I’m always looking for a good way to punch up my writing or get over a patch where I am suck. One of my favorite ways to do this is by adding random elements. The side trips you take might not always be productive, but they are interesting, and if nothing else, they will keep you writing.

Lately, someone suggested that I start a special box of interesting words. Then I could draw words from the box whenever I got stuck and needed a quick prompt. She had a special box filled with hundreds of words that she had decorated by printing them with amusing fonts.

Being a lazy man, I did not want to print out hundreds of little slips of paper decorated with interesting fonts, but I did realize I had a card game, “In a Pickle,” which would be nearly as good.

“In a Pickle” and “Apples to Apples” are both party games, which you may already have in your home. For the purpose of this discussion, I’m not going to get into game-play mechanics, but the important part is that they both contain big stacks of cards with common nouns printed on them.

So, I split my “In a Pickle” cards into two piles and put one by my downstairs computer and one by where I like to use my laptop. I don’t always use them, I don’t always use the words I draw, but occasionally, I find useful information from one of the cards I draw.

You might even find you enjoy the party games. I don’t.