Creative Play

One of the places I find inspirational when it comes to my writing, in particular journal writing, is the art and craft store. All those wonderful supplies; blank books waiting for someone to fill them; pens and pencils of every description; paint; glue; bits and pieces; beads and wire; colourful paper and card; gadgets I’ve never even dreamed of using; and the list goes on and on. I’ll often go there on a kind of Artist Date to let my mind roam and my imagination loose.

Today I visited the newest art and craft store in my local shopping centre with my 18 month old boy and saw the place in a totally new way. His eye level is lower than mine. I see all the goods at my eye level, but he sees things at my thigh level. He wanted to touch everything. He wanted to run off with anything he could get hold of. He ahhed and wowed at things I’ve forgotten are pretty fascinating. He grabbed a bag of fluffy balls that burst. The coloured balls tickled and bounced over him as he giggled and shook the pack. I had to laugh, too, as I picked up as many as I could before chasing off after my son again.

While I can hardly say I felt inspired to write I did get a firm reminder that creativity should be fun, at least some of the time. I hope you remember to have fun in your journal from time to time. Try and take yourself a bit less seriously and play with words or images for a while.