It’s the beginning of a new week, or the start of a new day. Or perhaps you’re stumbling on this at some other time. Well it doesn’t matter when. It’s time to think about doing something creative.

What’s the weather like? Go on, look outside if you need to, I’ll wait. Is the sun blazing down? Is the rain hammering into the puddles it has already formed? Is the atmosphere as grey as the mood it has just put you in? Well that doesn’t matter either.

What does matter is that you can use the inspiration of the outside to engage your creative thoughts. What does the weather make you think of: warmth, heat, dryness, arid landscapes, global warming, rising sea levels, end of the world, drowning, depression, moods, angst. ? The list is endless.

Use the weather as a starting point to do something creative today. But don’t just see a shining sun and paint a shining vista. Turn things around, the weather is just the starting point. Let your imagination run and develop the theme. Go and create that subverted weather image, wordscape or aural texture.

And also where not to find good ideas. What better way to start the week than with a little bit of inspiration.

Seth’s Blog: Where do you find good ideas?

A new report on Scientific American has confirmed what many of us naturally realised, you can be more creative if you ‘distance’ yourself from the situation. Read the article for the science and some practical ideas.

An Easy Way to Increase Creativity: Scientific American

I totally believe that we are creative beings. We don’t need anything apart from ourselves to be creative. However, there are tools that can make the creative process easier.

• A Moleskine – this could be any notepad, but I’m currently addicted to Moleskines. They are my notepad of choice. The need for a quick and easy capture device is essential and so far I haven’t found anything better than a notepad.
• A Laptop – This is currently an Acer, but I also use a Toshiba for work and so with the next item on the list it doesn’t really matter.  It could be anything, but the ability to open it anywhere and type is becoming indispensable.
• USB drive – I am running portable apps on this and it has been great. When my own laptop isn’t available I am able to create and save plenty of stuff here.
• Evernote – A pen and notepad isn’t helpful in the digital world, step in Evernote. A hybrid desktop and online notepad. It can capture words, sentences and complete web pages, and has become a welcome addition to my must have’s.
• Toodledo – Everyone needs a to do list, well I do (even if I never get around to doing any of them) and toodledo is the best online version I’ve found. It has so many features at the basic level and it’s integration with Firefox is wonderful.
• Google Reader – An RSS reader has been a wonderful way to keep track with all the other creative peeps out in the internet. Find their sites, click on subscribe and I’m never short of inspiration and ideas.
• StumbleUpon – But how to find the creative people? Well Stumbleupon is still coughing up gem after gem when it comes to great stuff. The ability to view images at the click of a button means I’m never more than a click away from some stunning visual inspiration.
• Firefox – With its add ons and integration with Evernote and Toodledo above I won’t leave home without this. My browser of choice for ages and still going strong.

I have plenty more sites and software that I use but whether or not they have become essential to me I am undecided. Photoshop would be the almost addition to the list, but if I didn’t have a copy as part of my day job I may well use Gimp instead.  WiFi is probably knocking to get on the list as well but as yet, I’ve not got into the habit of getting out and about enough.

I’d love to hear what you have in your Essential Creative Toolkit