One of the most striking characteristics of the creative individual is their sensitivity to, and fondness for, particular feeling tones or subtle moods. Artists of all kinds strive to capture their favourite mood (or moods) in their work. The desire to accomplish this combined act of self-gratification and sharing is often a major motivating factor…
What Is Your Life’s Theme?
What is the theme of your life? Everybody has at least one; most of us have a number of them, each taking a turn in the spotlight, and then fading for a time. However, it may not have occurred to you to see things in that way. Writers consciously make use of themes in their…
Lifestyles of Writers and Other Creative People
High-level creativity takes time, lots of it. It also needs peace and quiet. To secure the requisite time and tranquility, creators of all kinds have traditionally turned away from mainstream lifestyles and embraced less conventional ways of life. The taste among intelligent middle-class English writers for living quietly – and inexpensively – in the unsophisticated…
Writing Gives Thoughts Value
A few useful thoughts and inspiring insights on creativity and the writing process. Do your thoughts have any value if you keep them to yourself? (Image: public domain.) Writing Begins Things Writing is about making beginnings. It is about bringing something into existence that did not exist before. All true art works in this way.…
Classic Writers and Personal Computers
Among important writers of the past who would have welcomed and used personal computers? Word processor anyone? Would great writers of the past have welcomed personal computers? (Image: public domain.) H. G. Wells was a great believer in science and progress. In fact, he was a science teacher until tuberculosis forced him to give up…
Personal Transformation Through Writing
Alchemy was the medieval forerunner of chemistry. It was particularly concerned with trying to convert base metals (such as lead) into gold or to find a universal elixir – more popularly known as the philosopher’s stone – that would perform the conversion upon contact. In recent times, the word alchemy has evolved to indicate any…
Writers, Solitude, and Creativity
“Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius…” - Edward Gibbon Writers sometimes live simple solitary lives in remote places so they can devote more time to their work. Yet there are times when solitude is just a state of mind. (Image: public domain) The widespread self-publishing phenomenon is new, and while there are…
