If you're anything like me, you view the summer as a time for opportunity. The weather's nicer, days seem more exciting, and you finally decide to allow yourself the time to get around to things you put off during a majority of the year. From planning vacations and events to coming up with ideas for plays or poems, it's time to get your ideas out there. It's time to focus on you!
Unfortunately, this process is easier said than done. When you finally have more time on your hands, the inability to be creative seems inevitable. What we don't realize is the time we have to enjoy ourselves doesn't seem to fit the vision of being attached to a computer or suffering from hand cramps. A lot of things can get in the way of relaxing and unwinding that we forget about all of the projects we set out to do!
I know I fall into this routine myself, so I've thought of some ways that can get you moving and getting creative while still enjoying yourself. No pain may equal no gain, but a little pain goes a long way if it gets you moving further to achieving your ambitions in the long run.
Habit 1: Watching a series you binged in the past
Instead of watching "Parks and Recreation" or "Breaking Bad" for the sixth time, how about writing about them instead? Take your favorite character and compile an entire backstory for them. Take your least favorite character and try to write them to make them likable if you really want a challenge. And if writing straight isn't your thing, then maybe create a Twitter account as the character tweeting things as the character. See where expanding off of one of your favorite universes takes you when you're in charge!
Habit 2: Making a list of books to read, but never reading them
This one gives you many options. You can limit yourself to one book to read for the summer, a really long one like Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables," Ron Chernow's "Alexander Hamilton," or the entire collection of Shakespeare's plays. That will keep you busy. You can also start reading one of the books off your list, and partway through stop reading and write the rest of the story. Or maybe give the cover of the book a new graphic design, or compose a song about the character you most relate to or about a moment that stirred you the most!
Habit 3: Deciding to journal, and only completing one entry
It can be easy to start journaling and abandon it halfway through, but the best part about journaling is there really is no perfect time for it. You can start and pick up whenever you want. To help make it more exciting, if you don't want to talk about your own life than write the journal of some other made up person. Then maybe it'll help you get the juices flowing! If you want to keep it more personal, but more structured then pick up one of those five year journals where you write a sentence or answer a couple questions everyday.
Habit 4: Pinning random things on Pinterest aimlessly
Usually when we get on Pinterest we find ourselves liking or saving one thing, and then find ourselves down a rabbit hole of pinning everything left and right. Even on boards, it's usually for imaginary weddings or mansions. Why not focus the ideas on your next project? Make an inspiration board for the next play you're working on, or screenplay you're struggling with. You can even do a location of a place you're trying to describe or create an inspiration board for every time you get stuck to get the courage to get creating again!
It's the little things that can unlock those creative discoveries!
