We decided to stop the Hellokoo Substack last year, and since then, I haven’t had the chance to come into this space and properly shut it down. I wondered whether you were all looking for a similar space to this one, which gave me an idea. I started reaching out to you all, offering you to come over to my personal page where I will be posting prompts, amongst other insightful things, and before long, I realized the sheer magnitude of the task. Messaging everybody individually grew tiresome when I noticed how I could just group send a message through this very platform!

I grew close to many of you during the collective and the creation of these newsletters, and I am feeling a distance again. I was often tucked behind the Hellokoo moniker, but I create a lot of the prompts here and on Instagram, and I would love for you to join me on my Substack and see what I am doing. I think you will love it!

I have exported all of the emails from here, and I will import them into my substack, which is when you will receive a welcome email. This is free, but if you don’t like it, don’t want it, or simply want out for any other reason, there will be an opt-out option. If my Substack isn’t where we connect, I will surely see you in some other space very soon. Substack is my favourite place for content, but I do not think it fits with Hellokoo.

Thank you all for your writing, your honesty, and your participation in this Substack, and thank you for your continued support on Instagram. I just finished the anthology, and it will be released in March, but that is our secret. I cannot wait for you to see it. It’s beautiful. As are you.

See you soon.

One final time from this space,

Ash Raymond James

Classical odes in poetry have a pattern of beginning their lines with a single ‘O’. For example O, to the pen for spilling its blood. We thought we would take this month and try a new trend. Instead of starting our lines O, we thought we would start them with ‘May’. You can also just write about the month of May or maybe you know a May and for creative purposes, we’ll allow ‘Mae’ but if you want to follow us completely, this was the idea we had. Start your lines with the word ‘May’ and put forward some well wishes. For example:

May the cows graze good.

May the soil be well nourished.

May the day be kind.

These well wishes can also be personal. Whether you are wishing for your day to go well or hoping you will find something you feel you are missing, there is no limit on how to use this. May we see you in the comments. May your hellokoos be great. We will see you down there

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To round off the month, we thought we would talk about the other big factor with autism - noise! The world is a loud place nowadays but those on the spectrum have it even louder. For the final prompt of the month, we want you to talk about noise. It can be a hellokoo with the word noise or a hellokoo about a certain noise. Try this exercise right now. Close your eyes, quiet your breathing and listen. Truly listen. What do you hear? Do you hear the whir of a fan? Distant traffic? Chatter? Transform those sounds into hellokoos and let us know. As always we will see you down there in the comments.

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As was mentioned at the beginning of this month, this month is also national poetry month. In celebration of this month, we thought it would be fitting to ask you to write something bigger than the typical hellokoo yet stay within its familiar structure. Let us explain. Today we want you to write a series of hellokoos about poetry but make each hellokoo link. Think of each hellokoo as a stanza in a big poem. We’ll post an example below and we’ll see you in the comments.

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Below is three hellokoos put together to form one poem.

The engine rumbled,

coughed like it stood too close to

the roaring bonfire,

—

its wheels turned slowly

barely able to escape

its paused stagnant state

—

but we were going

and we did not know where to

but adventure awaits.

Last week we discussed autism awareness month and we wanted to continue that this week. Light is a significant part of autism and we thought we would incorporate this into a prompt. Above is a light visualiser with colours and movement but no sound. Watch it briefly, skip through and write about what you see. You can watch the entire ten hours if you want to but we aren’t suggesting you do that. Lights are brighter on the spectrum and something dim can be blinding. Let us know what you see, and what you feel and as always, we will see you in the comments.

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Firstly, happy easter! Secondly, we promise this is three syllables. Ash is adamant it is still two but it is three (it’s two but we’ll move on). This three-syllable word is associated with Easter day so what better time to show our love? We can’t wait to see what you do.

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In celebration of autism awareness month, we are starting April with the prompt ‘awareness’. This is not only a place to write prompts but this week, feel free to ask any questions about autism without fear of wondering how it comes across. Ash is on the spectrum and is open to answering anything if any of you have curiosities, concerns or if there is any confusion over anything autism related. For the prompt, make us aware of YOU. Make us aware of what you feel needs awareness. We will see you in the comments for some poetry and awareness. Can’t wait to see where this one goes.

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Hello, all of you in the wonderful Hellokoo family!!!!

I am so excited to be joining you today and bringing with me some awesome April Celebrations (after all that is what I’m best at!) April is National Poetry Month and as such there are a few great ways to make the most of the month ahead: the tenth (Monday) is encouraging young writers day, the 17th (Monday) is national Haiku writing day (in the US - but celebrate wherever you are!), the 27th (Thursday) is national tell a story day, the 28th (Friday) is a world-wide day of reading poetry, and the 30th (Sunday) is national poem in your pocket day!

