How Moving Can Help Your Creativity

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not, but I moved recently (I don’t know as in I don’t remember what blogs or what newsletters I mention it in – which means I probably have too many things). I’m currently in Austin, TX, and it’s been interesting to see how life is changing. Austin is considered a pretty creative town, and it’s interesting in the past two weeks how I’ve seen that. Having never really lived in a creative town, it’s interesting how the move has helped my creativity, which was scraping at the bottom of the barrel before the move.

I think the first thing that really helped was a sense of routine. When I was at home, every day was a bit different, and it was hard to find a schedule to stick with. Now, I wake up, go to work, come home, and write after dinner. This’ll probably change after I move (currently living with my grandparents), but having the set schedule helps prioritize and stay on task.The weekend is here again, and soon, the weekends will all be that much sweeter to me. You see, the past four months since graduation, I’ve been living at home with my parents and younger siblings. This week, I accepted a job offer, and I’m moving to Austin, TX.

With that being said, I’ve also found that having a little amount of time has helped my creativity. What used to take all day to write a few hundred words and a blog post can now be done in an hour. Time is much more precious, and I work faster to get it done.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that traffic is a great time for coming up with ideas. While I’m a lover of singing in the car, I’ve maybe caught myself having one too many conversations for my book… with myself. I need to record those somehow.

I also now have an excuse to hang out in fancy coffee shops without drinking coffee. Saturday, I went to a coffee shop, plotted the second half of Justice & Lies, and then wrote 3000 words in a five-hour span. After struggling for a month with this draft, it felt incredible to finally get it all down and out of my brain. While writing on the work days is much harder than writing on the weekends, now it’s much easier to pick a spot and write because I know that the material I’ll write will be used in the book.

Once I get into my own apartment, I’d love to find a writer’s group, too. I know there are other writers here, too, I just don’t know where to find them.

Also, another great thing about moving is meeting new people and hearing new stories. Inspiration can strike from any direction, and I never know what interesting detail I hear may end up in a book. Every story there is is just a puzzle of randomly assorted pieces we pick up from other people and throw our paint on.

In a few months, after I move, I’ll probably revisit this topic to see how it has changed. Have you ever experienced a big shift in your creativity after a move?