5 Ways to Spark your Creativity

Creativity is something that is within everyone. It is what makes painters paint, sculptors sculp, and writers write. It comes from the same place that makes a child color an elephant purple or draw a rainbow made of flowers. Unfortunately, as people grow older, their creativity sometimes gets lost in the conventionality of adultland. There are, however, ways to spark that creativity. Here are five of those ways:

• Tap into your inner child. You can do this by doing something fun and childlike. Ride a bike through the park. Play Frisbee with your dog. Go for a walk in the rain and splash in the puddles. There are numerous ways you can tap into your inner child.

• Engage in an artistic endeavor that is outside of your comfort zone. If you’re a writer, try your hand at painting a picture. If you’re a painter, try writing a poem. If you’re a nature photographer, try your hand at abstract photography.

• Cook. Try a new recipe. Make up your own recipe. Most of all, have fun!

• Write stream of consciousness first thing in the morning. Just wake up, grab pen and paper, and start writing your thoughts down. Try and write a couple of pages. Don’t worry about what it sounds like. Don’t worry if the spelling and grammar is correct. Just write down every single thought that comes in your mind, even if you find yourself writing “This is stupid” on a couple of pages. The purpose of this is to rid your mind of the garbage that is clogging it up.

• Go for a walk. Carry a little notepad with you and jot down things you see along the way. You will be amazed at what these notes can lead to, in regard to your creativity.
  

These are only five ways to spark your creativity. The ways are as limitless as your mind will allow. Give it a try, and enjoy creating!

The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing

Remember the days when the only way to get your work published was to submit to a big publishing house and wait for months to see if you got a letter of rejection or acceptance? Well, those days are over, and more and more people are trying their hand at self-publishing. Whereas self-published books were once stigmatized as being less professional or unworthy of the big publishing houses, they are now more accepted, with millions of authors gaining success in the area. So, what exactly are the pros and cons of self-publishing?

PROS

1. You do not have to wait for your book to be accepted by a publishing house. You can self-publish on your own schedule.

2. You have more creative control of the finished product. You do not have to ask anyone’s permission to have your finished product be just as you want it to be.

3. You can market your product anyway you choose. There are many ways to do this. You can start a blog, have your own website to market your book, have a book signing, and self-promote in other ways.

4. You do not have to pay an agent to work as a middle man unless you choose to.

5. There are many options these days to assist you with your publishing efforts, including editing, proofreading, and cover design – often at minimal cost.

CONS

1. The prestige that comes with having your work accepted by a large publishing house is missing, for within the publishing world there is still a bit of stigma surrounding self-publishing. There is also a school of thought that once you are self-published, it is more difficult to be accepted in a publishing house in the future.

2. You will be responsible for the things that might normally fall under the responsibility of an agent or a publishing house.

3. Monetary success is often based on how much work you put into promoting your book. Many people mistakenly believe the work is over once the book is finished. The truth is, the work has only begun if you want to actually sell copies.

4. With more and more people self-publishing, the field is very saturated. This means that there is more competition, and there is less chance of your book being successful.

5. Another con of self-publishing is not being taken seriously by other authors. This can affect you down the road in regard to networking, and it can also affect your sense of self-worth as a writer.

All in all, self-publishing can be a great way to publish that book you have always dreamed of publishing. It is up to you, and much will depend on what your long-range goals are in regard to your writing. The decision is entirely yours.

Outline or No Outline?

In writing, there is a bit of controversy regarding the importance of an outline when writing a story. Famous writers can attest to success using either method. It really is a personal decision, but it is important to know the pros and cons of each method.

An outline can contribute to the cohesiveness of your story. It can establish character development, plot sequence, and flow. Pre-planning your story from beginning to end will prevent you from veering off of the chosen track. It gives you an end goal to aspire to, and a certain path to get to that goal. It can also help you if you get stuck at some point along the way because you can go back and look over plotlines and sequence to more easily find where the problem lies.

Proponents of no out line will tell you that outlines are too restrictive. Having no outline will allow you to think outside of the box and tap into your creativity along the way. When an idea comes into your mind during the writing process, rather than squelching it because it is not a part of your outline, you can experiment with it. This leads to a free-flow of ideas that can take your story to places you had not before imagined. The problem, however, is that you may eventually get to a place where the story has nowhere to go and you find yourself stuck. This occurs because there was no plan and no logical ending to aspire to.

Deciding on whether to outline or not is a personal decision, and much of it may come from your own particular style of writing, as well as what you are writing. Some people may even choose to incorporate a little of both methods into their process, which tends to work for some people. Whatever you decide to do, it is important to explore both methods to see which one works the best for you.