Creative people who actually work in the creative field are some of the luckiest people in the world. Not everyone gets paid for doing something they love. There are some days when we work on a project and feel a sense of satisfaction close to what Hemingway or Picasso must have felt. It’s pride. It’s no wonder that artistic types often confess that they would still write, draw, design, etc. even if there weren’t a paycheck on the other end.

But then there’s the other side. Some days you go to work (whether in an office or at your laptop at home) and can’t believe you have a deadline. The fact that you must perform when you don’t have a single ounce of creative juice in your body at the moment feels wrong. How can you create art when it feels so much like work?

Don’t despair. Creativity isn’t something that just leaves you. Sometimes it just lies dormant and needs to be poked with a sharp stick to wake it back up. Think of these tips as sharp sticks, and pull them out whenever you feel a dreaded slump coming on.

• Get Out. No wonder your creativity is stifled if you’re sitting in front of a computer all day. Get outside of your regular environment (the coffee shop doesn’t count –it’s filled with writing zombies who need to get out too). Go to an art gallery. Visit an old friend. Take a walk around the block. Inspiration is right around the corner.

• Look at Some Bad Examples. Taking a look at the worst in the field can be one of the best creative boosts there is. Read some amateur fiction, check out some outsider art, or browse a website of failed ad campaigns. You won’t be able to help thinking that you could do it better, and once you realize how, you’re back in the game.

• Pick a Word. One of the simplest tools I’ve found for stimulating a napping brain is this random word generator. Let it pick a random word (rope, flying, rush), then force yourself to work with it, no matter how strange. You don’t have to actually use the word in your final creation, but you’ll find that the process of trying will lead you to a new idea.

• Recycle a Favorite. Chances are, one of the ideas you’ve already used is worth a revisit. I’m not advocating reusing the same work in its entirety, but the idea behind it. Take a look at some of your successes. What made each one work? An unexpected hook? A spoof of a classic? See if that same technique works for your current project.

If none of these seem to be working, then the best trick is to simply start. Just getting something on paper, even if it’s terrible, gives you something to mold, edit, or otherwise build into something remarkable. Then, once again, you’ll be bursting with the pride that makes you want to create in the first place.

by Elizabeth Kelly

Have a go-to trick for getting your creative juice flowing? Share it with the Oozil community.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Copywriting, Tips and Tricks for Creative Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response