Whether you're struggling to find the right words or they're flowing fast and free, it's always fun and inspiring to vary your writing routine, or try something new, to get another perspective. When you're regularly "mixing it up" by writing somewhere new, or experimenting with different brainstorming or creativity techniques, your romance with words will stay fresh, and your writing will thank you for it.
Try some of these (or come up with ideas of your own), just for the fun of it.
-
Go somewhere different to write--a café, the park, a 5-star hotel lobby, the car wash, or Disneyland. Or you can stay home and write in another room, on the sofa, or in the back yard. You don't have to travel long distances for a new perspective. Sometimes it's as simple as turning, and looking in a different direction.
-
Pull a Tarot or Wisdom card at random (with a question in mind or without any expectations) and see where it takes you. You can do this with other kinds of informational and inspirational card decks, as well. You can also open a book, magazine, or newspaper at random and point to a word, phrase, or idea and start writing.
-
Try a new or different brainstorming technique: Cluster, make a list, use mind-mapping software, attend a mastermind group, brainstorm with a friend, or use Amazon.com as a brainstorming tool. Here's a fun one: Look up one of your keywords on Google, click the "images" link, and then either brainstorm using the photos and images, or find one that really intriques or inspires you, and start writing.
-
Set a timer for 10 minutes and do some stream-of-consciousness writing, or take a topic that you're working on and write without stopping, editing, changing subjects or checking your email.
-
Take something you're working on into your meditation with you and then write about the feelings, ideas, and images that arose during your meditation, even if they don't seem directly related. Consider them clues. Or... meditate and then work on your project in that open, creative, post-meditative space.
Even if your routine works for you, doing something new or different--daily or weekly--will open up new avenues of creative thought, insight and inspiration.
In order to create a new habit of "mixing-it-up," it might help to marry a specific day of the week with something you'd like to explore.
For instance:
-
Mind-Mapping Mondays
- Tarot Card Tuesdays
- Write Anywhere Wednesdays (go somewhere different to write)
-
Technique-a-Thon Thursdays (with at least one NEW technique included)
-
Fast Writing Fridays
-
Silly Saturdays (write or do something just for fun)
-
Study Hall Sundays (study the craft of writing, learn and implement something new)
This may sound silly, but it takes resolve, discipline, and creativity to break up, or break through, old habits and daily routines that limit your creative potential. So make spicing up your writing routine something you do regularly, and often.
How do you romance your writing?
If you liked this aritcle, you might also be interested in:
