Thrift Store Inspiration

Time + inspiration = writing.

It’s a simple formula, A simple, impossible formula because often when there’s time, inspiration is fleeting OR inspiration strikes at the worst possible times. Sitting in the dentist’s chair with a mouth full of cotton balls. Driving up the freeway. Halfway through a dinner with friends.
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Since time is often easier to control, I’ve focused much of my writing life on trying to find ways to jumpstart inspiration. As I teach, I also need to find ways to help students who are sitting at their desks staring at the wall with no clue what to do.

Enter a thrift store! In an ideal world, you can sneak off to a secondhand shop and walk around. Every single object has a story. Pick something up. Feel its weight. Look at the color. If you’re brave, take a good smell. What did this thing sitting in your hand go through before it landed on the island of misfit stuff. Better yet, grab a cart and toss it random items until you find yourself with a story. (No need to buy the objects unless you fall in love. But take a picture.)

Now if you’re a teacher wondering how to do this with a classroom and no Goodwill nearby, try this. Assign each student or group one of the following categories:

• A Place
• An Object
• A Loud Sound
• A Piece of Clothing
• A Food

Each group should come up with at least ten options for their category. They can post them around the room or students can travel from table to table with THIS worksheet. Let them go shopping. They can take one or a few suggestions from each category and suddenly they are no longer starting from a blank page. They are starting from a mass of ideas. Now whether the story veers off towards another direction or not, at least they are writing. This also can be adapted to individuals. Put a timer on the board and ask students to brainstorm in each category, then draw lines on their own sheets making associations until they have many options. 

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