Pushing Creativity in Other Directions

by Heather Justesen

I love writing, and reading, and reading, and writing. Editing--not so much (although if you are one of those insane people who prefer editing over writing the first draft I have a question for you: want to collaborate?). Sometimes though, I find I just have to put away the laptop, set down the books and do something completely unrelated to writing. This has taken many forms over the years. I've done a little quilt making,

played around with garden art,

scrapbooked, embroidered, paint by number (Seriously, this is the only kind of painting I can do. Without detailed guidelines and instructions it just looks like a bunch of blobs.), and more recently I've gotten into cake decorating.

None of these projects are exactly writing related, but they fuel my creativity anyway, get me thinking in different directions. I've been known to come up with fun story ideas or quirky scenes while I work with my hands, letting my mind do something out of the ordinary.

Just like with anything else, too much of a good thing can tire me out and a change of activity can be very important in getting my writing juices flowing again. (Notice none of these options include training for or running marathons? I'm more than happy to leave that to Jaime. A nice, leisurely walk--I'm there! Running two blocks--I like my joints just the way they are, thanks!) After I've taken a break I'm ready to get back into my writing, tweak a subplot, or allow that character to do what they wanted instead of what I had planned. Sometimes their plans are better than mine.

Who knows, I might stumble across an interesting plot twist while I'm surfing the internet looking for cake ideas.