Why am I bothering you and overwhelming you with this messy list of things that probably also mean nothing to you? Well, Ash is a fan of my community skills, my celebrations and my appreciation for making the most of every day, and also the importance of finding inspiration in each and every moment. Thus, I’m inviting you to participate in one or more of these fabulous opportunities to let your voice, creativity, and community shine! You can research and celebrate these days on your own, you can keep an eye on the social media pages you love and follow, and/or you can make up your own meaning and traditions and share them in the communities you already adore and cultivate!

I’ve also noticed that the community here is filled with wonderful prompt lovers - and I have two incredible 100+ page prompt journals available for $4 USD on Amazon or my website www.sincerelybluejay.com and there will be a third edition releasing on New Year’s Day 2024 - if there aren’t enough prompts to satiate your creative hunger already. I know that Naomi and Ash already do a fabulous job of getting prompts, inspiration and new and interesting conversations out to you regularly - but there’s no such thing as too many prompts - is there?

Thank you for letting me take up some time and space in your day and inboxes today. As a poet, teacher, and fan of the arts, I understand how precious the economy of words and moments can be. I hope you’ll join me for some more celebrations year-round if you’re so inclined and I hope that if you choose to write to any of my prompts or revel in the wonder of any of these events you’ll find me on Instagram at Sincerelybluejaypoetry or join me on Twitter at SincerelyBlueJ - and before I go, let’s give it up for the community that is blossoming here and everyone else who makes it possible to make the most of not only each day - but each new creative thought as well!

Happy writing, happy celebrating and happy reading!

Sincerely,

M. Rene’ AKA SincerelyBlueJay

In celebration of music month, today we are going to have a little fun. We want you to write a hellokoo where either all three lines rhyme or the first and last line rhyme. We also want you to give yourself a wonderful rap name. Whether it is ‘Lil Koo’ or ‘MC 17’, today we want you to become world-renowned hip-hop superstars. Go as silly or as serious as you want. The stage is yours. We’ll see you down there.

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After last week’s prompt, we got to thinking. Why don’t we just make March a celebration entirely of music? So here we are again doing another music prompt. This prompt is actually different for everybody. Firstly we want you to pick your current favourite song. Got it? Say it out loud. Now that is the prompt you will be using this week. Usually, we tell you you have free reign on picking the feeling or the title but we want to turn the focus this week to memories of hearing this song and places the song is perfect for. Tell us these things and the song you have chosen. We will make a playlist and we can all live through your favourites. Looking forward to it. As always, subscribe below. We'll see you down there.

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Staying on the theme of music this week we are going to ask you to do something different. We are going to ask you to write about sound. About how a sound makes you feel. It is your choice how you manoeuvre this. You can write whilst it plays or you can listen and then write, it is entirely up to you. You also don’t have to listen to the whole thing. Skim it. Skip to the middle. Just listen to enough to get a feeling. And if you feel nothing, write about that. This week is a little more challenging and that can be scary but we totally believe in you and hope to see you down in the comments with some hellokoos.

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March is Music Therapy Awareness Month. As some of you may know, I am Board Certified music therapist in Canada who founded Hellokoo while taking time away from Music Therapy. This month we are going to bring together music and poetry to celebrate these two artistic outlets that provide us with so much. In honour of Music Therapy Awareness Month, Ash and I want to focus our prompts and writing on music.

What is Music Therapy?

Music therapy is a discipline in which Certified Music Therapists (MTAs) use music purposefully within therapeutic relationships to support development, health, and well-being. Music therapists use music safely and ethically to address human needs within cognitive, communicative, emotional, musical, physical, social, and spiritual domains.

-Canadian Association of Music Therapists
September 2020

As we celebrate the two year anniversary of Hellokoo, I cannot help but reflect back over the past few years. I didn’t know when I left work for spring break, 2020 that I might never return to my music therapy practice. Who could have predicted spring break with the kids would turn into a long couple of years at home together? I was a music therapist with no way to see my clients and my young children now needed me at home to be their stability in these uncertain times. Without music, I was lost. I needed a creative outlet and a way to process all that was happening. I started writing “quarantine haikus” to document my new life. The beautiful thing about the haiku structure is that it provides a safe container to express and explore my thoughts. This is very similar to the musical container that I provide for my clients as a music therapist - allowing them to express and explore emotions while I hold them the music.

