“Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.”
Carl Jung
“All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.”
Alexander Woollcott
The Fun Zone—love that name—it’s a kid’s party place. And here’s one of the many things I love about writing: it’s the fun zone! Not always, but most of the time. I like to think of it as a form of play: The page is my sandbox, my pen is a shiny red shovel, and I dig around inside my head and gather piles of sand which eventually turn into a castle or a mountain or the Great Wall of China. Or whatever. You get the idea.
I know, I know. Today, you may be having it rough. Yesterday, words were your little darlin’s, today they’re little devils. What to do? What to do? When you’re having a tough time corralling your thoughts and lassoing your runaway verbs and nouns, often the best ploy isn’t panic, it’s play.
When I feel the yen to amuse my muse with a little lighthearted entertainment, here are a few tricks I’ve found that work well for me:
Using different type fonts: My miraculous Mac has loads of fonts to choose from. As a way of playing around when writing, I sometimes use different typefaces. It’s fun to see what happens when the subject and the typeface I’m using seem at odds with each other — like two mismatched socks.
Using different colored inks: I love color! The more the merrier! A drawer in my office is often loaded with turquoise ink cartridges. Just seeing bright, teal-blue ink flowing from my favorite fountain pen makes me smile. It’s easy to play around on the page when the words on them sparkle and pop.
Using colored index cards or paper: Jotting notes about a project on different colored need cards is a fun way to jog your imagination. I have lots of these around me with inspiring quotes and ideas.
I could go on and tell you about all the toys I have in my tiny office: my Slinky, my top, my bubbles, but I’ll stop here. Hopefully, I’ve made you smile. Any more playful ideas to toss in the sandbox? I’d love to hear them! Now, let’s all have fun and write on!
