Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to expand myself creatively, writing-wise and in other ways. In the sense of writing so far I’ve written- A novel (which is in progress), short stories (which may get turned into novels), poetry (for classes and on my own, plays (in a class), academic papers (for school), and some fanfiction (ah the good old days, but damn are they bad when I read them now), but lately I’ve been thinking that I want to try my hand at writing a screenplay and maybe try to branch into nonfiction or creative nonfiction even though neither is really my style unless you count keeping a journal and this blog! I figured screenplay writing could kind of go hand in hand with my novel writing because so many novels are turned into screenplays, but I’m unsure how I want to go about it. Would it be better to take a class on screenplay writing? Try learning it myself through reading books about screenplay writing? Or do both?

In other art forms, I’m limited as to what I do/have done. My extent of other creative endeavors is jewelry making (which I’m already working on branching out in), I designed/put together all the bouquets for my best friend’s wedding (apparently I have an unknown talent for flower arranging, but maybe it’s just OCD),  and then I made t-shirts with a friend before (they turned out OK, could have been worse), but I want to do more creatively. So the first thing I’ve decided to do is try painting. One of my favorite novels/movies is Divergent and I’ve really wanted something to represent all five factions as a reminder to myself of all the things I would like to be everyday of my life. So my first project is going to be a painted canvas with each of factions symbol on it. I haven’t decided if I’ll add any writing yet or anything more than that, but I figured it might be a good simple way to break myself into something new.

I just never want to look back and go “Gee, I wonder if I could have done that?” Because a very good friend of mine has told me time and time again that the only reason I can’t do certain things is because I’ve never tried, I just dismiss it as something I could never do for one reason or another, and apparently he thinks I can do a lot more than I think I can, so he’s been pushing me to try and expand myself. I know he’s right (but I hope he doesn’t see this because I don’t want him to know he is right otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it)! But I do want to try to new things and maybe see if I can find something I love as much as I love writing.

So my question for this post is- What else do all of you do creatively besides write? I think creatively is a broad idea, so in my mind it can be anything from painting to building furniture! I’m interested to know in what other ways everyone is creative. Also, what are some suggestions you guys might have for me to try and branch out creatively? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!