Morning after morning, night after night, a professional content writer prepares to tackle the task of researching, writing and revising. While the daily chore of putting pen to paper, letters on the screen, is essential for putting moola in the bank, there is one constant threat to a writer’s abilities.
The death of the muse, the drying up of creative juices.
Don’t let your writing position go the way of the dodo. Keep your think-tank afloat with these creative methods for spurring creativity in your writing.
Coffitivity
J.K. Rowling, a single mother of an infant at the time, would push her pram to the local coffee shop where she penned the first Harry Potter novel. Clearly Rowling was onto something there, but she isn’t the first person to use coffee shops for the creative energy. In addition to the caffeinated boost that comes in grande sized cups, research has proven that the background noise of coffee shops does stimulate creativity, as noted in the New York Times. Yet $5 coffees with names like “Shot in the Dark” and “Half-Caff, Nonfat Mocha Latte at 121 Degrees” can make even the most prolific writer go the way of the starving artist.
Enter the world of Coffitivity where you can get your coffee shop atmosphere without the buzz and price tag of the real deal. From sounds including “Morning Murmur” and “University Undertones,” you will find yourself feeling more creative, as well as more productive—all without the jitters and awkward glances of baristas. Oh, and it comes in app form too!
TED Talks
OK, OK, OK. We’ve been talking TED talks to death it seems, but for good reason! Have you checked out the number of TED talks about creativity lately? Well, as of today’s search there’s more than 1,700 talks on the subject. Clearly this is a big deal for more people than just us professional content writers. Some of the most appealing talks for writers include:
- Elizabeth Gilbert on “Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating”
- Elizabeth Gilbert and “Your Elusive Creative Genius”
- Amy Tan with “Where Does Creativity Hide?”
- Lisa Bu on “How Books can Open Your Mind”
Make a Masterpiece
Sometimes you’ve just got to leave the word processor for a bit to bring your brain back into creative mode. As a writer, you are an artist, just with a different medium than, say, Picasso or Van Gogh. That doesn’t mean that you can’t take a cue from other art forms as a way to get your left and right brains in motion. Check out Picasso Head. Here you get a chance to create your own Picasso without the need of oil paints or horse hair brushes. When you are finished with your masterpiece, you can send it to the trash can or your Twitter feed—it’s all possible with Picasso Head.
Miranda B writes wherever she goes and about whatever she does, which makes for some highly entertaining and often surprising content.
