Writers Write and Think Outside the Box: Wall Six - The Open Window

Thank you to everyone who has followed along in this series on writing and thinking outside the box! I appreciate all the comments and ideas that I have received from it. In this final part of the series I like to think that it isn't a sixth wall or side of the box that we'll be discussing, but instead a window that we can keep open so that we can get outside of our boxes.


It is fairly easy to let ourselves hunker down inside our boxes, keeping the sixth side closed, so how do we keep the window open? How can we continue to think and write outside of the box? I know it's corny, but I put my 19-month-old daughter's little Jack-in-the-box beside me on the desk as I think about this question. All it needs is a little jingle to pop open, but for some reason my brain requires a bit more than that.


This is what I know...

• My daughter's brain is constantly in the creative-drive with original thought flowing out of it all the time.
• Every object, every word, every motion presents a new discovery to her.
• My peaks in creativity, when it's almost effortless to think outside the box, occur when my brain is working hard at doing the things I described in Wall Three of this series.

My conclusion: To keep the box open, to continue thinking and writing outside the box, I need to exercise my brain, daily.
Exercises for the Writer-Mama
These exercises are ones that I can pick from on a daily basis to give my brain a kick in the neurons to remind myself to keep my writing original, innovative and creative. Many of these exercises I've gathered from other writers and thinkers I know or have read about. A special thanks to them!

1. Read, Read, Read. And not just books we're comfortable with, but new genres, new age groups, new authors. And think, think, think about what I am reading. One approach for this exercise is described by Jen Roland who has set a reading challenge for herself.
2. Explore different niches. To perfect my craft I try to write in areas that I know, but as a writer wanting to live outside the box I need to try out different niches that writers put themselves into. Maria Schneider calls it "boxing yourself" and she does a great job of broadening her niche. I believe this improves our writing overall as it helps us to develop different writing styles and to learn from others in each niche.
3. Utilize the lists. Other than my grocery list and 'to do' list, my lists are personal and have the vulnerability of first drafts. Mary Jo Campbell's exercise of creating a list of our fears that we will overcome and actually crossing off items on it is a perfect example of how a list can help us to actively seek life outside of the box. To continue this awareness, she suggests generating a list of 100 items that make us come alive so that we can surround ourselves with these things daily.
4. Try on new words. Poet Susan G. Wooldridge utilizes an exercise in creating a word pool for a daily swim. In her book poemcrazy, Susan describes collecting words and attaching them to objects around the house to give new meaning to both the words and objects. Take this exercise one step further and create connections between the objects with their new words or try using the word-object combination in your writing.
5. Blog. My blog has come a long way for me personally. When I began my blog I used it as a springboard into writing. As a new mom with a colicky newborn I was usually very exhausted when a free moment to write landed in my lap. Blogging helped me to just get my fingertips on the keyboard. But recently my blog has taken on new meaning for me. I see it as a challenge for me to climb. It forces me to think about new topics, new directions, and new ideas.

On that note, I would like to ask my readers what other exercises you do to help you think and write outside of the box. How do you manage to keep your creativity going when you write? What do you do to push original thought out onto paper? Writer-mamas aren't the only ones who feel the creativity seeping out of them from exhaustion. Every writer, every thinker can feel this way when he or she settles in to write. But we don't want to settle into the box, so let's keep the window open!