As Easy As One, Two, Bree

I took a creative writing class last year and my teacher always made us do this excersize every week in a journal. Go sit somewhere busy, a coffee shop, the airport, the mall, wherever and just start free writing everything you see. Describe the people, describe what people are doing, everything. The point was to not think about it, just write, and eventually you have a huge repository of characters, descriptions and traits to either use or draw inspiration from.

So how does this apply to marketing creative inspiration? Well, I found that now, it’s been a useful exercise for me to rest my mind but keep it stimulated, so when I come back to a project I am mentally refreshed in a different way than just taking a walk around the block might.

When I realized how often I use this excersize and should write about it on the blog, I was in jurty duty waiting for 7 hours in the selection room. So, yes, I was in need of mental stimulation there. But it worked! When I returned to my project, I felt like I was looking at the creative challenges from another perspective.

Here’s an excerpt from my jury duty free writing (Remember, you’re supposed to freely write and not over think it):

This room is meant to hold over one hundred at least, yet there is only about 30 of us in here today this Friday afternoon. A woman just finished doing some yoga exercises against the wall. She stood on her head and everything. Are you allowed to do that in a city building? Liabilities and what not?

….

Two guys sprawled out on the couches with their head phones in listening to music. One is falling asleep. His head is slowly drooping to the side. Oops, the other guy just spotted me staring at him.

…

What is interesting is all the different types of people. This is literally a random selection of people and you get such a mixed crowd. It’s kind of cool. I wonder if marketing campaigns and ad agencies should just take a picture of the jury selection room, slap a logo on it and be on their way, ha.

…

Wait. An announcement is being made.

…

I’M FREE!

And there you have it. Just free write. It’s not really meant to be re-read like a journal, just kind of reset your creative mind. Try it out, see if it works for you. You might even get inspired with some new ideas.