Creative Block? Here's a List of Prompts to Help Open Your Thought Box!
We all get stuck in our productivity. I like to think of creative blocks as boxes we are stuck inside. As in, we are unable to think outside the box. A huge part of my teaching is dedicated to figuratively opening boxes. I create customized writing prompts for clients that are often deeply personal. I do this as a regular part of my teaching practice because it keeps people sifting and when you're sifting you're not stuck.
Photo by Rob Potter on Unsplash
I was chatting in the SteemitBloggers Discord earlier when a fellow Steemian mentioned not knowing what to write. I recalled a list of topics I'd written specifically for Steemit when I was getting started. I dusted it off and shared (aka copied and pasted) the list into chat. Then I thought, "Hey, I bet these are the only friends here who could use this." I decided to share the list with you, and you can pass it along to your Steemit friends using that handy resteem feature.
Here is the list:
money, losing/gaining power, beginning/ending friendship, dating, death, dining in/out, faith, self-image, video games, advances in technology, missed opportunity, anger, clothing, self-presentation, government, nature, weather, shoes, family, disputes, exercise, politics, music, weight loss/gain, personal growth (pivotal moments), parenting/parents, sex, musical instruments, garage bands, celebrity power, water, disability, BlackLivesMatter, history of (insert topic or location), museums, origins, writing, mirrors, parallel universes, favorite TV shows, movies, light, dark, routine, mental health/stability, marriage, divorce, abuse, violence, magic, ancient wisdom, democracy, hegemony, royalty, lying, boundaries, recovery, addiction, pornography, books, equality, race, profiling, fruit, poetry, fiction, university, high school, middle school, teenagers, religion, war, travel, foreign countries, language, sexuality, gender, grandparents, children, veterans, police, pets, minimalism, cleaning, organization, teams
Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash
Yeah. It's a lot. Take it in, but also know if you can't quite find your approach to a topic, I'm around. I love helping people figure out how to write or frame their work. Comment if you are curious about any of these, need help opening your thought box. You can also find me on Discord! Just click the banner below.
Happy creating!
Intensive periods of creative work will also require intensive periods of regeneration to balance out. It's not so much as suffering from writer's block as it is a process of breathing out and breathing in. With practice and discipline you can "force" yourself for longer, but if you are unhappy creating at that moment no power will get you to sit down and pick up that pencil without feeling unhappy. Then it helps to just go out and "live life" a bit until you've collected some more inspiration ;)
Very true. Life fuels creativity and vice versa.
Thank you! This is mega helpful for me tonight :)
You are absolutely and wholeheartedly welcome, my friend.
Helpful post thenk you for inspiration.
You are most welcome!
Ah, thank you. I was just sitting here, wracking my brain, trying to find something to write about.
When in doubt, write about being in doubt. ;) Glad I could help.
I'm having problems lately with having TOOOOOO many ideas. I now have a growing list of things I want to write about, in addition to several posts/stories started but I can't seem to find my focus.
This is a GREAT list of ideas/prompts, though... I may have to add a few things to my 'things I want to write about' list!!!
Let's chat about focus. You have so much you want to say and can't decide where to start? What if you arrange your topics in mini lists and write one from each list until you've cycled through them all? Or is it getting your mind to calm that's the problem? Sometimes you need to write about post about how hard it is to focus and remind yourself what your tools are. :)
I have lists... and more lists. I wish I could be a bit more organized about it, but it's mostly getting my mind to calm down and focus for a second. Once I get started, I'm good... but I'm starting to get buried in ALL THE THINGS I guess. Too much going on in my brain.
Writing it very much like therapy for me at times, other times it is just a beautiful way to vent all of the thoughts in my head. I feel like I need to get a big bulletin board and arrange all of my thoughts and idea in one big place so I can see them all at a glance!
Usually when I'm stumped on not knowing what to write on Steemit I turn towards the various writing challenges that users have created. Having a list like this is certainly helpful too to go along with that!
That's a great idea! I do that as well. :)
Great suggestion
Thank you!
Beautiful.....
So much interested on university and high school.
Nice job
Thank you.
This can prove to be super duper useful for other people that are confused or rather don't have a niche to write about. Re-steeming it.
Thank you! I hope it helps many.
Thank you so much for sharing. I have been so confused about what to write. This was indeed helpful.
I'm really glad this supports you!