About Creativity

We are born to be creative. Creativity is the most life-affirming traits of being human. Arthur Koestler says "True creativity often start6s where language ends.

As adults, however, we tend to lose our creative edge, to be fearful about beginning a work of fiction or any other kind of art.

We are perfectionists. This perfectionism leads to procrastination. We wait for inspiration. We wait until we do all the research. We wait until we're in the mood. We wait while we have another cup or coffee and that only prolongs the process as we postpone getting started or completing what we set aside too quickly.

Postponement leads to paraylis, otherwise known as writer's block. We forget that we are innately creative. In the process of growing into adulthood, we were forced to adapt to our surroundings, our parents and teachers, and we got stymied somewhere along the way.

Erich Fromm says "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties," and for adults this is very hard to do.

We must force ourselves to begin and beginning can be the hardest part. We must stop waiting and put pen to paper. "I was in a queer modd," Virginia Woolf once said, "thinking myself very old; but now I am a woman again-as I always am when I write."

To be a writer, it isn't necesary to make a pile of money or be on the bestseller list. To be a writer is to live life open to all that's around us, aware of our senses as we absorb every detail, to pay attention, to collect experiences and form them into story.

Most of all, making art is an act of faith. We take a leap and risk. We must think of writing as a process, not a product. We need to sit down and just do it.