Textual Play

There are times when I look at my creative notebook, and I have no idea how to fill the page, how to invite the creativity. Sometimes I just need a little push.

This is a list I have compiled to help me get unstuck. Maybe it’ll help you too.

1. Add randomness

• Roll the dice
  • Dice roller
  • Rory’s Story Cubes
  • Dice writing prompt
  • Make art dice
  • Make writing dice
• Use a random generator
  • Numbers
  • Words
  • Writing prompts
• Glue down all the random bits from your desk

2. Add restrictions

• Use a prompt
  • Currently -ing words: watching, reading, listening, loving, etc.
  • Lynda Barry’s Daily Exercise
  • Photo prompts
  • Writing prompts
• Set a time limit
  • Timer
  • Pomodoro timer
  • Forest app
• Limit materials
  • Use words only
  • Use images only
  • Make a collage using one magazine
  • Use only stickers, only washi tape, only watercolor, etc.

3. Add movement

• Go for a walk
• Work somewhere else: a different room in your house, outside, a coffee shop, etc.
• Work outside your notebook (and glue it in later)

4. Add repetition

• Participate in a creative challenge
  • The 100 Day Project
  • Junk Journal January/July
• Swatch your supplies
• Make a list
• Collect: quotes on a topic, items of the same color, etc.
• Fill a page with: circles, labels, lines

5. Add color

• Fill the background with color
• Glue down ephemera from life: packaging, mail, etc.
• Make a pattern

6. Add structure

• Make a pocket
• Cut down the page
• Fill in a grid

Examples

From left to right, top to bottom:

• Fill a page with circles; use only watercolor
• Fill in a grid; glue down all the random bits from your desk
• Work outside your notebook and glue it in later
• Swatch your supplies; use only washi tape; fill the page with color
• Glue down ephemera from life
• Cut down the page

I hope these prompts serve as a reference for when you need a little creative push.