Are you creative in lots of different ways? Or is your creativity specific to writing?
Some of the most dreaded words I hear are “Let’s ask Elizabeth, since she’s the creative one.”
Ack!
Because, really, I’m creative in only a couple of ways. I don’t come up to creative solutions for problems. I don’t have creative ideas for crafts. If you’re designing a bulletin board for a classroom I have absolutely no suggestions for you. I can’t come up with creative decorating ideas for your living room. I’m not going to be the creative person who invents the better mousetrap.
But if you need an excuse for why you’re late to work or what happened to your homework, I’m your girl. :) Need to write an important complaint letter? I’m the resource you’re looking for. Other than writing, I’d say I have a good eye for photography. But other that that, I think I’m mainly a huge appreciator and fan of other creative forms.
Am I the only one who’s like this? Because I think that most people assume that if a person is creative, they’re creative in a multitude of ways. But for me, it’s very specific.
Creativity has always really fascinated me and I admire it whenever I see it—especially when it’s exhibited in really unusual ways.
This might be why I’ve bookmarked a bunch of articles lately on creativity. :) If you’re like me and are interested in the subject, take a look:
Surprising finds on neurochemistry and creativity—Why sleep nurtures creativity, why there’s no such thing as multi-tasking, etc.
Creativity Reloaded: Why You Should Try New Creative Activities—Fighting creativity exhaustion
Unplug to improve creative flow—
201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity—Tips from experts
The Creativity Crisis (Newsweek’s look at the decline of American creativity)
Tips for fostering creativity: This post quotes the Newsweek article, but also gives tips like the importance of failure, arts cross-pollination, and the non-herd mentality.
Hope there’s something in there for everyone. I enjoyed the ideas about exploring creativity in different ways—maybe I’ll be able to end up revising my assessment of my creative limitations. :)
How does your creativity work? How do you foster it?
Elizabeth – First, thanks for those links. You and I are kindred spirits, I think. I couldn’t draw or paint my way out of a paper bag, but finding cool ways to get people killed? Lemme at it! Finding a creative way to tell a story to a group of kids? Sign me up. As a matter of fact, when my daughter was little, my husband and I used to team up to put together her birthday parties. He’s artistic, and would do the party favors and so on. I planned the event, organized the games and told the s-c-a-r-y stories when she was old enough for those.
I am creative in lots of ways…but I’m too tired most of the time with other obligations to express it. I treasure my writing life.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
Thanks for the great links. Anything to help improve my creativity is much appreciated.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
I’m creative in a few ways but not as many as I’d like. I do those bulletin boards pretty well :), I can doodle and cartoon pretty well, but I’d love to be able to really draw & paint. I learned to play the piano when I was younger, but never freely – I’d love to have the ability to create music :)
Another terrific post! Elizabeth, you’re filling up my bookmarks – and I love it. Thank you. I love and admire creative people – they’re just fun and interesting to spend time with. I love tapping into my creative self, but wish like anything I had some musical talent of some sort.
That’s a very interesting question, Elizabeth, and I think I would give the same answer as you; I’m creative only in a few ways (if any).
I think creativity has (at least) two facets, depending on the rules of the game, which are very different in art and in science.
In art (painting, literature, …) there are no strict rules; you can paint whatever you want, and write whatever you want (I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy to get it published).
In science (technology development), there are hard constraints. Creativity is useful only as long as the laws of physics and chemistry are honored, anything else would be useless. Therefore, in-depth knowledge of these laws are essential to create and explore new ideas.
Mathematics is somewhere in between art and science. You can make your own algebra, starting from a set of axioms, and use your creativity to investigate what can logically be deduced from that. But you have to be faithful to those axioms all the way >:)
Cold As Heaven
Completely off topic, but you promised I could ask you some questions about literary agents when I was ready.
First: when do you begin looking for an agent? (You see, I have a rather sketchy first draft ready by now, and I thought that if the process is going to take a long time, perhaps I´d better begin now).
Second: do you think it is possible to publish cozies in the US without ever going there physically? (With my health and the family´s budget that is totally out of the question – until the millions begin to roll in ;D)
I think I’m a creative type although I’m not a good painter (well, I’ve never tried to paint before) but I hope my children will take after me so I’m going to use the tips from the links you cite here. Thanks for this post.
CD
I’m like you, I only see myself as creative in writing, painting and accounting. Let me preface accounting, not that I’m creative in keeping a set of second books, but that I’m creative in how to create reports, present reports, know my numbers. lol I have fully used you tweeter links this week. They have been spot on in helping me! Thanks!
