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A Creative Life Online: How To Use The Internet As A Creative Tool
Welcome to the first post in ‘A Creative Life Online‘. We want to nurture your creativity by exploring how to use the internet as a creative tool.
This series is all about living a creative life online and how to curate your experience for a healthy, happy feed that nurtures your creative soul. This is the introductory post.
How To Use The Internet As A Creative Tool
The internet is a tool. How we use that tool determines how effective or destructive it can be.
Have you ever wondered where your creativity comes from? I do. Often. It’s something that has kept me guessing. Creativity is so intrinsic to my life that I often forget to take note and to appreciate it.
I’ve also figured out that I feed it, sometimes unintentionally, and this makes me happy. A few months ago, I realised I wanted to feel like that a lot more, so I made a conscious decision to improve my consumption. Not just food-wise, but mind-wise. It’s part self-care, it’s part ‘killing two birds with one stone’.
I wanted to stop the mindless scrolling and brain-dead staring.
Creativity is such an amazing part of my life and it still breaks my heart when I speak to someone who says they do not consider themselves creative. You are, I promise, but you might just be a little out of practice or stuck in an online rut of miserable feeds.
A Creative Life Online
I tend to neglect my creativity and waste time on the internet instead. To counteract that I’ve started something I call deliberate or intentional consumption. I want to live a creative life online.
Creativity And The Deliberate, Curated, Careful Consumption Of Media
In the next few months I’ll be exploring how to use the internet as a creative tool.
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I’ll be sharing blogs, Instagram accounts, music, books, podcasts, movies, and series that inspire me. Some are old and some are new, but inspiration is everywhere and it’s up to me (and you) to remember to look and to take responsibility for how we spend our time. I hope these posts and tools will help you to work on the specific challenges we face online as writers.
Books:
I will always be a reader before I am anything else. I love reading and I read almost any topic. I read on my Kindle and I read paper books. That seems to be a point of contention, but I enjoy both. I will share books with you that I liked, and add a short description explaining why I liked them from a reading or writing perspective.
Movies, series, and binge watching:
Once you start studying stories and their structure, it changes the way you watch movies and series. It also becomes less brain-dead. I do like to zone out as well, don’t get me wrong, but I’m trying to make the binge about more than just the staring.
Social Media and Blogs:
Social Media gets a bad rap, but if you fill your feeds with good stuff and valuable resources it can become a pretty inspirational place, as long as you set a timer. I also work online. It’s about what I see and what I fill my head with and how I react while I’m there. I also love blogs and am always looking for new ones. I am a serial subscriber, but I’m a finicky reader so I’ll be sharing blogs that keep my attention.
Audible:
Audible might just be my new favourite thing. I know many people consider it cheating, but I don’t care. A story is a story, it doesn’t matter to me how I get it in my head. Also, I spend a lot of time in my car. Like a lot. I listen to stories and podcasts while I drive or go for a walk, in other words, when I can’t read a real book. The voice artists are amazing.
Podcasts:
Like I do with Audible, I listen to podcasts while I drive and walk around the block. There are some really good ones out there.
Art, images, and pictures:
I love paintings and photographs and typography and all things that are interesting to look at. Unlike stories, this isn’t my area of expertise, but I love deciphering visuals and having to tilt my head to see something else.
Last Word
This is just to give you an idea of what I’m planning. These posts may include poetry, short stories, TED talks and jokes that made me giggle and may even have a bit of theme, but it will all come back to creativity and finding your way through the internet clutter. Who knows what else?
All the posts:
- A Creative Life Online: How To Use The Internet As A Creative Tool
- A Creative Life Online: Finding Inspiration And Creativity Online
- A Creative Life Online: Finding Creativity In Routine
- A Creative Life Online: Creativity And Money
Watch this space for the next post in the series. (Sign up for our newsletter to get our Daily Writing Links, and you won’t miss out.) You will learn to nurture a creative life online, and learn how to use the internet as a creative tool.
by Mia Botha
If you enjoyed this post, you will love:
- 29 Writing Prompts For February 2020
- Poetry 101: Kinds Of Poems: The Ballad
- Poetry 101: Kinds Of Poems – The Villanelle
- Poetry 101: Kinds Of Poems – The Limerick
- Poetry 101: Kinds Of Poems – The Haiku
- Word Count Problems: What’s The Deal With ‘Exactly’?
- Silver Screen Inspiration For Short Story Writers
LOOK: If you want to learn how to write a book, sign up for our online course.
Posted on: 26th February 2020
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1 thought on “A Creative Life Online: How To Use The Internet As A Creative Tool”
Hi Mia,
This was a lovely read, and thank you for all your efforts. Looking forward to all the inspiration you’ll be sending our way!
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