"How to Look for Sparks of Creativity During Your Day" by Guest Blogger Rhea Thomas
- Kaecey McCormick
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Hiya, writers and creatives!
It's been a bit more cloudy and moody here in the SF Bay Area, and I've found myself slogging through the day rather than charging through, ready to create. So I'm especially excited for today's guest post, which looks at ways we can find creative sparks when inspiration feels a little out of reach.
As poets and artists, we often talk about observation—learning to notice what’s around us, tuning in to detail, rhythm, and texture.
But sometimes, creativity asks us to shift the lens altogether, to see our daily routines or familiar landscapes with new eyes. That’s exactly what today’s guest, writer Rhea Thomas, invites us to do.
Rhea is the author of Let Birds Fly, a collection of short stories brimming with magical realism where the extraordinary ignites transformation in everyday lives. Her approach to creativity (curious, playful, and full of “what ifs”) has plenty to offer writers across genres, from poets to storytellers to anyone looking to refresh their perspective.
Rhea and I are both mothers, and we share a love of books and outdoor activities, so I'm thrilled to welcome her to the website today. Her reflections on how to find sparks of creativity in ordinary moments are a reminder that magic is often closer than we think. :)
Enjoy the guest post!
~Kaecey
How to Look for Sparks of Creativity During Your Day
by Rhea Thomas
One thing my brain excels at is getting creative. Ask me to balance my budget, clean house or meal plan for a week, and I’m a hot mess. Ask me for some creative story ideas, and I’m full of zany, nonsensical, quirk and weird plots, people, and places.
I rarely seek out creativity, because it finds me.
But if I were to break it down and share how I come up with original ideas, I would categorize things into two parts:
1) Go somewhere you've never been or do something new
Get out of your office, away from your desk, and all screens. Go for a walk in a park you’ve never visited. Get some hot tea in a new coffee shop. Sign up for a ghost tour or explore a cemetery. Have you ever gone kayaking? Give it a go! Take an art class or ride a train.
There are so many experiences out there, full of possibilities and opportunities.
There are so many different directions you can go, depending on what genre you enjoy writing. Imagine being the only witness to a crime in the park, or if a real ghost ended up joining that ghost tour. I tend to take situations, places, and feelings, exaggerate them in some way, and throw in a dash of magic to shake things up. And new places or experiences are rife with possibilities!
My example:
In a particularly extreme example, I went on a cruise up the Danube River, with one of the stops being Salzburg, Austria. This was a place I’d never been, and I was so inspired by exploring the outdoor markets and city center that I came up with the idea of a story around a woman visiting Salzburg who ends up in a shop where the owner paints nightmares with a special paintbrush … and talks the main character into gathering some nightmares for her. This story, “The Souvenir”, is in my published short story collection, Let Birds Fly.
2) Stay where you are think, "What if?"
We don’t always have time for new places or experiences. Perhaps you don’t have the budget for an art class or a ghost tour, or you don’t have easy access to transportation. In that case, you need to make do with what you can.
Use the familiar in a new way.
What do I mean by that? Go to the grocery store and walk down your favorite aisle. Imagine a product on the shelves you didn’t expect (a mysterious new fruit, a brand that uses your name and seems to closely align with your life, etc.) and what might happen from that point. Or imagine you run into the person you least want to see and what that encounter might be like.
Are you a romance writer? Manufacture a meet-cute over toilet plungers. A mystery writer? Perhaps you find a note slipped between cereal boxes that leads you on a scavenger hunt through the store. If you prefer historical fiction, ask questions about the grocery store owner and go home and research what other buildings have been on that site.
But while you’re in the store, write down the setting, so you can capture the real essence of the place:
How does it smell?
What do you hear?
What do you see?
Does your cart squeak and pull to the left?
What song is playing over the speakers, and what does it remind you of?
Did you overhear something you weren’t supposed to between two other shoppers?
Basically, go somewhere you always go and then think, what if this normal thing went pear-shaped and this happened.
What if. And then.
Those are great phrases to get your brain going.
My example:
Once spot I go to somewhat regularly, about once a month or so, is Costco. And if you’ve ever been to Costco, you know they are famous for their food sample carts.
That inspired the story, “Samples”, where a woman ends up in a fictional store called 'CostClub,' several times, and is tempted by the sample carts, finding that the food is not your average fare.
She sips coffee that causes hallucinations and efficiency at work, and fortune cookies that allow you to hear the truth of other people’s thoughts. What kind of chaos or change would that inspire?
In other words, creativity is everywhere.
It’s up to you to make the connections, to start thinking a little differently, to ask questions, and ponder what-ifs.
And make sure you charge up your creative well by doing things that make you happy and bring you peace, so that your brain is in the right frame of mind to function at its most creative!
~Rhea
About Rhea Thomas
Rhea Thomas lives in Austin, Texas where she works as a program manager in the digital media world. Her short stories have been published in multiple publications, including, most recently, The Fictional Café, Toasted Cheese, and Does It Have Pockets.
She spends her free time hoarding books, walking her stubborn Labrador retriever, playing games with her sons, kayaking and swimming in rivers, searching for mysteries and writing short stories that explore magical moments in the mundane.
Her first book, a collection of short stories, Let Birds Fly, was published in August 2025, and she’s currently working on a literary mystery novel.
Here's how to connect with Rhea online:
About the Book
Be sure to add Let Birds Fly to your Goodreads reading list or pick up a copy at Main Street Rag!
Let Birds Fly by Rhea Thomas is a magical realism short story collection where the extraordinary sparks everyday lives toward transformation.
Connected by Ripple Media, each of the fifteen characters navigates personal struggles, such as an impossible itch, a mercurial third eye, and hallucinating coffee. They discover hidden truths, purpose, or power.
With whimsy and emotional depth, these stories explore identity, passion, and self-discovery through moments of enchantment that crack open ordinary reality.
Let these tales remind you: sometimes, the most magical thing is becoming who you were always meant to be.
How do you find creative sparks in your everyday life? Have you tried one of the suggestions presented by Rhea? Let me know by sending me a message or an email!
Happy Reading & Happy Writing!
