Five Tips For A Creative 2013

By Cherie K. Miller

The most frequent question newbie writers ask is, “Where do you get your ideas?”  Now that’s a hard question to answer. I usually get my article, blog topics or book topics from EVERYWHERE! If you’re stuck for writing ideas, here are some tips I’ve used to keep the creative juices flowing:

1)  Get Your Idea Antenna Working: Creative ideas are floating in the ether, found on the internet, develop from conversations, can pop up while you’re driving somewhere, reading something, listening to music, or, my least favorite time, when you’re drifting off to sleep. As a working writer, the best tip I can give you is to “tune in” your creative idea antenna to have a LOT of ideas flooding your way and then allow your subconscious to bring a new angle or a new idea to an old story.

2)  Keep an Idea File:  I was a columnist for a newspaper in Chicago. Writing a weekly column was rough, but knowing that I had a deadline made me very disciplined in looking for ideas. In fact, even before I pitched the idea to the editors at the newspaper I came up with 52 column ideas – showing that the column had enough content to keep it going.  It worked – for eight straight years! I carried a package of 3 x 5 cards in my purse, kept a stack on my desk, and tucked them in books as bookmarks. Every time I came across an idea, I’d write it on a card and file it in my idea box on my writing desk. If I ever lacked ideas, I’d take a quick run through my idea box and usually something would spark a writing frenzy.

3)  Do Something Different. I absolutely love this paragraph by Natalie Goldberg, a writing teacher and author of WritingDown the Bones.“Sometimes there is just no way around it—we are boring and we are sick of ourselves, our voice, and the usual material we write about. It’s obvious that even going to a café to write doesn’t help. It is time to find other ways. Dye your hair green, paint your nails purple, get your nose pierced, dress as the opposite sex, perm your hair…Borrow your friend’s black leather motorcycle jacket, walk across the coffee shop like a Hell’s Angel, wear work boots, farmer’s overalls, a three-piece suit, wrap yourself in an American flag or wear curlers in your hair. Just sit down to write in a state you don’t ordinarily sit down to write in. Try writing on a large drawing pad. Wear all white and a stethoscope around your neck—whatever it takes to simply see the world from another angle.”

4)  Use a Totally Different Process.. I’m a very linear writer. I write the beginning, the middle and then the end. That’s why I was so intrigued to hear about the process that the author of Fried Green Tomatoes, Fannie Flagg, uses: “I’m dyslexic. I write the end, then middle, then some of the beginning. I write scenes, and then hang them on a clothesline down my great-big, long hallway. It just helps me to see the story visually in sequence. The hardest part is putting it all together at the end. It’s like piecing together a quilt. And, if I drop it, I have a totally different book.”

5)  Watch a Movie, Read a Book, Go to a Play, Attend a Concert. Author Julia Cameron, who wrote TheArtist’s Way, uses a tool she calls an Artist Date. This is how she defines it: “An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. …You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a. your creative child. ..Your artist needs to be taken out, pampered, and listened to.”

Consider prioritizing creativity for the rest of 2013. Schedule in some time to take an artist date, rearrange your writing desk, go buy yourself some neon 3 x 5 cards and a nifty file box, to make 2013 your most creative year yet!

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Cherie K. Miller is the author, Writing Conversations, Backwords,.and Sell More Books. She lives on a lake in Georgia with her author husband, J. Steve Miller and a blended family of seven sons. She has an MA in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University. She is the former President of the Georgia Writers Association and serves as a volunteer for several nonprofit agencies.  Blog:  www.cheriekmiller.com     www.wisdomcreekpress.com

Pet Blog: www.pet-peeves.org  Twitter: @Impeeved 

LinkedIn: Cherie K. Miller   Facebook: Cherie K. Miller                                          

Fried Green Tomatoes and Forrest Gump

By Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

Since my childhood my family has vacationed along the Alabama coast. I was sharing with a local Mobile Bay native that I remember water skiing on the Fowl River when I was sixteen. Had I known it has alligators I may not have been so brave.

These days we are more enticed by our children and grandchildren toward the east shore of Mobile Bay, Baldwin County. Fair Hope, Point Clear and Fort Morgan are great southern historic spots to visit while the sugar sand beaches of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores draw the kids. The people, hospitality and food can’t be beat but we have one place we always return to and that is Magnolia Springs.

We were drawn to Magnolia Springs by a great restaurant Jesse’s and return to it each year for their Shrimp and Grits. One of these annual trips led to a great discovery. After finishing our meal we walked through the connecting bar, The Cold Hole, and into Jesse’s On the Side, where I noticed a bookshelf with some copies of Fannie Flagg’s A Redbird Christmas. I picked up a copy and found it had been signed by the author. I knew she had once lived in the area and was told her home is pointed out to visitors to the town. Later I found that Fannie had written A Redbird Christmas while in Magnolia Springs. Fannie’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café is by far her most famous work.

  

The home of Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump, can also be pointed out. After seeing the town, visiting the people and being influenced by its culture you can see the “birthplace” of Forrest.

Winston and Fannie teamed up in 2008 to write the Forward and Introduction to A Painters Paradise which is a collection of waterfront paintings including the homes of the authors on Mobile Bay.

 Many authors use life experiences in their writing and some are fortunate enough to have a rich culture to draw from. If you have the opportunity to visit Magnolia Springs you will see the small town these famous authors go back to for their creativity. What you may find is it may not be much different from your own. And by the way, while you are there, stop in at Jesse’s, they have Fried Green Tomatoes on the menu.