I ran the last part of the title for this piece by a female the friend the other day who said it was "cute." I guess cute can translate to a good article about creativity and how to nurture and store it for later use. So, here we go, a message for you carried back from my magic tub of ideas. Creativity isn't easy for everyone. And even those that consider themselves really creative, it's sometimes difficult to constantly continue the flow of new ideas - especially when it comes to writing. How do you foster creativity? One thing I've found over the years is that if you find a place where you seem to be more creative, or where ideas really come to you, try to visit that place more often and really let your mind fly. Or it could be an activity like walking or driving or climbing trees even. Whatever it is, if you find something that seems to help with idea generation, try to repeat the process. Let the ideas wash over you. When you're in your idea spot or doing your idea activity, don't worry about writing any of them down. When you do get back to your computer (no using your BlackBerry while you're driving!), jot down the ideas you still remember. If the ideas are still around when you get back to your work space, you can rest assured they're the pick of the litter, typically pretty decent thoughts or ideas that can be fleshed out at a later date. Collecting these in a semi-coherent fashion can be very helpful. Keep a text file or use some other way that feels comfortable to you to keep these ideas as fast as they come to you. If at a later date you find your creative juices are slowing down, this idea list can be a great source of inspiration. Usually, something on the list will spark another thought in your mind - enough so that you can run with the idea and get back on track with your writing. I recently discovered that I've been having a lot of great ideas while relaxing in a hot tub. My magic tub of ideas is the inspiration for this piece. Or maybe it's the bubble bath I'm using? Whatever it is, the ideas keep coming. Whatever you find in your life that helps foster creativity, try to get more of it and store the excess for your slow periods, those times when even your magic spot in the park doesn't spark any ideas. These periods hopefully aren't often, but they're sure to happen to people who use their creativity a lot. Speaking of slow periods, I remember some advice from Henry Miller in one of his books on writing. It was something like "If you can't write, work on writing..." This idea goes along with trying to store your creativity by keeping a lot of ideas and the results of brainstorming sessions. If you find it's hard to spark creativity, try to go to your pool of ideas and "work on" one of those. Even the most creative of people aren't able to always be creative at the drop of a hat. When you're not feeling creative or coming up with any new ideas, it's wise to expand on some you've had in the past. When you can't create, edit. When it comes down to it in the end, there's no magic tub or magic keyboard or magic website even. As with anything in life that's worth anything, it all depends on you and how much work you put into it. Creativity is a gift. The more you learn to wisely use it, though, the more successful you're going to be in the long run.
I always keep a notebook around and write my ideas along with a brief outline whenever I have them. The outline is important because, when uninspired and uncreative, looking at an idea may not be enough to get my juices flowing. Seeing the outline I created allows me to grab hold of the idea and execute it much better
Notebook...hmm, been meaning to try that for a decade or so. Probably leaving major bucks on the table without a cohesive collection of my all too fleeting ideas. But, I can't even build out what I think of today, so I can't make myself keep track of it all in one place. Deadlines used to work great for me when I used to work for someone else. Hmm, note to self, research Ritalin....