8 Methods to Improve your Creative Madness

A novel never feels real to me until I hit the first ten thousand words. Then, I feel obligated to finish the dang thing! And excited...by the 10k word count, the ink threshold in my brain is beginning to overflow with ideas.

But how do I keep that creative momentum up? Here are a few of the methods that help me:

1. Morning Meditation: I read a bit of philosophy, poetry or biblical wisdom for a few minutes. My current favorite is Earth Prayers from around the World edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon.

2.  Exercise: I do physical exercises to get myself energized before I plop in front of the computer. Other times I write a little first and then exercise just to break things up.

3. Writing Excuses: I am getting into the habit of listening to this fabulous podcast whenever I do physical exercises, or take a lunch break.

4. Online Stopwatch: I use the countdown tool to keep myself from getting distracted too often. Sometimes I set the timer for only 15 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes. Usually I stop using it once I get into the flow of ink.

5. Music: Playing music often inspires me while I write. This method doesn't work for everyone, but it definitely helps me. Also, making up a track list that expresses the mood of a chapter or character also gets me energized to write.

6. Get gritty! I re-read this story shared by Paulo Coelho and written by W. Timothy Gallway, and tell my fragile whining ego to shut up because every story starts as a seed. Of course it will be gangling and strange as it grows and needs pruning to shape it into its end form. So take pride in the dirt and nourishing dark and keep pushing towards the light.

 “When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless.”

‘We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed.
“When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped, nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear.

‘We stand in wonder at the process taking place, and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development.
“The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential.

‘It seems to be constantly in the process of change: Yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.
“A flower is not better when it blooms than when it is merely a bud; at each stage it is the same thing — a flower in the process of expressing its potential.”

7. Write something, even if it is just one sentence: still working on this one! The point is to get myself into the habit of facing my ink demons. Start with just a sentence, and the next day make it three, and before long paragraphs and pages come next.

8.  Fallow Days: Some days I just don't write, and that's okay. Quiet times nourish creativity, too.

 What are the methods that work for you?

Fairy Wish or Feather?

This is one very fairy way I visualize a prayer or wish: feather-light hopes cast on the air, tangled filaments caught by gravity, gleaming brightly, truly even where they fall.

Iceland Feather I

Iceland Feather II

Japan Feather

Local Feather

On Friends, or, The Girl who gave me a Unicorn

So, Iffy Magic has been out since August (cue the hurrahs!). While I must regrettably confess that I'm not a millionairess just yet, I've had the great pleasure of sharing the misadventures of Prim & Co. with friends and family, and making new reader friends, too.

And the process of bringing my book to print has helped me to (re)learn that I am surrounded by amazingly talented, kind and imaginative people. As an introverted writer, my primary tendency is to retreat into a nook with my trusty battered laptop and ignore the world in favor of my own mental kingdoms.

But that is not how stories grow well, at least not mine. Idea seeds are nourished by more than the ink in my veins; by nights of watching silly movies with friends, sharing links to crazy awesome music videos, walks and talks and mundane smiley faces. Sharing my half-baked stories with my friends helps transform them into something newer and better, sometimes even into a story I could never have imagined on my own.

I will always be grateful for all those who fell in love with Prim's story and made it their own: My sisters, who argued over my weak plot points and laughed uproariously at my bad dialogue until I fixed it (mostly). My splendiferous agent/editor Natalie, who tirelessly helped me to polish the narrative to a proper shine. So many marvelous people, including the girl who gave me a unicorn. When I sent my friend (and artist/animator/musician extraordinaire) Audrey Bagley an error-riddled earlier draft of the manuscript, she envisioned a book trailer far grander than my feeble imaginings. I almost cried when she sent me this little animated snippet of her work-in-progress:

Nobody had ever given me a unicorn before! Nobody had seen the jewel-in-the-rough quite the same way she did. It was like watching my story born all over again! Thank you, Audrey, for giving me a unicorn (and a gorgeous book trailer, cover, and story art!).

So my wish for the holidays and 2017 is that we never forget or neglect the amazing people in our lives in the pursuit of our dreams. Dreaming alone only gets you so far, after all.

Here's to a new year, new ink, and new friends! May you all find your unicorns.

P.S. Need a stocking stuffer? The Iffy Magic ebook is now 99 cents and the print book is $9.99!