Creativity

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things."

- Steve Jobs

This theory also applies to the theory of knowledge that I like best.  You learn facts, but you don't know about something until you can understand how those particular facts relate to other things that you know about.

What does that have to do with writing?  Good question.

Well, nothing exists in a vacuum.  You have to have experiences to know about them, to write about them.  Some writers call this "filling the well" - a way of recharging so you can write.  So, if you're feeling blocked, drained, but you want to write, try telling yourself that you'll "write later", then go for a walk, watch a movie, cook something new - have an experience.  You can't connect experiences if you're starved for experiences.

Excuse me, please, while I take my own advice :).

What have you done lately?

Forward to Spring

Sorry for the silence recently.  I've been busy with work and have been laid low by a cold for the past two weeks.  Still very stuffy and  have a lingering cough.  Apparently, it's something that's been going around.

Here in the Northeast US, we've had hints of an early spring - pretty much all winter long.  We had snow for Halloween and one other snow "event", it wasn't even a storm.  It's felt like spring, even though it hasn't quite sprung, yet.

My mom has some crocuses and daffodils that have decided to blossom, but the trees are still in the budding stage.  And I've got some story ideas that I can feel the shape of, but they're not quite ready to bloom yet, either.

For some reason, the stories I have to tell need to simmer or ripen.  If I try to tell them too early, they don't work.  Golem, for instance, was simmering for a couple of years, then, when I saw www.arthrobots.com it was ready to go.  Lawgiver is ripe, but the archeologists' story that runs alongside it is slowly ripening.  Hopefully, it'll be ready to go soon.

It's tempting to rush it, to pick the fruit before it's right. But that has never worked, at least not for me.  It's almost spring, but not quite.  All it needs is a little patience.