Creativity is time consuming, there’s no two ways about it. Writing is, I would say, one of the more labor intensive arts because painting a picture with words is not easy. Painting a picture, backdrop, action , characterization and plot with words is complicated, even.

So, as a writer, you spend months and sometimes years, breathing life into words and sentences that create a brand new world that is unique. You populate it with characters, you set up the political structure and the rules of play and allow your story to come to life.

You research, you ponder, you work it, but mostly you live and breathe your story, always there, always with it running through your mind as you follow the intricate threads and details or follow the potential of side plots.

It’s a concentrated effort. Sometimes you stumble, sometimes you hit dead ends or brick walls, or fall into the worst trap of all and impossible to get out of – the oubliettes. Sometimes your creative juices just dry up and it becomes hard work merely to sit at your desk.

The shortcut?

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Take one day off and then surprise yourself with it. Do something unexpected. Just for that day, break all habits and live a different life or do something you’ve never done before. Go someplace you’ve never been to, eat different food, take up a hobby you’ve never thought to try.

It doesn’t have to be dangerous or risky. It has to be fresh. The beauty about “fresh” is that it focuses your thinking on the new stuff to hand and allows a full-scale mental holiday from the routines of your creativity. A short clean break can work wonders. And if it runs for a handful of days or longer – why not?

If you don’t want the unfamiliar – do something familiar on the spur of the moment. Make it a treat. Enjoy!

It’s like putting a new battery in. When you sit back down at your desk and pick up the threads of your project, you’ll be amazed at how your creative energy flows.

Try it. It works.

Cheers everyone!

😀

Allyson