Finder

The last time I was in the U.K., one of my friends in the group dubbed me "the finder," because (drumroll please)  I tend to find little things.

Frequently.

Since this has been going on for quite a while, I've got a little wooden box of the best things I've found, usually one from every important place I've been. When I'm in residence somewhere for a while, I take them out and spread them on a windowsill, as a reminder to go back to the important places.

Hopefully, this will work. After all, I did come back to the U.K.

They're also the source of some of the laziest creative non-fiction I've ever written. I chose a dozen or so, then wrote a paragraph about how each was found, tweaked them until they all played on a central theme, and then arranged them in a way that made sense. 7,500 words and deadline met in two hours.

Ekphrastic writing is traditionally based on art or music, but I've found that when I'm short on ideas, inspiration, or time, almost anything can be a jumping-off point. My college advisor's favorite game was to have us choose five objects at random and write a story that incorporated all of them. Several of my coursemates based writing on popular music, and I often plundered paintings for ideas - some of which have since been quite well-received.

And in case anyone is wondering, this is where I usually bugger off to when I do my buggering off: