Dot and the Wizard of Odd: LCP's TOTOlly Cool Ideas for Staying Creatively Busy

Is the world looking a little grey to you lately? We're about to bring it back to technicolor with our TOTOlly cool map for staying creatively busy. Let your brain relax, use a little of your creative brave, a whole bunch of heart, and follow, follow, follow...

1. Experiment with new music:

First thing's first. Before we get busy with being creative, let's set the mood. Go to your streaming music service and click on a fun new genre. We like "experimental." Run through the list and sample new artists! You never know what awesomeness awaits. What did you pick? Let these new tunes get your fingers dancing for the next few activities...

2. Dismantle an existing piece of your own art:

Take any piece of your own art and turn it into something entirely new. If it's a rhyming poem, challenge yourself to rewrite it without the rhyming scheme. If it's a short story, cut it down to flash fiction, or turn it into a piece of poetry. If it's visual art, take out a pair of scissors and collage it. Combine all the techniques. There are endless ways to be creative here.

3. Create visual art with your non-dominant hand:

Here's art that anyone can make. Paint, sketch, marker, pen, crayon - it all counts. But, take your creative tool into your non-dominant hand and see what happens! Abstract art? Who knows, but let it take the pressure of perfect off your brain!

4. Try William Burroughs' cut-up technique on your own writing:

From Burroughs himself: "The method is simple. Here is one way to do it. Take a page. Like this page. Now cut down the middle and cross the middle. You have four sections: 1 2 3 4 ... one two three four. Now rearrange the sections placing section four with section one and section two with section three. And you have a new page. Sometimes it says much the same thing." There are so many iterations of this process - cut into smaller and smaller sections to rearrange. Experiment and get creative!

5. Try your hand at erasure poetry:

Take an existing large body of text, and using a dark marker or Sharpie, color over unwanted text until you are left with single words that form a new poem. Try it with photocopied images of ancient texts all the way through to modern magazines to come up with some interesting new ideas and concepts.

6. Download the Word Palette app and make magnet poetry:

Remember good old fashioned refrigerator magnet poetry? This is it in app form! Use it to get those words flowing, or just make some disposable poems. Bonus? It entertains younger humans too!

7. Take a virtual tour of some of the world's finest museums:

Need some art inspiration? Visual prompts? Itching to see something different than the walls inside your own house? Use this article to explore some of the best museums around the world. Bonus? No crowds, no annoying "selfies with paintings," and no ticket fees. Feeling adventurous? Try sketching some of your favorite pieces, or using them as story prompts!

8. Explore outside of your cinematic comfort zone:

That's a whole lotta creativity, right? You deserve a break. Pick a movie genre you don't normally watch. Romance fan? Try some indie flicks. Mystery lover? How about an artsy horror film? Jump onto the internet and do a search for the top movies in the new genre. Pick one to watch, make your favorite snack, and curl up in a cozy spot.

Don't forget to tell us if you found an awesome new band. Music is one of our favorite things, in case we haven't mentioned it lately, if you've been stuck under a house, or if you've been preoccupied wearing the same striped stockings for weeks on end.