I’m best at writing, but I also love home renovation and construction projects, woodworking, and stuff like that. Anything that allows creativity and working with my hands, really.
It’s the engineer brain. *shrugs*
Guess I’m unique, as I’m creative in many ways, including music, drawing, and graphics. Writing probably isn’t my strong suit, either!
I’m with you, I don’t think being creative in one thing means you’re creative in others. My aunt can sew beautifully, but I doubt she could write a mystery. My husband can make just about anything grow in the garden, but he couldn’t make a wedding cake.
I have to agree, I am creative but only in a limited number of ways. I don’t draw or paint or do anything ‘artistic’ because I have no talent at it. I am creative (sometimes) with words. That is the end of my creativity. Unless you count creatively messy.
Thanks!
Margot–The parties sound like so much fun! There’s really so much you can do with *writing* that I haven’t felt like I’m left out with other creative pursuits. Although I feel sort of frustrated when someone wants me to run the crafts at Girl Scouts. I just don’t think that way…
Nancy–Tired! Yes, me too. I think some day there are things I’d LIKE to try, though. But I don’t feel passionate enough about it to try it all now.
Cold As Heaven–I think Scientists have amazing thought processes and have creative minds, too. Or, at least, they have creative ways at looking at problems or figuring out how things work. But you’re right–there’s not as much freedom in the work. If you come up with an incorrect combination of chemicals, the experiment won’t work the same way.
I was always *intrigued* by Algebra–but absolutely wretched at it. I liked the idea of figuring out the puzzle (this is the mystery writer part of me), but I didn’t like the way that the answers weren’t flexible. :) In English class, I could write an essay and back it up with proof from the text and come up with all kinds of crazy meanings for poetry or literature…and it wasn’t wrong because I backed it up (however far it strayed from the author’s original intent. :) ) But I *wanted* to like Algebra. It didn’t like *me*!
Mason–I think even the most creative among us can use a boost every now and then. Sometimes life just isn’t inspiring!
Jemi–Wouldn’t that be amazing? I think being a songwriter would be fun, too.
Kaye–I would love to be able to play an instrument! Particularly the piano. I think, most of all, I’d love to be a painter. Unfortunately, I can only draw stick people! :)
Clarissa–I think that nurturing my children’s love of the arts and creativity is one of the ways I’ve excelled as a parent. In many ways, I could improve as a parent, but I think I get a gold star for nurturing art appreciation and reading.
Simon–I wish I could do all of those things. I was lousy at math, which doesn’t help with some crafts which require measuring.
Alex–You’re one of the lucky ones!
Dorte–You’re welcome to ask anything you like! I’m happy to answer anything…and it’s sure to help other people, too.
Finding an agent takes absolutely FOREVER. It really does. I think I started my *second* agent search (in great earnest) in 2006. I got my agent in early 2009 (or very late 2008…time is starting to blur.) I looked for an agent for years and ended up with a publisher before I found an agent (negotiated my own contract.) You’re not *supposed* to look for an agent before you finish your draft, but…I think if you have a synopsis of what you plan on writing (or could produce one), and if you have a great query and the first three chapters of the book, you could probably embark on your agent search. (Now I’m going to get upset emails from agents.) :)
I *absolutely* think you could publish cozies in the US and never have to come here. I’ve never met either of my editors and have met my agent in person only once. Never even talked to my editors on the phone! As long as you have a good internet connection, that’s all you need. You could focus on virtual promo (which, since I’m a stay at home mom is mostly what I do) and you’ll be fine!
Helen–Woudn’t it be nice if we COULD be? I just think of all the fun I’d have!
Judy–At least you can paint! I LOVE visual art, but I’m lousy at it. I’m so glad the Twitter links have helped you out! Hope the tweets haven’t been too overwhelming. I try to schedule only one an hour.
Cassandra–I think I can be creatively messy, too! As a teacher, though, I bet you find you’re making creative approaches to help students understand the lessons.
Dorte–You’re so welcome! :)
My creativity stems from an overactive imagination that doesn’t stop for anyone or anything. Words foster my creativity best. Though I can be a touch crafty my drawings and paintings pale in comparison to my writing.
On the twitter links, once I got the hang of checking my cell phone more than once a day (lol), it’s working out fine! Thanks!
Heather–Words are my favorite, but I have no other options! My art is horrible, although I’m a huge art appreciator. :)
Judy–Ha! yes, there’s nothing like checking your phone after *not* checking for a while and seeing twenty tweets!
I wish my handwriting worked as fast as my creativity!
I’m creative in numerous ways – photography, crafts, displays, scrapbooks, etc. Any one of those spurs on my writing creativity.