So, I’ve just got back from Dublin and have decided to – as you do – write a challenge about something I learned there.

Most people have heard of Joyce. Apparentally he was the most important author of the modernist movement, but frankly he’s not my cup of tea. But there is one thing I do admire about the way he wrote.

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce describes as a child being lifted above his classmates’ heads after being especially brave as feeling “above and beyond” everyone else. This was the birth of the artist: Joyce wanted to be above and beyond his hometown of Dublin, and so left and never returned, but instead wrote about Dublin from the outside, presenting it not to the Irish public, but to the world.

This challenge is about this: the moment that the artist is born. The exact moment when a person decides that they want to be the first person to fly or become a lawyer, because everything is art.

This is only a short challenge so start writing now!