Being Creative in the Crazy

The time between Thanksgiving and the new year have always been highly charged with creativity for our founder, Bernette Sherman. It can be hard to get a handle on it with everything else going on and this year, despite a pandemic that’s rocking us left and right, we may still get that creative urge before the bell drops on this historic year. In this blog post Bernette shares three tips to manage those ideas when life is a bit crazy and you can’t tackle them right away.

Being Creative Even When Life is Crazy

How can you take advantage of some of those creative juices when it seems the world may literally be heading towards an apocalypse? (Forgive me, I write dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories but don’t believe we’re really heading there…yet…) So, what can you do in the coming weeks and whenever the muse hits but the timing seems off? Here are some ideas that may help you stay creative even in the crazy times we’re in.

1. My biggest suggestion is to keep track of your ideas. Lost inspiration is frustratingly difficult to find. That one idea you had in the shower while shaving may be forever gone. That is, unless you jot it down immediately after you exit. Write down your ideas. You can easily start a Google doc with ideas so that when you get one it has a home. Jotting down the idea is just the bare bones of what you should do.
   
   
2. Next, you’ll want to put a little meat on them there bones and add your initial thoughts, maybe a phrase that ran through your head, a title that was spontaneously generated in that gorgeous brain of yours. That way when you come back to it, you’ve got more than just three or four words, that without context, leave you scratching your head.
   
   
3. Finally, set a time to come back and check out your list of ideas. When you come back, 1. decide what you may want to do with it, 2. which one or ones you want to tackle, and then 3. give yourself a goal. Answer what, by when, and how you’ll do it and know it’s done.

What Else?

If you’ve created something utterly amazing be sure to review and revise it. We’ll be issuing a call next year for creative essays and poetry for our first themed anthology. Sorry, the details aren’t quite ready, but keep an eye out while you do your creative thing.

What other ideas do you get during this season? How do you usually handle creativity when life is a little ‘crazy’?

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