January 2012 – The Reliquary

Today is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts, a time for contemplation, reflection and meditation on what has been and gone and what is yet to come. It is 2012, what wonders await us all? With it being the first of the month it’s time for the Pictonaut Challenge begin once again. If you’ve recently made a resolution to do more writing this year then the Pictonaut Challenge should serve as a nice little start. Only a thousand words a month, hardly anything in the way of rules and no real pressure to perform, how can any right thinking writer resist?

A new year always carries with it a little bit of mystery. No one really knows what’s in store, it is unknown and unknowable. This month’s picture has an air of the unknown about it, something I think is most fitting to the dawn of a new year.

I’ve given the picture the moniker of The Reliquary. I found this strange-looking structure while out for a walk with my parents shortly after Christmas. I was utterly mystified by it. I have no idea what it’s for; what it’s purpose is; why it is where it is or how long it’s been where it is. It’s got that charming look of weathered dilapidation, of flaking paint and rusted metal. I simply had to take a picture of it. And once said picture was obtained I decided almost straight away that it would be the focus for January’s Pictonaut wordasope.

So with the picture at our disposal let’s dust off the quills of creation, fill the ink-well of wonder and begin weaving our tales with a flowing nib onto the parchment of fancy.

Ali George – A light-hearted tale with sailors

The Rogue Verbumancer – Man in a box with a big blue light

The original blog post responsible for spawning this rampant frivolity can be found here and the post where the entries were originally collated, here.