As an Author, Blogger and Storyteller it is vital to remain fresh with ideas keeping your audience interested by writing that compelling story or perhaps your first book.

In writing, I need to be in my head and utilize the creative side of my brain.

Some fifteen years ago thanks to Julia Cameron’s book ‘The Right to Write’ I learned how important it is to also ‘Get out of My Head’
Away from writing, it is necessary to step back into the world of reality and humanity. This is how other ideas of writing inspiration present themselves.
How easy it is to forget.

So how to do this: My suggestion and what works for me:-
Go on a date with yourself

Have a coffee in a unique, uplifting, buzzy environment.

Visit a Photographic Exhibition or Creative Art Gallery

Take a train to somewhere you have not been before, go walkabout, (don’t get lost).

Take a long walk on a route you have never been before.

Visit the cinema or theatre and absorb yourself in a film or play the subject matter that is not your norm.

Why not go to a reading book event (yes a short storytelling hour or more).

Most importantly bring your notebook and pen. Later write about the day’s adventures, your surroundings, and the people who moved in and out of your space over the course of your date day.
You will return to your desk refreshed, with a different feel for your writing or introduce a new character or write a better description of one perhaps you were stuck on.
You might develop and write about the people you observed (with your writer’s license) and go on to publish a bestseller.

I normally have three books on the go at any one time; One to learn, one to meditate by, and one to take me away from my writing with a wish to escape into another author’s world

As escapism, I have finished reading Dinah Jeffries ‘The Silk Merchant’s Daughter’ and now I am reading Carmel Harrington’s latest release, The Things I should have told You.’

One short story that has stayed with me from New Irish Short Stories was, Rebecca Millers, ‘She Came to Me’
The main character, a writer, is in a deep black hole of no inspiration. He is due to meet a film producer, forgets, and ends up in a bar where he meets a lady who has a penchant for romance, who invites him back to hers (not what you may be thinking).
At the end of his day, late home and with feelings of guilt he announces to his wife ‘I may have a book in me’.
I am not in any way suggesting that you follow this man’s means to an end – simply go outside and absorb life with all its quirks. Shake things up whether you are a writer, creative, in biz, or you wish to personally change, Get out of your head and experience something different. Only then are you ready to press the refresh button, tell that great story, be inspired with an idea to move you forward or find a personal passion Make a date with yourself.. soon.