My friend, Rufus “the dog,” invited me to participate in the #letsblogoff project. Today’s topic is “What is creativity?” No small order to tackle this topic!
Oddly enough, a related question has been running through my head in regards to blogging. I’ve been reading Richard Branson’s “Business Stripped Bare.” He talks about how in the first days of Virgin Records, he bought a manor in the country, turned it into a studio, and it became a creative haven for Virgin musicians. They could really indulge in the creative process, let loose when they were done working, and then go right back into work when the mood was right.
It got me thinking about how I think a lot of us blog. At its heart, blogging should be considered an art – something born of creativity. But do we approach blogging that way? I started thinking about my mode of blogging. I don’t light candles, turn on relaxing music, get a nice cup of tea, and luxuriate in the experience of blogging. I sit down and say, “OK, how many of these ideas can I get written down?”
Is it the same for you? We become producers, not artists, right?
So what is creativity? To me, creativity is not just the act of creating, but it is luxuriating in the ability to do so. It is putting fingers to keyboard, pen to paper, paint to canvas, voice to guitar because you just have to. It is expression without thought of ramifications.
And it’s exceedingly rare.
What do you think? How do you define creativity?
Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/arte_ram
Margie!
Spot on as usual. True creativity, as I perceive it / feel it; flows from the proverbial Muses. Creativity is not “crafted” or scheduled or “bought”. Creativity flows from an inner essence that is best touched from places of letting go. hence why so many people have great ideas in the shower. (perhaps the only time they disconnect in the day, until the waterproof iPad comes out…)
To feed you inner artist get still, silent, then play. The Muses love to see you playing and visit more often when you do. Perhaps it helps to think of creativity as linked to enthusiasm? The root word in Greek for enthusiasm means to be “filled with” / “good, god. quality” (look it up!) or ‘possessed by god”. I’ll submit to you that when you are being creative and feel enthusiastic you are closest to the divine.
Go there. By whatever means takes you there.
(the previous is not an advocation of mushrooms, hard drugs, or cultic rituals — thinking more like Yoga, walking, stopping to look at a sunset, playing with a 2 year old, long hot baths, and savoring a cup of coffee/tea instead of mainlining it.)
I love how you describe that. It definitely is not how a lot of people approach professional writing, unfortunately. I know that sometimes ideas pop into my head at the most random of times, and I always love it when that happens. But I don’t really stop very often to enjoy that moment. I’ve become a blog producer more than a writer, and I’m kind of…I don’t know. I have mixed feelings about that, though I still enjoy this process a great deal.
Chuckle, yes Josepf again you are on target in your most creatively humorous way.
Funny thing Margie this past year my creative muse has been at battle with my business side. Here is what I learned for me.
When I set the tone, the stage, the energy with what allows my fun side to come out…depending on how she feels that day-one day it is incense and chi exercises-another day it is curled up in bed with classical music and hot tea with peppermint essential oil (great for brain function)…those days the ideas flow.
Now, that sounds all great and dandy until that idea factory does not take form so that it is useful for me or my business.
I learned to apply a schedule and calendar to my business year-what I will accomplish-working backwards what I need to produce both blogging, radio and dollar wise. Having put that Saturian structure on my dreams allows the creative to give me the things I need to fill so when I am playing and in that muse like state it can align with my desires and give me that creative juice for what serves me.
You do have to be open for a few curve balls, the creative answers sometimes look very different than you think and how you connect with them so they fill in those holes for you is part of the journey.
p.s. like michael port says any my typos are my gift to you!
I agree, trying to guide or lead your muse is a great practice. I thought that I would be able to use the “editorial calendar” feature here in WordPress to similarly guide my thoughts. I had a rough idea and a pretty good understanding of where I wanted to take people, but the step-by-step was not worked out in my head. I’ve barely referred back to those initial ideas I set up for myself, but I know that they’re there, so if my proverbial well runs dry, I have a crutch to lean on.
Kind of takes the stress out of it, I suppose.
Thanks for your insight, as usual 🙂
Well, I came to this blogging from a different place. What I really wanted to do was write novels for a living, and I chased that will-o’-the-wisp for a quarter of a century. I did write two novels I was never able to publish and quite a few short stories, only two of which saw print in literary magazines. For all of that time, though I had a full-time job, which meant that I got up in the middle of the night (3:45 a.m.!) to chase my dreams.
The thing I learned about writing is that you cannot wait for inspiration. You have to set a certain time for writing and be at your desk on time every time. The other thing I learned was how to move the pencil. There were days when I simply could not write the passage I had in mind, but when that happened, I simply started moving the pencil, writing sentence fragments and half-developed thoughts. In a short period of time the creative juices would be rejuvenated, and I would be able to write the passage I had in mind.
I have approached blogging the same way. I do get ideas from other things throughout the day, but I write my blogs at a certain time and view the writing of them as a piece of work that needs to be done. Which is not to say that there is no creativity involved, but is to say that I do not believe in sitting around waiting for it. If creativity doesn’t show up when I’m ready for it, I just prime the pump!
That’s really interesting. I can’t seem to train my brain to work when I want it to. For awhile, I thought I could sit down on Friday night, write my blog posts for the week, and move on. Wouldn’t you know that as soon as I sat down, all capacity to write would leave my head? I’d write things like, “Der…business..ummmm”
Inevitably, as soon as I’d get ready to lay my head upon my pillow, ideas would start popping like popcorn.
