How to Refill Your Creative Well
“I will never have another good idea.” I don’t even have to ask if this is something that’s gone through your head before — this fear is like a rite of passage for us creatives.
We bounce back. Creativity is an input / output system. We’ve got to keep our creativity “fed and watered.” In other words, you’ve got to “refill the creative well,” as they say.
A few months ago, I let my creative well run dry. I felt stressed, anxious, and exhausted. So I took a break, and I picked up a YA novel (recommended by a friend) and realized what I’d been missing.
When we’re struggling creatively, we have to make time to be inspired.
There are plenty of tips out there about stimulating your creativity and refilling your creative well (read, watch TV, etc.). But if you’re going after specific results, you’ve got to be more intentional about your input.
“Your input determines your outlook. Your outlook determines your output, and your output determines your future.” ~ Zig Ziglar
It’s not about consuming untold quantities of media (i.e. binge watching). It’s about feeding your brain the kind of material you want to produce; learning more about your field, your genre, and the type of content that inspires you. These are a few of my favorite strategies fellow novelists can use to…
