The blank white page does not inspire me: to art, to write, to prep for preaching OR to prepare for teaching. I have realized and "owned" the fact the blank white pages just don't motivate me. At all. With that realization firmly in place I began an art journal for two summer courses I am teaching (online) at University of the Southwest.
I broke out my watercolor sprays and assorted stencils and spritzed a bunch of backgrounds in the two journals.
I didn't worry about colors or stenciling just put a lot of colors & textures on a dozen opening pages in each journal.
The art background made it easy to sketch out the notes for my class lectures.
Distilling the ideas to key themes (and writing them down in a journal) also helps commit the main themes to memory. Once all the prep work is done I find that I seldom actually need to refer to the written material. The art/journal combo is a thoughtful way to process and prepare.
