“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”   Plato (Play-toh!)

Playing around. I know, I know! As writers, we’re supposed to be all serious and angsty, excitable and sensitive, hard-working and long-suffering.

But what if we gave all this up and just had fun?

That’s write: Fun with our writing!

“Merry amusement” – that’s how my beloved Century Dictionary defines “fun.”

Merry amusement – I love that! Suppose we bring a bit of merry amusement to our writing today — what could happen? We might come up with something whimsical, light-hearted, light-headed, frothy, ephemeral. Now wouldn’t that be fun? And might not our hopeful, loyal readers, who have so many responsibilities thrust upon them, find this a blessed relief? What if we gave them a laugh or two, or even just a little chuckle, or even prompted an admiring head shake because of a clever bit of wordplay we weaseled into our words?

Wouldn’t that be fun?

And wouldn’t we have more fun on the page if we played with words instead of giving them marching orders? Here are a few ideas for bringing a little lightness to your work today:

Take a word that delights you or intrigues you and figure out a way to work it into what you’re writing today. Make it happen. You can do it! Get creative!

Write with a green pen or use a green font on your computer. Green signals “go” to our subconscious and just switching from black or blue words to green ones on a page can make you feel freer and more creative. I do this when I hit a rough patch – it works!

Have one of your characters do something surprising and well, out of character, and see what happens: Something funny or awkward – this can be very revealing. Also fun.

Read an author who’s a master at bringing wit and humor to the page – someone you enjoy — say Mark Twain or David Sedaris or even Erma Bombeck. Not only will this give you a chuckle, it may shake a few cobwebs loose.

Any other suggestions for playing around on the page? If you have any ways you use to lighten things up, I’d love to hear them. Let’s play around today as we all write on!