By Sherri Swain 

1. Read a book. Read the works of authors who take creativity seriously, such as The Creativity Book by Eric Maisal, Ph.D. (Tarcher/Putnam books), Creating Something from Nothing by Bob Erickson (Authorhouse), A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech, or Jump Start Your Brain by Doug Hall (both Warner Books). Don't have time for that much reading? Turn to Dr. Seuss!

2. Use the five W's (and one H). Go back to the basics of News Reporting 101 and pound out the "who," "what," "where," "when," "why" and "how" on your subject. Articulating these six essentials will ensure that your piece has balance, and by the time you reach the sixth point, the creative path you should take most likely will be in view.

3. Draft an email. Pretend you must summarize your article or essay for a co-worker or friend. Build a working outline, perhaps even using bullet points. Save the email as a draft and re-read it in an hour.

4. Play! Hop in the car and head to the nearest toy store or discount center, and check out the newest board games and toys. Does Malibu Barbie® have a new car? How big is the crayon box now? Buy a small set of Legos® and build a robot, or get three small rubber balls and teach yourself how to juggle.

5. Change it up. If your computer sits where it's been since the dawn of the world wide web, move it to another room for a day or two. The upheaval of unplugging all of those cords and living sans email and Facebook for an afternoon may be the jolt your brain needs.

6. Write away. How many us practically chain ourselves to the computer? Change it up by writing longhand on a legal pad. Use a purple or red pen, and perhaps decorate the corners with stickers or hand-drawn "curly ques." Try to write without scratching out any lines.

7. Get up and move. 
Whether you want to plunge into a half-hour of Pilates or just give the dog a bath, do something physical. According to the National Institutes of Health website, a 2009 study of older Canadian women found that those who exercise regularly exhibit greater cognitive function (ten percent more) than their peers who do not exercise.

8. Tell me a story. If the ideas for your article, book or story can't seem to make it to your fingers, record your random thoughts with voice recording software on your computer (there are many good "freeware" versions), or go old school by recording with a tape recorder. Just start speaking out your ideas. Let the ideas flow naturally until you flesh out complete several thoughts, and soon you will find a new direction for your piece.

9. Map it out. Whether you call it mind mapping, flapdoodling or strategy clustering, the act of taking a fat marker to a huge sheet of white paper that is taped to the wall inspires most of us. Start with your chosen word or phrase, and in a random, freeform manner, write everything that comes to mind about that subject. Eventually, one stream of thought will grow larger than the others, and you'll have direction for your piece.

10. Don't write. You heard me - don't write. Get up and do something else. Are you distracted by that pile of laundry sitting on the dining room table? Go ahead and fold it. Maybe you need to revisit your neglected, unbalanced checkbook. A few minutes with a calculator, and I'm ready to go back to words - any words! And if you are a writer at heart, you will be too.

• Sherri L. Swain is a desktop publisher with over 25 years of professional writing and document design experience.