Being Creative

Creativity is amazing. The good thing is, you don't have to be a certain place at a certain time to find it. My daughter takes her drawing stuff just about anywhere - here she is at work on the picnic table in the backyard (a picnic table that's been painted just about every color of the rainbow!) Sometimes I can't bear the thought of working in my basement office. My mood doesn't match the no-windows, cinder-block wall environment. Other times, I crave the solitude and enclosure. But on the days that I don't, I like to use my laptop and either camp out in my bedroom, on the couch, or the front porch.

But location isn't the only thing that affects my creativity. Lately at work I've been listening to a classical music radio station. When I do, I can feel my brain shift and suddenly, I have more creative energy. Music definitely plays a part in how I feel. And the weird thing is, sometimes it makes me creative and sometimes it interferes with that creativity and I crave silence. There's something musical about silence, too, don't you think?

Browsing in the bookstore stirs my creativity. When I head to Barnes & Noble and walk through all those stacks of books, I am in awe that there are so many writers out there who got their book on the shelves. And when I see that, yeah, I'm a bit intimidated - but I'm also more determined to become one of those successful authors. And I usually can't wait to get home and start writing.

Taking walks also fuels my creativity. How can you not be creative when you look at nature? It is simply fascinating. If you take a moment just to look around you, you'll notice things you didn't before. Look, really look, at a flower petal, at all the different shapes and vibrant colors bursting in that tiny little canvas.

Check out the ants scurrying on the ground, building their home one piece of dirt at a time.

Watch how a cat gracefully jumps on the window sill (or the couch), his body moving in just the right way at just the right time.

And in our writing, we can explore that creativity to our heart's content. We can play with words to create images and thoughts and emotions. We can create our own world, populated with characters from our own imagination. How much more creative can you get?

Creativity is all around us - we only have to open our eyes to see it. And as my nephew once said, "God is a pretty good artist."

I couldn't agree more.