“Life is more fun when you play games.
Roald Dahl

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Albert Einstein

Sometimes our muse needs a little cajoling to sprinkle fairy dust on our pages and inspire us to new heights of creativity. When wooing a wayward muse, a spirit of play helps enormously. A Writer’s Relief online article called “Jump-Starting the Muse” had a few ideas worth exploring:

Do a geographical: When kids have a meltdown, one way to cut it short is to give them a change of scenery. Your muse might enjoy it as well. So if you’re feeling sluggish and uninspired, get moving: Go someplace different: a new coffee shop, an unfamiliar street in your town, a store you wouldn’t normally explore. Sometimes a change of scenery can
give you a fresh view of things.

Listen in: People say the darndest things! And sometimes just catching a few lines of a conversation is all you need to get your creative juices flowing again. Walking in the park one night, I heard a young woman say to someone (probably her mother), “My books are my boyfriends.” What a line!

Take notes: If sitting in front of the page isn’t working, tuck a notebook in your pocket and go for a walk. Jot down anything that strikes your fancy and try to capture it in a few choice words or phrases. As you amble along, let your mind wander and if a wisp of an
idea floats up, catch it.

Read around: Bust loose! Read outside your genre: If you’re writing a romance, read a thriller. If you’re writing a thriller read a romance. Read a horse magazine or one on knitting or the theater at your local library. You never know where a fresh idea might come from. Get out of your reading rut and you may discover something amazing you can apply
to your own project.

Free write: It may sound counter intuitive, but if you’re wrestling with the page in a current project, set it down and just free write. Get a fresh sheet of paper and just start pecking at your computer keys or letting your pen glide across the page. Let the words flow without any investment in what comes out. Sometimes this looseness can free you up.

Brainstorm: If you’ve hit a rough plot patch, you can sometimes skate over it by diving into it. Challenge yourself to come up with five or six totally new scenarios or ideas for resolving it. Set a timer and give yourself 15 minutes to generate them. See what bubbles up: Your ingenuity might surprise and delight you!

Any techniques you’ve found helpful in wooing a wayward muse? I’d love to hear them as we all write on!