How To Keep Inspiration At Your Fingertips

Home > Blog > Be Inspired, Tips > How To Keep Inspiration At Your Fingertips

A Guest Post by Marelisa Fabrega of Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online

Swipe files are a collection of excellent material that provide a great jumping-off point for anyone who needs to come up with lots of ideas, whether you’re a graphic designer, copywriter, author, and so on. A swipe file can be a source of creativity triggers, it can help you mix and match–as well as recombine–old ideas in new ways, and it can help you learn from the best. Instead of starting with a blank page, you begin with a reservoir brimming with brilliant ideas and images. You can use a notebook or a binder, you can keep your findings in a box—a shoebox or a hat box, for example–, or you can even create a digital swipe file by using a platform such as tumblr.com or posterous.com.

Anything that Catches Your Attention Can Go In Your Swipe File

Stuff your notebook with quotes, stories, images, poems, video URLs, pieces of fabric, and anything else that catches your fancy. Fill the pages with random facts which may at some point prove useful: the human body has 210 bones; the capital of Australia is Canberra, not Sydney or Melbourne as most people think; Elias Howe invented the lockstitch sewing machine—after struggling with his original design which did not work as it should, the answer came to him in a dream in which he was captured by a bunch of savages carrying spears with eye-shaped holes near the top.

Include the URL of YouTube videos you find inspirational, such as the Ukele Orchestra of Great Britain playing the musical score from” “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”; the short film “Balance” which won the Oscar for “Best Animation” in 1990; the “Funny Chicken” “Funny Chicken”; video for when you need a good laugh; or anything from TED.com.

Turn to the next page of your notebook and pencil in the “Enuma Elish”, which is the Babylonian Creation Myth, or the story of Midas, the wealthy king of Phrygia in Asia Minor who was called upon to attend a musical contest between the god Apollo and the satyr Pan. Midas declared Pan the victor and an enraged Apollo inflicted him with a pair of asses’ ears. The gods from both the Roman and Greek pantheons can be great sources of inspiration.

Another turn of the page can reveal a carnival scene, complete with midgets flying through the air and a Ukrainian fortune teller in her tent studying the tarot cards spread out before her. On the next page you can have a circus scene filled with elephants, cotton candy, and clowns on unicycles. Then do something different and fill the next few pages with poems, such as: “She Walks In Beauty Like the Night” by Lord Byron, “The Saddest Lines” by Pablo Neruda, and “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou.

Create collages from images you cut out of magazines; add vintage postcards. Include images of “Milagros”, the Spanish word for miracles, which are small metal religious charms found in many areas of Latin America, especially Mexico and Peru, depicting arms, legs,white lilac, praying people, farm animals, and a wide range of other subjects with the intent of petitioning saints for help or protection, or giving thanks for prayers that have been answered. You can also include a photograph of tiny Guatemalan worry dolls; people tell their worries to the tiny dolls so that the dolls can ruminate about them and leave the person free to think of something else.

Collect images of demons holding open the mouth of hell, chained poltergeists, mischievous imps, and other legions of devils, monsters, and the Fantastic to serve as a reminder that reality is only a construct, and at any moment you can choose to shatter the frame of the existing consensus of what reality is and create an entirely different reality with your writing. You can also include sketches of faeries and other wee folk using ragwort as a makeshift horse, as well as angels whispering in the ears of small children and genies imprisoned in colorful glass bottles.

Pick up pieces of paper you find lying on the sidewalk and add those with interesting messages scribbled on them to your notebook; collect secrets from postsecret.blogstop.com; copy interesting sentences from onesentence.org; even twitter can be a source of good material for your notebook.

Creating an Electronic Swipe File

One of the easiest ways to create a swipe file is to do it electronically. You can use social bookmarking services, such as del.icio.us, or note-taking software, or even create a document you keep on your computer. With a digital swipe file you can literally just cut and paste as you find interesting resources on the internet. Skellie from Skelliewag.org keeps her swipe file with Tumblr. She explains that keeping her swipe file with Tumblr allows her to add any elements of the page she’s visiting simply by clicking a button on her toolbar. In addition, keeping an electronic swipe file can make it easier to share your findings with others, should you choose to do so.

How To Keep Inspiration At Your Fingertips

Your swipe file is personal and should contain anything that moves or inspires you. Whenever you need ideas for your writing simply sit back in a comfortable chair, make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and peruse through your swipe file, fully expecting to be inspired. Look through your swipe file at night right before going to bed so that the words and images can marinate in your mind as you sleep. In the morning when you awaken and apply yourself to your task the ideas will explode like multicolored fireworks in the inner recesses of your mind.

Written by Marelisa Fabrega, owner of Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online where you’ll find tips and resources to help you increase your creativity, be more productive, and simplify your life.

RECENT POSTS

How To Launch A Writing Career: 10 Tips For Success

Many creatives want to launch a writing career, but taking the steps to do so is a frequent roadblock. The good news is, if you want to launch a writing career and are committed to doing so, you’re likely to succeed.  Of course, the definition of success is...

6 Book Introduction Examples: Helpful Secrets To Compelling Intros

The topic of book introduction examples is vital to dive into due to their influence on readers’ mindset. How a reader feels when he or she starts chapter one and page one of your manuscript impacts how they respond to your writing. When you’ve spent weeks, months, or...

5 Tips To Write Faster: Finish Your Book In Record Time

Did you know that if you want to write faster than the average typist (40 words per minute) there are actionable steps you can take to do so? Whether you are working on typing out your debut novel or have been in the game for years, there’s always an opportunity to...

Vision Boards For Writers: 3 Ways To Achieve Your Dreams

Vision boards are more than just a fun activity to engage in at the start of a new year or season. While vision boards are often designed to be aesthetically pleasing and can be a relaxing activity, they actually can be more helpful to your writing dreams than you...

JOIN OVER 2 MILLION READERS

WANT YOUR NEXT BOOK TO BE A BESTSELLER?

Then you need KDP Rocket – the killer advantage of pro authors.

Related Posts

How to Find Freelance Writing Work (2024 Guide)

How to Find Freelance Writing Work (2024 Guide)

Freelance writing is a great way to earn some extra money on the side. But as you may discover once you get a foothold in the industry, it’s more than possible to turn it into a full-time job and lifelong career. There are some hurdles that you have to overcome,...

About The Author

Marelisa Fabrega

Marelisa Fábrega blogs about creativity, productivity, and simplifying your life over at Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online. Marelisa is the author of the ebook "How to Be More Creative - A Handbook for Alchemists".

Latest Posts

How to Find Freelance Writing Work (2024 Guide)

How to Find Freelance Writing Work (2024 Guide)

Freelance writing is a great way to earn some extra money on the side. But as you may discover once you get a foothold in the industry, it’s more than possible to turn it into a full-time job and lifelong career. There are some hurdles that you have to overcome,...

31 Ways to Find Inspiration for Your Writing

31 Ways to Find Inspiration for Your Writing

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. - Jack London No matter how much you love writing, there will always be days when you need inspiration from one muse or another. In fact, I would argue that inspiration is not just a desirable...