Carrie Baker – The Growth Collective

This is the last part of my ‘When You Are Creatively Constipated’ series. (Don’t be sad……. I’ll write others, I promise!)

You wouldn’t know this, but all those activities fitted into an hour and a half long class. It was like stepping outside of time, it seemed so much longer – in a good way!

I came away from that class with so much inspiration! I wrote short stories, had more ideas than I knew what to do with, and I even picked up my novel to work on it again!
(John Lombard of Canberra, you passionate soul, I thank you!)
This post is different from the others, in that it doesn’t exactly have anything to do with writing (STAY WITH ME!), but it will help with those times you are in a creative slump.
Being a practical girl, I offer you some practical ideas on how to move your ‘creative blockage’!

Sometimes we need new perspective on life.
Sometimes we need to see things from a different angle.

When I feel uninspired and don’t feel like writing – I change things up a bit!

A Change Of Scene

Do you sit in the same room and sit at the same desk and chair to work?
Gets a bit boring doesn’t it?
Why not set yourself up in a different room? Somewhere you can find some natural light (doesn’t have to be sunshine!)

If it’s not raining/blowing a gale or freezing temperatures, why not head outside? If you don’t have somewhere to sit outside, take out a chair or a picnic rug and sit under a blanket if it’s chilly.

Why not rearrange your work space? Move the furniture around! Add some colour and steal items from other rooms in your house to make your work space come alive!
(I do this to my living space as well when I feel like my life needs a change!)

Do you need to ‘declutter’ your work space?? So often I find it hard to relax in the evenings if I forgot to make my little people tidy away their toys before they went to bed.
And so it can be with our work space, if there is chaos, our minds can find it hard to relax or focus. Be ruthless in your sorting! Clear your desk of the things you don’t need, and you will find you have more space to think.

My personal favourite ‘change of scene’; go out to your favourite cafe/ restaurant, order something delectable, and think, write, daydream, people watch.

Brain Space

Why not gave yourself a little break from that hard thing you are working on?
Try something different!
Why not Google ‘writing prompts’ and write a short story? It doesn’t have to be your best work, or even that good, just give your brain a break by working on something else.
Why not try your hand at poetry? Write someone a letter…..

You don’t even have to write. You could draw a picture, paint, make something!
Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect, or great, or even anything recognisable!
The point of mixing it up and giving your brain some space, is so that when you come back your writing, you come back with fresh eyes and clear mind.

Change Up How You Write

Do you ALWAYS do your work on a computer/laptop/iPad and keyboard?
Have a go with the old pen and paper! Your mind actually WORKS differently when you write with pen and paper. It doesn’t have to be a pen, it could be a pencil, a sharpie, your child’s crayons!
Or if your do the majority of your work using cool notebooks and fancy pens, why not work on a device/ computer/iPad etc.

For something really different, you could record your thoughts on a smart phone or device that has a voice recorder. Why not?

Tunes To Write By

As a younger person (that’s how I refer to myself in the time before children), I used to wish I could live my life to a great soundtrack, like every great movie has a character moving about their everyday life to amazing music. Or is that just me…………….

Are you like me and love listening to music?
Do you have particular albums or playlists that you write to?
I find that listening to music can help me focus (and drowns out the noise my ‘little home buddy’ makes as he plays, while giving a running commentary on everything he does).

You can get free music on a few apps, I use Pandora, there are some ads, or you can pay a little for no ads – I’m a tight arse! But there are others, Google schmoogle it!
I really hope this post has helped, I have actually used all these as a way to be ‘blockage free’, some were great others didn’t work so well for me, but they may for you!

Thanks for reading my series!

Just Write It!