Since that time, I’ve just let my brain be boss, but I refuse to get up at 3:45 to write my ideas down. If I lose a great idea because I like sleeping, I’ll just have to learn how to live with that 🙂
Thanks for your great comment!
I take lots of walks with my dogs. I write paragraphs in my head and sift through words like that commercial showing Keith Olbermann typing, constantly arranging and rearranging sentences for that perfect way to express that idea; for the perfect words that carry the cadence, rhythm and tone of the idea. In my mind’s eye, I see a typewriter carriage bang out the words in front of me. (I grew up writing on a Smith Corona…)
And when I have everything assembled in my head, a blog post then comes pouring out. Sometimes it pours out like water and other times like sludge. But it always seems so perfect in my head. And many times, the publish button never gets pushed.
When I was reading this post, I thought of something Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid) said (I think he said it) When you move to New York, you will spend a lifetimes trying to capture that same feeling you get your first month there. Blogging is kinda like that; you spend a lifetime trying to capture the rush of those first few dozen posts. Maybe that is why so may give up?
I definitely know both feelings. Sometimes a post literally seems to write itself. I’ve only had that happen once or twice really, but I sit down, my fingers do lots of tap tapping, and when I am done, I think, “Huh. Who wrote that.” It sounds weird, but it’s true.
Other times I slave over a post because, like you say, I have a kernel of an idea that I really want to get out there, but my ability to verbalize exactly what I’m thinking falls short. It’s always a bummer when that happens, but…here’s the great thing about this community here – often times people will bring other perspectives and thoughts that help me get back around to where I wanted to be. I love it when that happens, and that is why comments like these are so great to receive! 🙂
may=many 🙂 A comment is not real unless there is a typo…
Margie…you’re absolutely right…I don’t consider myself a very creative person until I sit down to write a paper or speech (hundreds of which have flown through my fingertips in the last year). But I find more and more that I don’t have a routine to my most creative work…sometimes I’d wake up at 3am with an idea I dreamt up and just started writing… We are all “creative” we just aren’t always able to put our creative ideas to words sometimes. Way to get us thinking Margie!
Thanks, Kyle.
I do wonder if we should all pause to think about how much creativity goes into everything we do. I think it’s a substantially overlooked, under-appreciated facet of the blogging experience. Not only is everyone creating, but we’re perpetually putting our work on display. Will it be criticized? Will people scoff? You never know. And yet – we for the most part don’t even stop at just letting our work sit out here in the public domain. We invite people in!
Pretty amazing when you stop to think about it.
Great topic as you said Margie. Left to my own devices i would probably do one post a quarter. Daniel Pink’s writings on creativity have been helpful. He talks about the competitive advantage of being creative in an outsourced world. But back to the topic of how. I find a calendar is necessary for me.
I don’t light candles or place soft music, typically the ideas come while I am mowing the lawn or engaged in a mundane task. Most of my ideas come from things i have read or observed. For me writing is something i have to do not really something I like to do. I prefer interacting in a chat or reading. Or commenting on what others write.
I do like to learn though, so I am learning to enjoy the process of figuring out ways to be more creative. 😉
Best
Joe
Aw, that’s such a shame because I always love what you write. Hmm. I of course can’t shut myself up 🙂
I do find that a lot of times great ideas come at awful times. Doing yardwork. Driving. Not really good times to pop out a blog post. Kind of dangerous too 🙂
You’re always welcome to comment here – I love what you add to the conversation!
Thanks for biting off a very big topic, Margie (I studied classical aesthetics and the great philosophers in college while exploring the same question, so I know how big this topic really is!).
I think the way to set yourself apart from all the social media noise these days is to produce really great content, whether it be a blog, tweet, service, product or something else. That’s what people respond to and is what will draw them into your business or social media space.
Hence, I think it’s becoming increasingly important to be creative. Not everyone can do it well, but it would be time well spent to reflect and find that special thing within each of us that makes people take notice.
I have to say though, I always consider the ramifications before, during and after I create. As a creative professional, my expertise is not art for art’s sake, but rather the place where art and commerce meet. Therefore, everything I do is meant to serve a business purpose in some way.
Likewise, I think people blog for different reasons — some for personal expression; others to further their brand as part of a broader business strategy. Both are creative, they just have a different purpose.
Hi Paul!
Yeah, I saw the topic and thought, “Oh man…how can I write a book in 12 hours?” 🙂
You raise a great point that could probably create a whole slew of posts. What do you do when you’re paid to be creative? You certainly don’t get the luxury of time and tea and sitting in your bathtub thinking happy thoughts. It’s crank crank crank. And yet your ideas have to be fresh and new and different. It’s a very difficult task, and what squishes creativity more than most things? Pressure 🙂
We humans are crazy. That’s all there is to it.
Well, I could certainly go on for a while about that topic too. Maybe I’ll blog on that one next!
Here’s a teaser: creative professionals are trained to appreciate limitations as a creative benefit (project requirements, client directives, audience, budget, deadline, politics, etc). And frankly, after years of doing this, many of us have trouble getting started if we don’t have a defined set of parameters. Afterall, they define the puzzle that needs to be solved! (kind of counter-intuitive to what most people think creativity requires, I know)
You’re right, crazy! But true.