You could call it work experience, I suppose.

One of my aims in life is to experience as many different things as I can. Go to different places, eat different foods, learn new things.

On the one hand, it's interesting. And on the other, it's a great way to help fuel your writing.

Remember 'write what you know'? Well, the more you know - the more experiences you have - the more accurately and fully you can write, taking advantage of your experience to deepen your prose for your readers.

I'm not saying 'go out and kill someone'. I am saying, if somebody says 'would you like to go to the races?' (this happened to me over Christmas) and you've never been, say yes. Go running in the rain with no umbrella! Eat weird food! Try on dresses you could never afford (Yeah, I know, you do this already :D)

Just go for it, and then put it back into your writing.