Reddit reviews 365 New Words-A-Year Page-A-Day Calendar 2017

I do creative writing, mostly poetry, and looking for and applying "weird" methods to help me generate ideas for new pieces is in my blood. Experimentation, having fun, trying to break convention, challenging yourself, and finding new perspectives are all your best friends in the pursuit of “creativity.” There’s standard advice (exercise, meditation, socializing) that works wonders but I’ll avoid those for the purposes of this response.

Note: I've used these various methods to "come up" with ideas but these methods don't account for editing or selecting the "best" ideas. A great quote from Stephen King to keep in mind beyond the idea generation stage: “A writer’s notebook is the best way in the world to immortalize bad ideas. My idea about a good idea is one that sticks around and sticks around and sticks around.”

Word Games

There's Shiritori which is a Japanese word game in which you write down a word and then the successive word you write must begin with the letter the previous word ended with (ex: apple/elope/enormous/sandal) and I've adapted this by coming up with twelve words and trying to make a piece using those words. Playing Scrabble has also helped inspire me.

Inspiration Apps

There's a great app for iPhone brainsparker which provides words, phrases, quotes, and other bits of inspiration. It's similar to Brian Eno's creative thinking strategy known as Oblique Strategies (app 1 and app 2) but what puts brainsparker ahead for me is the ability to set push notifications at a certain time of day so that I can passively get new bits of inspiration delivered to my phone.

Impose Limitations

Similar to the Dr. Seuss 50-word challenge, I have done things like try to make pieces based on sets of words such as the 100 Most Commonly Used Words in English, the lyrics from a particular song, or something from a famous document like the U.S. First Amendment.

Engage the Senses

A very new method I’ve used for at least one piece involves taking a recent situation I want to write about and jotting down how my senses were involved in the situation (the common ones, non-common ones like kinesthetic or hunger, and abstract ones like beauty or humor) and constructing a piece from that.

Wikipedia Rabbit Holes

I’ve found inspiration looking through Wikipedia articles about anything and everything though this can become a bit of a bottomless pit.

Say It Out Loud/Draw It

I’ve done stream-of-consciousness audio recording sessions and free-doodling to come up with pieces.

Become Someone (or Something) Else

I’ve adopted different personas and written from their voice, such as someone who sleepwalks, a preacher, a tyrannical politician. I’ve written from the voice of inanimate objects like an IMAX screen.

Launch a Project

I did a Word of the Day Poem project for a little over 100 days in a row, inspired by the kind of daily practice mentality of that famous Seinfeld anecdote about writing every day, marking an X on a calendar, and making sure you don’t break the chain.

Word of the Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Similar to the project above involves tracking and subscribing to a “Word of the Day” like with Dictionary.com or A.Word.A.Day or even a physical calendar which is what I primarily use now.

Write in the Dark

I’ve tried writing in the dark before, which didn’t really work, but I enjoy mixing up “how” I write and the environment I write in. Using pen and paper if you usually write on a computer, find a giant pen and write with that, write on the back of an envelope, go to a beach or park and write little notes using a stick. Anything you can do to still “write” but in a different way than you’re used to writing.

LOL - I have a degree in linguistics, and my hubs says that I am a master at communication accommodation - which is not so much about linguistics as it is about social adaptation.

There's nothing wrong with learning on the job either, so to speak, so if you have supportive people in your network, let them know that you're trying to do this, and ask if they'd be willing to let you try it out an them, with the caveat that their responsibility is to let you know if you're using the words wrong, or not providing enough context so that they can figure it out. Challenge others when they use a word you don't know, and ask them to explain. Get a calendar and commit!

All in all, best advice I can give you is remember that language is about human connection and interaction - you speak so that someone will hear.

Don't forget to have fun - that's why we have words like flibbertigibbet!