Writing Inspiration | Rejuvenating Your Creative Cycle

The Creative Cycle

Whether you are looking for inspiration for a new writing project or a home office re-organization, feeding your inspiration is vital. Establishing and maintaining a creative cycle is essential to being able to quickly shift gears from one project to the next and be productive.

Below are some tips for rejuvenating your creative cycle for any project currently on your To Do List.

What is a Creative Cycle?

A creative cycle is how you approach a project.

Avoid thinking about the end result of your project, and focus on the journey instead. Much like the main character in a book, enjoy the journey and the creative cycle that helped you manifest your art.

A creative cycle for a writing project can include:

Research
Planning
Courses
Mood boards
Goals
Art journaling
Inspirational examples
Character sketches
Chapter outline
Synopsis

The Temporal Nature of Creativity

You won’t always feel creative.

The nature of creativity is that it is always waxing and waning, just like the moon. Embrace the rhythm of your own creativity by planning times to be creative in an environment where you can focus.

A creative cycle is particularly important for creative hobbies like writing. Regardless of whether you are publishing your work, having an established creative cycle that you keep fueled with inspiration will sustain you throughout the project and into the next.

Nurture Your Creative Cycle

Planning should focus on monthly or weekly deliverables.

Once you’ve achieved a goal, then reward yourself. A new pen or notebook, anyone?

Nurturing your creative cycle will make you more attuned to it and its rhythms. Also, keep notes in a Writer’s Notebook for how the creative cycle is changing as you complete a project. Keeping track of what keeps you inspired to write will help kick-start your creativity later.