It’s quite a long time ago that I blogged about the benefits of a fiction writer getting creatively divergent (or doing “creativity cross-training“, which sounds a bit too athletic!). But just because I haven’t blogged about it, doesn’t mean I haven’t done it.

As I see it, getting your right and left brain working together in ways other than writing has got to be a good change and (hopefully) benefit your writing. For some reason the craft of amigurumi has popped up on the internet in front of me quite a few times over the past year and I’ve always wanted to try it – basically it’s a Japanese style of crochet that creates cute animals and other creatures. The perfect opportunity came when my nephew was about to turn one, and I didn’t want to get him more of those plastic toys that make annoying noises. So I tried out an amigurumi pattern, got creative with it (the hat, for example, was actually a misshapen initial attempt at the head) and found great satisfaction with finishing this guy! And let me tell you, it’s a lot quicker to make one of these than to write a novel.

I plan to do more of this – it’s a good balancing activity for me because I’m easily tempted to spend more time in front of the computer than I should. Anyone else got some secret creatively divergent activities to share? I’m open to lots of suggestions.