wagner's Pies set me off on a random path covering a sailing painting by the artist Arline Wagner, a picture of a certain Mrs.Wagner sailing, pork pie, sorbitan monostearate and Brazilian waxes. Once you start with one these song titles you never know where it's going to lead!

So please please me by entering the group writing contest. Usual rules...

1. Write a post on your blog on some topic inspired by a Beatles song title or lyric.

2. Once you've posted your story, let me know about it by sending an email to tillermeister@gmail.com including a link to your post. If you don't have a blog just email me the article and I will post it here. Please let me know about your post, or send me your story, before the end of May.

3. I will post here two links to your article. Every day or so I will write a post listing any new entries in the project. Then at the end of the project I will provide a summary post with links to all of your articles. Depending on how many entries there are, I will probably then choose a shortlist of finalists and invite readers to vote for their favorite post.

There might even be a prize. But even if there isn't... Please Please Me by entering.