Arouse Your Creativity, Now.

Now that I've gotten your attention, I've got one question for you. Shouldn't you be writing? What's got you off on this technological tangent; this sidebar to what started as a quick search for the correct spelling of the name "Nicki Minaj," or whoever else you're writing about.

Are you searching for inspiration?

If you are, the internet may or may not be the place for you to exhaust your energy right now. It may be the right source to find something prompting you to write your next novel, or chapter. I guess it all depends on your topic and whether or not you're conscious of how you're using this tool. But I find that disconnecting from the internet is the best way to find the network within the brain to bear fruit.

Disconnect from the internet and go old-school with a pen and pad. Don't worry about spelling, or grammar, or selling, or correct facts. Disconnect, and let your brain take you on a journey. Your only job is to take notes as you explore this labyrinth.

Don't worry about the outcome. Just write the first thing that comes to mind, then the second, and so on...

Once you start exploring your mind, you'll find the inspiration from those walls are rich.

• Hot Tea
• Pen and Paper
• Silence

Or, if you would rather listen to music pick something that helps you along your journey and doesn't distract you and pull you back out to the clutter of the outside world. Something like the music below. This is the soundtrack to the video game, 'Journey.'

There are times when I drive out to the mall to write. The mall. Yes. I sit in food court and write. Sometimes I need that environment. I need noise, and movement.

Other times I can't put one word to paper unless I'm in an almost airtight sound-proof cell.

Follow your muse. If you need noise, seek it. This doesn't mean every time you write you'll need noise. Same with silence. I say silence is part of your disconnecting starter kit, but you won't always need silence. If the muse moves you to seek out noise, do it.

Hidden beneath all your present-day clutter are struggles you faced once before... that is, if you kept a journal.

If you're like me, you kept a journal... several journals throughout the years. I've been journaling since I was... maybe 6 or 7 years old. Maybe even younger.

If you kept journals, and you're in your late twenties, early thirties like I am, now is the time you were waiting for. Remember when your teachers and parents and adults in your life encouraged you to journal so you could look back on your life? Well, now's the time to start. Have you ever read your old journals?

Read your old journals for inspiration. You have no idea how rich they are with writing prompts, and how valuable those writing prompts are because they're specially designed for you. Somehow, somewhere in your mind you remember the emotions and hopes, fears, and dreams of the time you wrote those words down so many years ago. You might have forgotten the events until now. But those journals and diaries will provide just the right jolt you need to access a part of your brain hidden under clouds of dust.