I love to dig me up some of those creative loopholes? What the heck? Who in their right mind would love using loopholes?
Creative people. Bloggers in particular love loopholes. That’s who!
Wait, what?
Oh, sorry, you thought I’d say, politicians or tax guys/gals, right?
Nope.
One thing you will never find here on my blog is anything related to politics. That is not in my wheelhouse. The most you’ll ever hear about politics from me is the last sentence. Boom…done…never to be mentioned again!
What about loopholes do we creative bloggers love? By definition, a loophole it isn’t the most fun word, is it?
Before I answer that just so we’re both on the same page about what a loophole means, let’s agree to use a secondary definition.
My favorite definitions (when I want to take a rebel approach) come from the Urban Dictionary. In the case of boring (to me) words, UD is my go-to place for inspiration. When I find the traditional dictionary meaning constricting, and want to use a loophole, or if it relates to political or taxing kind of things, I don’t go there! (Remember, I just said that a couple of paragraphs ago…jeez, do I have to mention politics again!?!)
Bloggers love inspiration in the form of a starting point or a way around it to describe our thoughts in a creative way. If the first point doesn’t work, we try another. That gets our creative juices flowing and we start to feel clever. And then we create masterpieces!
We all dread, have seen, and have gotten over the dreaded blinking line. Once we let the words flow, we are able to realize what’s holding us back and move on.
We don’t just wait until the words flow off our fingertips like birds flying across the sky, do we? Nah, there’s an easier way to get started. We use a loophole, of course, in the form of a daily prompt.
But wait, we’re creative, why shouldn’t we love the openness of a blank page? After all, with that, we can write whatever we want!!
For some of us, though, it is intimidating when topic options are unlimited. That small constraint in the form of a one-word prompt helps us. Just look at how many different takes on the daily word prompts are penned in the Blogosphere every day. All from one-word, a small constriction that leads to vast responses.
When I first started blogging, I tried to wing overcoming the blank page on my own. I’d stand there staring at the blinking line. I started to think I was just a piss-poor writer, you know, a true blogging failure. I’d wonder why in the heck I was even trying to be a blogger? The wide-open blank page without a writing goal seemed so daunting to me. And then I wouldn’t write for days or weeks on end.
I slowly discovered my creative cravings didn’t go away. They just made me sad when they weren’t satisfied. Deep down when I wasn’t writing, I wasn’t happy. I had to figure out a way to overcome the daily challenges of a blank page.
When we’re trying to form and keep habits, we often search – even unconsciously – for loopholes. We look for justifications that will excuse us from keeping this particular habit in this particular situation. – Gretchen Rubin
My daughter suggested I try a photo challenge to get me over the hump of the blinking line. That sounded like a plausible way to avoid the blues. I didn’t have anything to lose. I do love my camera, and for me photos prompt thoughts, too. So I searched and found my first photo challenge on Rowdy Kittens. I started a month late, (late bloomers do that) but I’ll be damned if it didn’t help motivate me for a full 30 days! It was just the kick-start I needed. I still enjoy photography challenges on a weekly basis.
That first daily challenge list, (which I did out-of-order) provided me with the right amount of constrictions to force my creativity. As the old saying goes, “A habit is born if you stick with it for 30 days” – actually it is 21 days, but, you get what I’m saying.
My daily blogging habit was born out of using constrictions first and then loopholes (aka, my take on the prompts or photos or my normal everyday stuff around me) to get me past the blinking line.
I’m mostly relying on daily prompts and challenges too 😄
They seem to be helpful, no doubt!
Oh yeah 😉
I never really thought of the prompts as a loophole- this was an insightful way of framing it. Great read.
Thank you, Byron! I appreciate you stopping by to read my post and for sharing your feedback. Glad to hear you found benefit in my words! Happy blogging to you!