Creativity Off the Page

Not surprisingly, my favorite creative outlet is writing. That being said, sometimes - particularly during the story drafting process when all my ideas are at best tangential to anything making sense - I need to take a step back from the notebook. I can not, however, just do nothing. Something about an object at rest staying in rest. Every moment I spend sitting on the couch staring at the wall breeds yet another similar moment.

So, I've found some other things I enjoy doing that keep me busy, but still leave part of my brain free for idea finessing. Here are my top five non-writing-related creative outlets:

1. Scrapbooking

I love photos and despite the ease of storing all of them digitally, sometimes I want to have some hard copies. I figure rather than just sticking them in a box, I might as well have some fun in displaying them.

2. Canvases

As my painting skills are not exemplary, I basically use these as hang-able scrapbook pages. Plus, living in an apartment with all white walls, splashes of color are always welcome.

3. Diaper cakes

There have been an influx of tiny humans in my life over this past year. And in preparation for their arrivals, I've attended a number of baby showers. I had never heard of a diaper cake before this year, but have found that they are a lot of fun to make. Plus, the rolling of diapers is the perfect mundane activity to keep my hands busy, but my mind moving. I've had a number of story epiphany moments while working on these bad boys.

4. Baking

Sorry folks, no pictures included here. Even when what I'm experimenting with turns out well, never in my life have I been able to get a flattering photo of it. Suffice it to say that right now I'm very into pies - specifically peach berry.

5. Event planning

Whether it's birthday parties or baby showers or really bad movie nights, I love planning parties. Mostly because it's like envisioning a scene for a story and then making it happen. Have the possibility of a bigger event percolating in the old brain pan right now. I'll let you know if it comes to fruition.

In the meantime, what are your creative outlets?