Banish the Creativity Blues

Need some tips to jump-start your creativity? Here are six you can begin today:

1. Put a notebook on your nightstand. The minute you wake up in the morning (or right before you go to sleep), reach for a pen and write for five minutes. Let it all come out. No editing. No stopping.
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2. Pull together a Writing Round Robin. Find a writer friend or two and commit to writing 12 minutes a day. (You can absolutely fit that into your busy schedule.) Just set your timer and go. When you’re done, text, email, or call your friend to let them know. They’ll do the same with you. You don’t need to exchange or critique each other’s work.
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3. Try your hand at Blackout Poetry. Blackout poems are created using newspaper articles, magazine articles, or the pages of old books. The blackout poet gleans together a poem by crossing out unnecessary words, leaving only single words or short phrases to create his poem.
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4. Try the Pomodoro Technique. This time management method was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, who used a tomato-shaped timer to break a project down into 25 minute increments, each separated by a short break. You don’t need a tomato-shaped timer to take advantage of this technique. Any old timer will do. Once it’s set, start writing. Then see how many “pomodoros” you can complete.
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5. Dreamstorm. This technique, invented by novelist and writing instructor, Robert Olen Butler, suggests you to sit down in your writing space, but instead of writing, allow yourself to close your eyes and go into a trance-like state. Let your mind wander around, dreamstorming scenes for your story. Make sure that each scene that comes to you has a sense impression attached to it, like a vision, a smell, a taste, or a sound. Once you’ve got a scene in your head, write down a one sentence summary. Then, go back into your trance and dreamstorm some more.
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6. Write an American Sentence. An American Sentence is a variation of the haiku. It was invented by the poet, Allen Ginsberg. The idea is to write one sentence using only 17 syllables.