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7thWave AI Assistant

For the last several years I have completed a Writing Challenge with many people, all over the globe.  We write something inspired by a prompt for 21 days plus an introduction (see below).  This year the prompts are about place and the place I've chosen is the River Porter in Sheffield.  This year I hope some readers might take part and I have a couple of challenges, see the paragraphs in bold towards the end.

Did I mention Sheffield is built on seven hills (just like Rome)?  They’re not easy to count because it’s not entirely clear what we’re supposed to count.  But it’s definitely seven because everyone knows it’s seven.

But why?  I hear you cry!  The reason Sheffield is so hilly is because it has five rivers.  At least they account for most of the hills.  Rivers are a bit easier to count than hills but there’s at least one out on the fringes of Sheffield that sort of dips in and out and so doesn’t count.  And then there’s Meersbrook which is not a river (it’s a brook) but used to form the border between Mercia and Northumberland and then between Yorkshire and Derbyshire.  But it’s been retired as a border for many years and so doesn’t count.

Any road, you can’t stray far from a river in Sheffield and my plan for this Writing Challenge is to write about one of them, namely Porter Brook which somehow becomes a river somewhere along its course.  You can approach any river in three ways.

First, experiential.  Approach any river (try this with one near you) and you’ll see a part of it.  Even if you walk alongside it, it’s unlikely you’ll see it all.  Rivers may be very long, pass through private property or be culverted and so hard to follow.  But you can experience its flora and fauna.  You can contemplate whether it’s possible to step into the same river twice.  (It is!)  You can fish in it, paddle in it, hunt for buried treasure …

Then there is geography.  The Porter’s source is in the Peak District and within the city boundaries.  Its confluence with the Sheaf is beneath platform 5 of Sheffield Midland Station.  It’s about 10 miles long.  You can know, if not every inch, as near to every inch as makes no difference.  How often do we know a river in its entirety?  Although I no longer live in that part of the city, so much of my life is tied up in that small river.  It is my river, although I share it with many others.

And then there’s history.  How long has the Porter flowed?  I’ve no idea.  But it is a part of the history of Sheffield and was once its industrial heartland and now a place for recreation (mostly).  As we walk the length of this river we see the traces of its relationships with us and our ancestors.  And further back? 

Perhaps there’s another layer, one I long to write about – it’s distant past before recorded history.  It’s dream time when it may have been a part of the Kingdom of Elmet, perhaps visited by Arthur’s knights.  Perhaps flown over by the Dragon of Wantley.  Perhaps held to account by Danu, the Goddess of the river Don as she is empowered by the Porter’s waters.  There is history and there is unreliable history and on the boundary …  This is something I have planned to write about – this challenge is my chance to begin this exploration.

There is one more thing.  I help business-owners find the stories they need to market their business and I seek the stories I need to market my own.  Can I braid the blue thread of the Porter with the silver of folklore and the golden thread of business?  We all need stories and the river and the lie of the land offers us opportunities to find our purpose.

So many threads!  I've written several pieces about the Porter and so far not really got around to that Golden Thread.  So, this is my first challenge, as you read these posts think about how you might use this post or a post like it to promote your business.  I'll add a few of my thoughts after each post, like this:

Can any story be used to promote your business or any business?  Probably not.  But seeing the potential of a piece of writing, a story is a key skill.  These written pieces may be too long to use in their entirety but you can take ideas from them.  For example, I write about three ways to perceive a river through direct experience, its full course and its history.  How do people experience your business?  What do they experience when they first encounter it?  What is the big idea behind it?  How has it developed and what experience has it accumulated?  If you have any ideas, please share them in the comments.

My other challenge is especially for Sheffielders, do you have anything to share about the Porter?  Your experiences along it, bits and pieces of history you've uncovered, folklore you've heard about it.  If you remember something, please share it in the comments.  (Or maybe you are more familiar with other rivers in Sheffield, you could share those too.)  Let's see what we can find out over the coming weeks.

Here's the image from the Header.  Any idea where it is?