So here we are two years later. I haven’t returned to music therapy. I have continued writing haiku and found the desire to share my love for writing and build a haiku community. Even my children have started to write and design their own haikus. I could not be more proud that my love for words and creative expression has inspired them.

Just as music therapy has had a huge impact on my life, so too has Hellokoo had positive impact on my creative growth. I am grateful for the writing community and online friends that I have made. I would be truly lost without you. Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing your work. Did you know that over 6000 Hellokoos have been written and Hellokoo is now being taught in high school English classrooms! People all over the world are using hellokoo prompts and connecting with each other.

Let’s continue to grow this supportive community by providing a safe and welcoming place to write, read, laugh, cry, be vulnerable, honest and have fun!

Looking forward to reading what the upcoming music prompts inspire from you.

To learn more about music therapy please visit https://www.musictherapy.ca/about-camt-music-therapy/about-music-therapy/ and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I am so grateful to have you in this community. (Who knows, you may even get to hear me sing one of these days…)

With Love,

Naomi

Alongside kindness comes gentleness. We decided this week to make the prompt ‘gentle’ because if you wanted to use the prompt word in your hellokoo that gives you an extra syllable of freedom. That there is kindness and that there is a throwback to last week. Gentleness and kindness are intertwined and it’s arguable that they mean the same which is why it makes a great prompt to follow kindness. The way a leaf lands can be gentle and how kind the wind is to lower it down so gently. There is gentleness in all places. Today we want you to write about them. See you down there.

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Today we are going to start with a visual prompt and end with a visual. Above is a picture of flowers that we want you to write hellokoos on. Now to introduce a new term. ‘Haiga’ means a combination of haiku alongside visual images.

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Week two is back and we’re already at the big words. Potentially the biggest word in the world. Potentially the most important. Last week we celebrated change and this week we celebrate kindness. This week we think of all the places we need more kindness. We think of those who give it effortlessly and those that have been cruel also. We can’t just look at one side of the coin because our bad experiences help shape us and teach us the vital elements of their opposites. Tell us what kindness means to you. Tell us an act of kindness or ask for more kindness from a person who’s not been giving it. When you hear kindness, what stirs in you? What about nature and its kindness? See you down in the comments and as always, we can’t wait to see what you make. Show us those seventeen syllables.

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Changes. A word that causes shudders, nervousness, excitement and in some cases, little happy dances. Some change is welcomed. Some is forced upon us and no matter how much we ignore it, the change is happening if it hasn’t already. We don’t always get the choice of change but this time, hellokoo did. We’ve been sat around for months thinking about what’s next and finally, we had the answer. Coffee and doughnuts. And then we had coffee and doughnuts and realised it was time for a rehash. A change of look for Instagram and a more integrated experience across all platforms. We will now include a monthly feature email of your writing including the feature sevens from Instagram for example. We will soon be adding close friends for the paid subscribers so they can get peaks behind the curtain. We have been viewing the two platforms as separate for so long but it is time they become one. With one month down of this new year, what changes have come unwanted? What changes have you chosen? What changes are ahead? Today we celebrate change whilst we shake our fists at changes because although these changes at hellokoo are positive not all changes are. We can’t wait to see what you write. See you down there. And if you fancy sharing a happy dance, you are more than welcome.

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Life ain’t no picnic. And today we want to recognise that. Today we want to make it abundantly clear that life is not easy. You are here and you should be standing right now and giving yourself a round of applause. Once you are done, put on your writers’ cap or writing fedora or whatever hat you wear when you write and let’s get some picnic hellokoos in the comments.

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Some ideas: you could write about literal picnics or you can think of your days as picnics and share what you bring into the day to get through it. Remember, using the word picnic isn’t compulsory and if you have an even better idea we can’t wait to read it. See you down there.

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2023 is in full swing and hellokoo plus is yet to swing at all. Don’t worry though, this week we are changing that. Firstly though we do need a little reader input. We want to know how many of you use the substack app. If you use the substack app it gives you access to the hellokoo chats which we will be starting very soon.

We are thinking instead of putting the hellokoos in the comments, we thought we could share them all in chats which gives you the option to talk to this community in real-time. It is hellokoo mixed with texting. And unlike the comment section here or the comment section on Instagram you can share pictures meaning if you feel the need, you can add some extra flare to your hellokoos. You can share photos. You can share much more than just black-and-white text.

This gives us all the chance to feel closer. To feel more connected. More you, more us. Please let us know your thoughts as 2023 is the year we want to make hellokoo plus everything it can be. Thank you for the support so far. Help us make it better. We will share this thread to chat so you can get a real taste of what we mean. See you down there and over there as in over on chats.

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