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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

How to think more creatively and come up with better ideas

Writers would write day and night if they can just figure out what to write! No matter how clearly do we see the end of a project, we still get stuck sooner or later in the maze, wondering which step next to take .


There are books, there are exercises, there are even teachers who show you how to limp across the barren desert of 'no idea.'


Justine Lee Musk tackles this from another angle. In how to think more creatively and come up with better ideas, she offers four solutions out of which at least one should help in any given situation.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Inspiration 101.

My books are highly 'personalized:' I date them, time them, underline what I like, highlight passages, write ideas in the margins that spring to mind while I read. Basically, when I am done with a book, you can tell that I have been 'there.' Then I return to them later for inspiration, idea generation, and to refresh my feelings about them.


Sometimes, I stumble upon something that adds a valuable perspective.


This recently happened while I was reading Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro. In her short story 'Nettles,' while describing a golf course, she writes, 'The bushes right at the edge of the grass had dark leaves and an almost formal look, as if they had been a hedge, set out there. But they were in a clump, growing wild. They also looked impenetrable, but close up there were little openings, the narrow paths that animals or people looking for golf balls had made.'


So now, I am getting close to my troubles and looking for an opening.