Naked Ukelele Man’s Power of Creativity . . .

I’ve been having a prolonged writing block. Sure, I’ve had ideas, but nothing that seemed interesting. So I decided to attempt another method of coming up with something a little original. Initially I was just going to write random words on cards, throw them into a box, pick one, and write about it. But that didn’t work. So instead I grabbed a stack of envelopes and began labeling them: Professions; Personality Traits; People; Places; Misc. Then I wrote lists of words for each envelope on 3×5 note cards, which I cut up and put into the envelopes.

I was hoping that would result in some inspiration. But it didn’t. So I pinned the envelopes to the bulletin board above my desk, where they hung for around 3 months.

Now, for some reason, I keep getting issues of Time Out New York. I think I’m getting them as a result of some theatre tickets I ordered a few months ago, but whatever. So I decided to pick through one of the magazines in the hopes of finding an interesting picture to try basing a story around. After a little while I found one. And while I liked it, it didn’t really motivate me – until I decided to take the envelopes down from the bulletin board, pick three words from each at random, and glue them and the picture to a 5×7 note card.

It didn’t take long before the main idea for the story came to mind, though I’m still not sure where it’s going to go. But at least I now have a starting point.