How To Boost Your Creativity

Sometimes creativity and inspiration can feel limitless, and other times it can feel fleeting. Or at least, that’s how it feels to me sometimes as an author. Some days I can’t stop writing, or wake up in the middle of the night to write something down. Other days I find myself staring at a blank page, watching the cursor flash on the screen. If it goes on long enough I call it writer’s block. This doesn’t just affect writing, but extends to many different forms of creativity. If you’ve felt this way, there are things that can help get you through it. On this post I’m going to talk about the things that have helped me in the past whenever I felt stuck.

Getting Proper Rest

This is one that I’m admittedly not too good at, (being a night owl) but it is important. Getting the right amount of sleep is crucial to keeping your mind refreshed. Not only does your mind process things at night, but the rest helps with feeling more energized for the next day. Creativity takes both mental and physical energy, even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment.

Eating Well and Keeping Hydrated

In the same line of getting proper rest, eating well and drinking water are both important to your health and mind. For me, my struggle is more with drinking water, as I can get very focused on my work. Our brains use water every day… it is more important to hydrate than we feel sometimes. Now if I’m working and notice that I’m not focusing as well, feel tired, or have a headache I go and get a glass of water. A lot of times I start feeling more focused and have a little more energy after that! Since I’ve been doing this I’ve been able to work more efficiently.

Working to Make Exercise a Daily Habit

Exercise is a good way to reset your mind during the day. Even taking small walks (which is what I do sometimes) can make a difference! I try to do something active for at least 15-30 minutes a day, but it is a habit I have to consistently put effort into keeping. One thing that has helped me is to find something I like to do, as that makes it more fun. Exercising also helps regulate our bodies for getting proper sleep.

Having a Hobby That is Creative in a Different Way

I’ve found that having another creative hobby that’s not related to writing has really helped give my mind a break from being creative with my work, while still giving me practice at making new things. There are a lot of hobbies out there that would support this! I personally like to play musical instruments, and I also love interior design. Both of these are another outlet for me, that keep me being creative while resting from writing.

Having a Hobby That is Not Creative

On the other side of things, if I’m still having writer’s block after coming back to my work from my other hobbies, I find that it’s helpful to get some space with a hobby that’s not as active. Watching Youtube, playing video games, or reading are all things that I like to do when my mind feels like it needs extra rest, or I feel I need some space from writing. Doing housework and cooking can help me as well, along with taking a short walk or getting some extra exercise in.

Letting Your Creativity Just Be

One time while I was writing Dream Sparks I had come to the end of a chapter that had a lot of action in it, (I may go into more detail on this in another post) and I was very stuck with what should happen next. I felt like writing a different genre in that moment, and decided to let myself create a character that would fit with that genre. I wasn’t planning to do anything with this character, I just wanted to get that out of my system. When I had finished I realized that this character could still fit with my story! I changed some small details, and put him in the story. This character has become very popular, and goes on to become one of the main characters as the series goes on. Who would have thought that would happen? I certainly didn’t. If we let our creativity have some freedom it can surprise us and take us to places we wouldn’t have gone otherwise.

Find Something That Inspires You

For me music always inspires me to write. Most of my characters in my stories have a song that fits with their main mood that I listen to when I want to remember how their personality needs to be portrayed in the story. I also have music for certain places, or chapters. My web browser has a lot of folders with bookmarks that are playlists of music that inspires me to write. There are many ways we can find inspiration, and it can be helpful to look at (or listen to) them when we’re not feeling as creative.

Taking Time in Prayer

This is something that is very special to me personally, and that is spending time with God, and asking Him to help me if I’m struggling with writer’s block. He has given me many ideas for my writing, and has helped guide me through the process of writing and publishing my novel from beginning to end. Sometimes when I get stuck it is better for me to stop and listen, and many times I have new ideas that I would have never thought of on my own.

These are all things that help me, (I do them in no particular order) and I hope that they help boost your creativity as well!