Whenever I get hit with a writer's block, what usually works the best for me to get past it is to revert back to my elementary school years and just dabble, which is defined as: 1. to play and splash in or as if in water, esp. with the hands. 2. to work at anything in an irregular or superficial manner: to dabble in literature. 3. (of a duck) to feed on shallow-water vegetation with rapid, splashing movements of the bill. I really like the first and third definitions, but what I am suggesting is the second one.

Here is what I do: I get a blank sheet of paper and just start drawing. The trick, I've found, is to not think about what you're trying to draw, but to just let the sensation of the movement of your hand lead the way. You do this for a few minutes and you'll end up with something quite ugly! But that's okay because you're not finished yet. After dabbling for a few minutes like this, you now have a rough sketch from which you can begin to build on, letting your creative mind connect the dots and the lines, and then maybe adding some words and shading. For some reason my drawings usually end up looking like Santa Clause on steroids. I wonder what Freud would have to say about that?!? Regardless of what the final work may look like, the good news is that now I am now ready to start writing again. So next time you're stuck, try dabbling.

And now, with Dabbleboard, you can dabble online and share your creative work with the rest of the world, or just save it for yourself to admire at a later time.