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Posts tagged ‘creativity’

Jun 5

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Talent vs hard work: 5 tips for a deliberate writing practice

Do you ever question if you have the innate talent to write a publishable manuscript? Many people believe that successful writers, painters, or athletes are born with the talent that led to their achievements.

It’s easy to believe that people who are super successful must have an extra measure of innate talent. But people aren’t born with specific natural gifts, according to British researchers Michael J. Howe, Jane W. Davidson and John A. Sluboda.

Success happens by putting in hard work over time. But not just any hard work. It requires putting in time in a particular way. Read more

Jun 1

Need an infusion of creative mojo? Wreck a journal

Do you ever get in a slump with your writing? As in, some event or situation literally sucks the life out of you? Are you clawing and scratching for any minute you can to write? That’s me right now. I’ve barely even been able to “think” about writing since I’ve been working on an impossible, immovable deadline in my day job that required me to spend every waking minute on it.

So now that the project is about to launch, I’m looking for a way to get back into my writing groove.

My blogging partner Carol gave me the book, “Wreck this Journal.” It’s time to get it out. Read more

May 16

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Boost your creativity by doodling

Sometimes my brain seizes up when I sit down at the computer to write. It’s as if the glare of the screen and the cold, hard keys have drained all the energy out of my ideas. But since I rely on the keyboard and computer to put sentences down on the page, I have to work around it.

So I was intrigued when I read about doodling as a way to boost creativity. Roisin Markham writes about how doodling brings an unconscious clarity to her thinking process.

I’m planning to try it. For all the details, check out Roisin’s post at CreativeDynamix.

May 4

Want to be more prolific and creative? Learn how from these three posts

As someone who is fascinated by the subject of creativity, I’m always looking for other perspectives. Here are a few articles I read this week on the subject.

Have you ever felt like you didn’t fit in or that you’re, “a little weird?” Then you may be interested in this article, Being sensitive, moody and strange may be signs you’re a creative by Susan Biali, M.D. You’ll also see how important it is to follow your creative inclinations.

If you’d like to increase your creative production, check out Seven steps to take now to increase your creative output by Amy Neumann and Eliza Wing.

And in case you missed my post on Monday, you’ll find another idea for enhancing your creativity with the “What if?” exercise.

Apr 30

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Practice the 5-minute “what if?” exercise to enhance your creativity

We’re all born creative thinkers, but sometimes it’s easy to think we aren’t when we’re stuck on a plot or trying to figure out a piece of dialogue for one of our characters.

Part of losing our sense of creativity comes with growing up. When we were kids, we didn’t worry so much about everything having to be logical or correct.

As Michael Michalko says in his book, Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, our minds are marvelous pattern recognition machines. We’re taught to see what we think we “should” see. This helps us be more efficient in many ways. But it’s also why we can read through a page of copy multiple times and miss typos. Our brain compensates and “helps” us see the patterns of what we expect to see. Read more

Mar 5

Play like a child to boost your creativity

One of my writing teachers once gave me and the rest of the students in our class an assignment to “play.” She went so far as to assign toys to us.

Somehow, she knew that playing would help us stretch our creative muscles. She instructed me to play with Play-Doh, the squishy colored clay you probably had as a kid.

I remembered this recently while reading the book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World: Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Wantby Martha Beck. Beck writes about a genetic trait called “neoteny” from the Greek word “neo,” which means new, and tenein, which means “to stretch.” Read more

Oct 11

Put your pen down and take a power hour

Have you considered going on a “power trip?” Not in that wild, crazy, dictator sort of way, but in a crazy good, creative idea way.

Todd Henry, author of the book, “The Accidental Creative: How to be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice,” writes about how to maximize the creative process to solve problems or maximize ideas in the work place. I like to use his advice to build out ideas for my writing projects.

One of his tips: Make time for periodic power hours.

He suggests stopping once a week, or whenever it feels right, to spend an hour generating ideas. I use the time to write out details about characters and where my story could go next. Power hours are also good for brainstorming ideas for book titles, considering possibilities for story structure, or drumming up character names. Read more

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