Where to start if you've forgotten how to be creative

As Joni Mitchell sings: So many things I could have done, but life got in my way...

After taking a break from everything at the end of last year, something beautiful began to grow over Christmas and into the New Year (and it wasn’t just my waistline, hohoho).

On one morning I got out my journal and wrote the three morning pages which Julia Cameron recommends in The Artist’s Way, which I hadn’t done for weeks.

Another day, I wrote a quick Christmassy short story which I showed to my husband and he found funny and told me I should share around.

And this morning I opened the lid of the piano in my very-underused creative corner and creaked out a terrible version of Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan while caterwauling along. I also went out with my camera and took some photos in the snow recently, some of which are below. I could see when I’d last taken the camera out from the previous pictures, at a birthday party so long ago I could barely remember it. I haven’t photographed anything for months.

So what changes over January? Why does it gradually make me feel like I want to get more creative? That combination of time off from work in December, a few encouraging gifts to get me started, and the buzz I get from socialising all help.

I’m beyond fortunate in that I, like Virginia Woolf, have a Room of One’s Own to create in (and can firmly shut the door so I can leave my projects untouched between chunks of time). I’m not sure about ol’ Virginia, but in my house One’s room sometimes looks untidy, with stacks of paper or chalks or books piled up, but it is my own buzzy and creative room. I didn’t always have my own space to create, so I appreciate it all the more every time I walk in.

And where can you start if you’ve forgotten how to be creative?

1. Start at the start.

Begin with a piece of paper.

Write down anything - ANYTHING. Song lyrics, a shopping list, a stick man. Just fill the page with whatever is swirling around your mind.

2. Make it easy for yourself.

I love my local Hobbycraft. If you are short of inspiration, Julia Cameron recommends going to buy a children’s craft kit for a couple of pounds and giving that a go. Making something that wasn’t there before can be as simple as following a Youtube craft video, drawing a picture, or writing a single sentence. it doesn’t have to be much, and it doesn’t have to be any good. It definitely doesn’t need to be expensive, or even cost money at all.

Woodheys Park in Sale, Manchester, taken on 10/1/25 by me

3. It doesn’t have to be draining

We all hear about tortured artists and struggle, but making something can and should be fun! Make a cake! Draw a cartoon! Listen to some music and learn the lyrics! It’s supposed to be about self-expression, and it’s OK to be rubbish. In fact, it’s quite a joy to hand over the perfectionism and be a total learner. It’s a bit embarrassing, and you feel quite daft at times, but it is valuable to start from scratch.

4. What do you actually want to say? It doesn’t have to be meaningful

I’m constantly surprised by my seven year old daughter, who has mastered her artist’s temperament and whose creativity flows like a wellspring. She draws pictures if she’s had a bad day, works through her emotions through pictures, and plans everything from Taylor Swift’s next tour outfits to the order she wants to visit the animals at Chester Zoo. She has little notebooks everywhere. One of my favourite drawings she recently made was when she was quietly working away on something, folding it and then shaping the paper like origami. When she’d abandoned it and I went to look, she had drawn a prototype for a Kentucky Fried iPhone. Sometimes we don’t understand the art, but it always, they say, reveals something of the artist.

What do you want to express? Is it silly, sad, relieved, tired or fun?

5. Why not start this second?

We’ve made it through the darkest parts of the year. Like many others, I find these dark days of winter tough.

Snow on branches, taken by me on 10/1/25

I have some better coping skills now I’m older, and I take multi-vitamins, go to bed early and do all those things that are supposed to make you feel better.

My sister sent me this (apologies, I don’t know who made it but if any claims it, let me know!) and I love it. Rather than January 1 for new year’s resolutions, why not now, when the days are getting longer?

Why not today, when the bulbs are beginning to push their way through the soil? Why not try just… starting something creative to see how it feels?

Let me know what you like to try! I’d love to encourage you along the way.