I just responded to a Goodreads’ challenge to write a two-sentence horror story. This is what I penned in 3 minutes:

As the sounds of determined steps along the carpet of autumn leaves reached her ears, Rachel, cowering in the darkness and unable to catch her breath, frantically scanned the dusty floor for a weapon and realized her three years of running from the monster would end in the light of the full moon at the door of her deceased father’s abandoned hunting cabin. Over her soundless wail, the knock precipitated the announcement: “Miss Billings? Agent Stevens from the IRS. Please open the door.”

For this article, I want to inspire you to have a similar spark of creativity. Here are some creative exercises to get you started. I also suggest visual artists try the verbal or physical exercises; physical performers, try the verbal or visual exercises; verbal artists try the physical or visual exercises. Get out of your comfort zone!!

(Honestly, most creatives can cross practices, but sometimes we get stuck!)

Verbal:

1. Write a romantic comedy in two sentences.
2. Rewrite a fairy tale with a modern twist.
3. Reimagine a Shakespeare plan. Modernize it in five acts. If you can follow scene by scene, do so. I did this an wrote my first novel: Treasure.
4. Write a poem about the weather.
5. Write a haiku about your pet. Or your partner. Or your dinner.
6. Write a short story about a mom or dad who forgets he or she has kids. Try it as a tragedy and a comedy.
7. Grab your favorite book. Open to a random page and run your finger across to a random sentence. Use that sentence as the start of a new story.
8. Get a paper dictionary. Randomly choose ten words by opening the book to a random page and dropping your finger onto a random entry. Use those ten words in a story or poem. (The poem is much harder.)
9. Rewrite the end of a story or novel. Try to make it so different from the original that the genre changes (horror to romance; romance to horror, for example).
10. Design your own verbal project. Share and invite others to try it. (Or post it here in the comments.)

Visual:

1. Design a webpage for your most recent art. Share it.
2. Take your camera into the woods. Photograph tree branches that look like each letter of the alphabet.
3. Design a photoshoot. It can be of anything or anyone, but plan the angle, the lighting, the time. What do you want the viewer to feel? To learn? To understand? To appreciate? What is your message? Using whatever camera you have (it can be your phone), set up the shoot and take that photo. Make no edits and share it.
4. Take your camera on an adventure. You are allowed to take only one picture that day. What do you choose and why?
5. Film your entire day, scene by scene. Try to do this without writing a script. Let the images — the moments — come as they come.
6. Create a sculpture. You can use clay or actually go to a pottery studio.
7. Create a scrapbook of any kind. Get really serious and purchase the scrapbook and all the decorations and stickers. (You can also do this digitally.)
8. Take the same photo every day for one year. (You can shorten it to a week, a month…). Try to show the passage of time.
9. Get a pile of coloring books, markers and crayons. Color. Drink herbal tea and listen to your favorite music. Or color while watching cartoons.
10. Design your own visual project. Share and invite others to try it. (Or post it here in the comments.)

Physical:

1. Take the musical instrument you hid in the back of your closet. Find a good instructional video and dedicate an hour each week to learning.
2. Write a song about a quirk you have. Like, you don’t like your food to touch on your plate. Record yourself singing it. Have fun.
3. Write a scene between a barista and a patron who discover they are long-lost twins separated at birth. Perform the scene with your sibling. Or friend.
4. Think of the first day of your favorite season or your favorite weather. Choreograph a dance to express your enjoyment of that weather. Film yourself dancing!
5. Take a dance class. Buy the shoes, the costume. Commit. I did. I was terrible and loved every minute of it!
6. Take an acting class. Really invest. Use what you learn in your art: How did that character feel? Talk? Dress? You get the idea.
7. Record birdsongs. Mix them into a new song. Share it.
8. Playact a scene from a favorite movie. If you are adventurous, recreate the special effects or scenery. Get friends involved — and capture it on video to share.
9. Find a famous speech you admire. Deliver the speech yourself — but change the historical context. For example, JFK’s To the Moon speech — deliver it as the President two thousand years from now who is inspiring citizens to find a way to time travel.
10. Design your own acting or dancing or singing or song project. Share and invite others to try it. (Or post it here in the comments.)

And, no matter what you do to get inspired, share it here in the comments so we can all enjoy it!