By Scott Lindsay
Has the creativity in your writing flown to lands unknown and little visited? Do you long for the return of your muse and feel it has rejected your companionship citing lack of interest?
We’ve all had those moments when we can only seem to remember times when creativity flowed from our fingertips like proverbial milk and honey. Yet we stand in a forlorn place where our fingers do not receive instruction on what to write. They stand poised over the keyboard ready for orders that never seem to come.
Reasons for a Creativity Leak
1) You are spending too much time writing. When you cloister yourself away in an effort to maximize your writing there will come a time when the well runs dry. Everyone needs a little dose of “life” from which to draw creativity based in real life experience.
2) You are trying too hard. There are times when we work so strenuously to find the perfect phrase that we sap the strength from writing. Relax. The creativity will come. Simply write and worry about fixing things later.
3) You base your work on an unrealistic standard. Work at competing only with yourself. Don’t try to do something exactly the same way someone else has done them. Don’t expect the same results. You are a unique writer with unique gifts. Become comfortable with who you are as a writer and allow the creativity to return.
Creativity Restoration
1) Visit a location that has provided inspiration in the past or a location you have always admired for its beauty. Spend time simply enjoying the atmosphere.
2) Spend less time writing and more time with family and friends. Forget about writing for a season and reclaim a bit of life experience.
3) Concentrate on the little things around you. Spend some time on a park bench or in the mall just observing the people who cross your path. You may find characters for a story or wisdom in the interaction of people you meet.
4) Pressure Writing is a means of dumping all of your disjointed thoughts onto a page for future reference. When you unclutter your mind you may find that creativity has a greater chance of finding some room to set up shop once more.
There are obviously more ways to jumpstart your creativity, but the greatest point is you can only retrieve creativity from a life that is actually lived.