Saturday, September 4, 2010

What Creativity Is—and Nurturing It

Leonard Campbell Taylor--The Rehearsal--1907 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?