A Slacker’s Guide To Stretching Your Creativity

Athletes warm up and stretch before their workout to prepare their bodies for exercise. Muscles readied for the race will push harder, faster, stronger.

What does this have to do with writing?

If you’ve got the case of writer’s block, it’s probably because you’re not mentally prepared for the task. Creativity is about making connections that aren’t obvious, and you can’t do that in your writing when you’re procrastinating.

Just like your muscles, you must stretch your creativity regularly if you want your ideas to be more innovative.

It’s time to get off the couch and get to writing—by your own free will.

What Gets You Moving?

Think back to your best writing sessions. Were you writing in public or at home? What did you wear? What was the time of day? What did you hear? Smell? See?

All these factors activated your creativity. Recreate this exact moment at your next writing session. This will help you stay productive and be inspired to innovate.

Commit To Less

This doesn’t make any sense. Let me explain.

What if you’re putting too much pressure on yourself? Expecting too much from your writing session will send you running in the opposite direction.

It’s too much commitment. So only commit to sit in your writing workspace.

That’s it.

Let’s be honest. You’re bound to do more than just sit there. You’ll be motivated to pick up your pen or open your laptop and begin writing.

Play

What would a three-year-old do? Play make-believe, of course!

Children play games to immerse themselves in imagination. What’s wrong with a grown-up writer doing the same thing?

Try acting out your scene with toys. Push your story by continuously asking, “and then what?” Repeat a scene over and over again to see what new details you missed the first time you wrote it.

Be Your Own Referee

How can you be both the player and referee?

You’ll need to use your imagination on this one—or rather, both your left and right brain.

Your right brain is the creative player. Your left brain is the rule-bound referee. The game is best played when both are on the field.

Let your left brain establish the boundaries of your writing session. That way, your creativity doesn’t step out of bounds.

Give yourself deadlines. Assign specific tasks to complete during the writing sessions. Allow no distractions.

Then blow the whistle and write.

How do you rev up your creativity when your motivation is low? Share below.