“Picture this: you with a big block of time; a serene, aesthetically pleasing hotel suite with free daily massages, a pool, and a delightful café; a privacy agreement signed by encouraging family members, friends and coworkers (though you may, of course, call them); breakfast in bed from room service with abundant choices from bacon and espresso to granola and green tea; pads of paper and a box of pens in your favorite colors; and an absolutely perfect laptop.”
– from “Write. 10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block. Period.” by Karen E. Peterson, Ph.D
Since the above scenario is not very likely to take place for most people, here’s a potpourri of creativity tips to help inspire you when the laundry needs to be done, you feel a cold coming on, and the cat just knocked over everything on your nightstand.
1. Isabel Allende is one of the world’s most famous writers; she’s written over a dozen books, starting with the acclaimed 1982 novel “The House of the Spirits”. Several of her books–which are filled with magic realism, where the mystical merges with quotidian life–have been made into motion pictures. She had this to say about her writing process for “The House of Spirits”:
“I did my first novel The House of the Spirits writing only at night after I worked all day for 12 hours; two different shifts at two different jobs. I wrote at night in a little kitchen. It was really hard. It’s like falling in love, though; you make love behind closed doors if you have to.” (Source.)
Because she began writing that particular book on the 8th of January, to this day she will not start a book project on any other day. Then she writes for ten to twelve hours per day, six days a week, until the book is complete.
2. Follow Hugh Macleod’s advice: hang a sign in a prominent place where you’ll be sure to see it every day that says “Create or die!”.
3. And here’s some advice from Hugh’s soon-to-be-published book “Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity”:
“If your plan depends on you suddenly being discovered by some big shot, your plan will probably fail. Nobody suddenly discovers anything. Things are made slowly and in pain.”
4. Karen E. Peterson, whom you’ll remember from the quote at the top of this blog post, suggests that you honor your creative work by giving it a home. Go to an office supply store and purchase a receptacle for your bursts of creativity: a plastic folder, an index card box, a shoe box, or anything else you can use to start collecting scraps of paper with ideas jotted on them, fabric samples, magazine clippings, a great paint brush, and so on.
5. In “The Writer’s Book of Wisdom”, Steven Taylor Goldsberry explains that your creativity is tied to physical movement. He says the following:
“If you wait to be inspired before you start writing, if you wait to experience that bolt of soul-clarifying insight, you’re a fool and have no business being a writer. Write. The physical act itself will free the imagination. In this sense writing is like dancing, or sports, where the expression of grace comes only through movement.”
6. Follow Ernest Hemingway’s advice: “Write the truest sentence you know.”
7. In the book “On Writing”, Stephen King suggests that when you finish writing something you put it aside and work on something completely different. Then go back to the first piece and look at it again. You’ll be able to see it with fresh eyes and notice errors and opportunities for improvement that you wouldn’t have noticed if you simply begin the rewriting process as soon as you’re done writing.
8. If you’re writing a book, Jenna Glatzer suggests that your objective should be that people won’t finish reading it:
“The true measure of the book’s success will be how many readers never finish it. With any luck, no one will make it to the last page; they’ll be too busy following their bursts of brain activity, setting the book aside as Christopher Robin did to Pooh when he was no longer needed . . . “
9. Participate in “Thing a Day” (although by now you’ll have to wait for 2010). “Thing a Day” is a month long creativity sprint held during the month of March each year in which hundreds of artists and creators from around the world participate. You have to sign up before February 1st and commit to make one new thing (project, sketch, blog post) per day and share it on the “Thing a Day” group blog. The basic rules are the following:
- Starting on February 1st, make one thing a day.
- Document your work: write, take pictures, create a video, post things online.
- You’re expected to spend an average of 20-40 minutes a day, and no more than an hour.
Since it’s too late to join for 2009, start your own “thing-a-day creativity project” with a group of friends. Agree that you won’t spend more than half an hour for each project.
10. If your muse has gone AWOL, you may need creativity prompts to coax her back. In “The Writer’s Book of Matches: 1,001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction”
“Upon reading the contents of his teenage stepdaughter’s diary, the man is left fearing for his life.”
“In the wee hours of every morning, a night watchman spends his time composing the symphony he’s always dreamed of.”
“During his third night out of town, a traveling salesman discovers a voodoo doll in his hotel room.”
Here’s a prompt from The Writer’s Block: 786 Ideas to Jump-Start Your Imagination
“Trace the journey of a five dollar bill through the lives of five different owners.”
11. Mark McGuinness from the blog “Lateral Action” suggests that you stop trying to be original. He explains that ” . . . Your obvious is your talent. It may seem dull or unremarkable to you, but to others, with different life experience, it will seem fresh and surprising.” So instead of racking your brain trying to come up with something wild and whacky that has never been seen before, simply show up and be yourself, and trust that it will be enough.
photo credit: John Althouse Cohen
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- Creative Insights From the Worldwide Web
- Creating in the Dark – Your Sacred Dance
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