How to Stay Creative When Writing from Home

If you’re a writer who works from home, you may love the flexible hours, cozy office space, and lax wardrobe requirements, but you may also have one very concerning problem: keeping your creative juices flowing.

Without the proper precautions, a work-from-home routine can sap your brain of its creative energies and have you writing like a robot stuck in repeat mode.

Since COVID-19 hit, more people have transferred to working at home, which means you may be facing these issues for the first time.

Whether a work-from-home veteran or newbie, if you’ve noticed it’s become harder to get your creative wheels turning, the following tips may help.

1. Fire Up Your Creative Engines

The local theaters recently opened up in my neck of the woods. After being without them for about three months, I’d nearly forgotten how important they are to my ability to jumpstart my creative brain.

After watching a movie in a theater, I naturally fall into a reflective state of mind, reviewing what I’ve seen and connecting it to other thoughts, visions, images, and experiences. The process frequently leads to ideas that spark one after the other as I drive home, and I have to talk fast to record them all on my cell phone before I lose them. Often these ideas will keep me writing for weeks afterward.

Watching a movie at home doesn’t have the same effect. I’m too distracted by other things I know I need to do to be able to completely lose myself in the film like I can in a theater.

You probably have certain activities that get your creative engines humming too. Whatever those activities are, try to go do them regularly. Don’t question what works. Just go with it and enjoy the effortless creativity that results.

2. Go Somewhere that Inspires Reflection

To be creative, your brain has to be relaxed and free to make associations. That’s not usually the case if you’re at home where your work hangs over your head, or if you’re in other places where you normally engage in other types of activities.

Unfortunately, after the pandemic hit, many of us lost our favorite places to go and think. “Theoretically,” author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney told The Washington Post, “the coronavirus quarantine shouldn’t affect a cartoonist’s productivity, because we’re experienced at working from home.” But “I’ve lost all my spaces in which I could generate ideas.”

Kinney usually went to the bookstore and cafe he owns, but with that closed, he had to find a new place. His choice? Cemeteries.

You, too, need a place you can go that inspires reflection. If the pandemic has robbed you of your favorite spots, find new ones. Go out exploring. It’s important not only to your creative ability but your mental health, too.

3. Embrace Novelty

Creativity thrives on novelty. This is one of the reasons working from home can be detrimental to creativity. Every day we’re staring at the same four walls. Often one day follows the next without much variety. Routine can be good for productivity, but too much of it can kill creativity.

Have a day or a time each week that you do something completely different from your normal routine. Get out and go for a hike or a bike ride somewhere you haven’t gone before. Pick up a musical instrument, paintbrush, or sketch pad and let yourself play. Try your hand at a new type of craft, or get out into the garden.

The important thing is that the activity feels new and different. If you feel energized afterward, the activity was a good one, and will likely have positive effects on your creative brain.

4. Start Your Day Creatively

When you’re working from home, it’s easy to fall into the trap of jumping into work the second you wake up. You get up, check your emails and social media feeds, grab a quick breakfast and off you go on your projects.

This sort of morning routine encourages your brain to be more robotic and less creative. “When you sleep next to a phone that connects you directly to an office…” writes Shutterstock Content Manager Jordan Dyck, “it can be tempting to dive right into work the moment you wake up….Not only do you not give yourself a moment to breathe and wake-up, but you go straight from a mindset of rest to a mindset of performance. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t spark my creativity.”

I’ve fallen for the temptation to go straight to work before, and it always results in the same thing—a tired, dead brain that couldn’t come up with a creative idea to save it, particularly when I want to turn my imagination toward my own writing.

Instead, commit to spending at least part of your morning on an activity that inspires your creativity. For me, that’s novel writing. I spend at least 30 minutes on it every morning before diving into my freelance projects. For you, it may be something different like meditation, exercise, or reading. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as you don’t neglect it.

5. Do Something You Enjoyed Doing as a Kid

Studies have found that kids are more naturally creative than adults, largely because they know how to play. As adults, we often lose that ability as we become weighed down with stress and responsibilities.

Going back and doing some of the activities you used to do as a kid is a great way to spark creative energy. Get together with friends and try a game of baseball or pull out the board games on family night. Head out for a bike ride, play a game of fetch with the dog, or go after a blank page with fingerpaints.

If you have kids, it won’t be hard to join into their play activities, but even if you don’t, reminding yourself of how you used to have fun can help shake loose that playful part of your brain you need for your writing.

6. Go On a Tangent

If you feel like the last several months have been stressful, challenging, and anxiety-producing, you’re certainly not alone. Meanwhile, you may be trying to keep your head up and soldier on, doing your work and living up to your responsibilities, but if you have negative emotions simmering underneath the surface, they’re going to form a roadblock between you and your creativity.

If you sense this might be the issue for you, maybe it’s time to go on a rant. Writing is the perfect tool to use for getting your feelings out. Write a letter to whomever you’re angry at, or just write to a general audience about how you’re feeling. You don’t have to send or publish the letter. Just writing it without censoring yourself can help you relieve the pressure of built-up resentment and frustration so your creativity can come through again.

If you don’t feel you can write, try painting, drawing, or any other activity that allows you to safely release your feelings. You’ll know it’s working when new story ideas start popping up.

7. Change It Up

When I was growing up, I loved moving the furniture around in my bedroom. I’d switch the bed from being up against the window to up against the other wall. Move the dresser to the other corner. Put the desk facing the opposite direction.

Once I finished creating my new space, I loved walking into it for weeks afterward. It felt like walking into someplace completely new.

You can get the same creativity-boosting effects from changing up your home office. Turn the desk around, put the lamp in another place, or move the office to another room entirely. You could also think about adding something new, like a chair, pillow, wall picture, or lamp. Paint the wall a new color, try out a new keyboard, or get a new coffee mug to place by the monitor.

The more fun you can have switching things up the more creative your changes will be, and once you have your new space, it’s likely to inspire your imagination for weeks to come.

How do you boost creativity while working from home?

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_{Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels.}