It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. To eat the same food. Watch the same television shows. Read the same books and magazines. YAWN. All writers have been there. But it will affect the quality of your writing. Why? Because you’re not living in the world of curiosity. There’s an unusual writing resource you need to try this week and it doesn’t have to cost you a penny. It’s relaxing and fun and you get to tap into your inner curious cat.

Are you ready? Drumroll, please.

You’re going to head to your nearest library or thrift store and look at magazines. I just heard you say, “Kim, I already read magazines. I get TONS of them sent to my house!”

Listen. I love magazines too (hello, MaryJanes Farm!) butttttttttt I want you to step outside of the norm.

I want you to read/flip through magazines that you’ve never purchased or even heard of before. And honestly, the best place to do this is at your local library (you know how much I love libraries!) or your local thrift shop. (Make sure you buy and not just flip when you’re at a charity shop, please.)

Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” 

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Magazines are a sneaky shortcut into your imagination. Your mind gets stretched.

This is exactly what happens when you read a cat magazine even if you hate cats. Or flip through a crochet magazine even though you’re all thumbs. Or a wrestling or scuba diving magazine. A big-horn sheep magazine. An equestrian magazine. Cross-stitching. Survivalist/homesteading. Trust me, you’re going to see the weirdest and most wonderful magazines.

And as you’re flipping and laughing – something is going to pop out at you. A headline. A thoughtfully written essay. A word or image that reminds you of someone or something.

All of a sudden you’ll feel this stretchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh happen in your mind, and well, you’ll never be the same person after that.

And you and your pen will be off to the races.

Try that, curious cat.

*Did you love this? Then check out Scribbly – my quirky writing program that we snail-mail right to your house. We’re nice like that.