I won’t lie and pretend like I don’t sacrifice large sums of time to ogling adorable crafty things or nail polish designs (Oh man, there are some talented DIY-ers out there…) but I have found Pinterest to be a useful writing tool. Or, I guess more accurately: an inspiration tool.

Like a lot of writers, I enjoy combing through pictures on the internet and finding people that look like my characters, or making soundtracks of songs that remind me of the story. Pinterest lets me create a board for a certain project and then keep all of these things together. Characters, settings, mood music, research… it is so nice to have all of that stuff in one place.

For those of you that have been following my Fantasy Web Serial, you can check out my Dancing Board if you’re curious what the characters look like / what images put me in the right mind frame to work on it.

I try to stay away from the internet while writing [insert sound of my writing buddies laughing at me] but, let’s face it, sometimes the urge is too great. However, unlike my other internet escapes which distract me from the project, Pinterest just takes me deeper into the world. When I’m stuck on a scene, sometimes it’s enough just to open the board and flip through the collection to get me back on track.