MY ARTERIES, BUSTLING HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS DELIVERING urgent messages—OXYGEN! ADRENALINE!—are set to full dilation! Why? Because I’m cross-training my creativity. Now, I’ve discovered that when we writers, cross-train our creativity, we are very likely to improve our craft.
When I realized my daily walk wasn’t exercising all my muscles, I added yoga to my schedule. Voila! I was cross-training! When my daily journaling practice wasn’t exercising all my creative muscles, I added collage-making.
When you only do one fitness activity . . . you may discover you are far less fit than you think,” says Todd Schlifstein, DO, in a WebMD article. Writer Colette Bouchez adds, “Implementing a variety of activity into your routines almost certainly guarantees you will be much more functionally active.”
Writers: Cross-Train Your Creativity to Improve Your Craft
Just as physical cross-training challenges different muscle groups, creative cross-training encourages us to use different parts of our imagination. And sometimes stepping away from our usual creative practice is exactly what we need to bring fresh energy to our writing.
Think about what happens when you try an activity that doesn’t involve words. Painting, photography, collage, music, or even arranging flowers asks you to make creative decisions in unfamiliar ways. Instead of concentrating on sentences and paragraphs, you might find yourself paying attention to color, shape, rhythm, texture, or composition.
These experiences can enrich your writing in surprising ways.
A writer who experiments with photography may become more attentive to visual details. Someone who takes a dance class might develop a stronger awareness of movement and physical expression. And working with collage can encourage unexpected associations among images and ideas, opening the door to new possibilities for storytelling.
Writer’s Block?
Creative cross-training can also help when you’re feeling stuck. Rather than sitting at your desk trying to force a solution, give yourself permission to make something entirely different.
The point isn’t to become accomplished at every activity you try. It’s to exercise your imagination, develop new ways of seeing, and rediscover the pleasure of creating something simply for the fun of it.
Who knows what might find its way back into your writing?
For me, this holds true for creativity, too: Yoga + walking = increased stamina and agility. Collage-making + journaling = increased creativity! For you, it might be painting-by-numbers or urban orienteering. Just change it up. Cross-train your creativity, and see what you make of it!
Looking for ways to cross-train your creativity and bring fresh energy to your writing? If you’re writing a book and could use a boost, let’s connect. You might also be interested in my books: Plotting Your Novel with the Plot Clock and Jamie Helps Mel Write a Novel.