Creativity Collage

Below you’ll find an assemblage of creativity tips, paintings, quotes, and poems chosen at random and, hopefully, put together as an interesting collage of creative inspirations.

1.Writing Prompts

In her book, “The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing”, Bonnie Neubauer offers 366 fresh exercises so that both writing novices and experienced writers who have let their craft fall by the wayside can establish a daily writing routine.  As Bonnie explains, the goal is to build momentum by writing one page a day.

2.Anton Chekhov

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” (via @SpaceAgeSage)

3.Ray Bradbury’s Creativity

In “The Houdini Solution: Why Thinking Inside the Box is the Key to Creativity”, (yes, I really like that book) Ernie Schenck explains that in 1950 Ray Bradbury–author of “Fahrenheit 451″, among many other successful books–was working on his next book: “The Illustrated Man”.

Like most of Bradbury’s books, it was a collection of short stories.  However, Bradbury’s editor felt that the book would do better as a novel.  How was Bradbury going to turn a collection of completely different short stories–in which the characters were all different and there was no cohesive plot line–into a novel?

Bradbury had written a short story called “The Illustrated Man”.  What Bradbury did was that he wrote a prologue in which a young wanderer meets an out-of-work carnival performer whose body is covered with tattoos.  This is “The Illustrated Man”.

The young wanderer discovers that each tattoo is a vision of some future event as told by each of the short stories. Suddenly, the stories are related.  Now there was a common protagonist throughout all the stories and a common narrative thread.  Very resourceful!

4. ” The Country” – by  Billy Collins (served two terms as United States Poet Laureate)

I wondered about you when you told me never to leave a box of wooden, strike-anywhere matches lying around the house because the mice might get into them and start a fire.

But your face was absolutely straight when you twisted the lid down on the round tin where the matches, you said, are always stowed.

Who could sleep that night?
Who could whisk away the thought
of the one unlikely mouse
padding along a cold water pipe
behind the floral wallpaper
gripping a single wooden match
between the needles of his teeth?

Who could not see him rounding a corner,
the blue tip scratching against a rough-hewn beam,
the sudden flare, and the creature
for one bright, shining moment
suddenly thrust ahead of his time-
now a fire-starter, now a torch-bearer
in a forgotten ritual, little brown druid
illuminating some ancient night.

Who could fail to notice,
lit up in the blazing insulation,
the tiny looks of wonderment on the faces
of his fellow mice, one-time inhabitants
of what once was your house in the country?

-Billy Collins

5. Orson Scott Card

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

6. “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”

Pablo Picasso’s 1907 oil painting portrays five nude female prostitutes in a brothel on Avinyó Street in Barcelona, Spain. The painting was so radical for the time–both for the subject matter and the style–that Henri Matisse predicted that Picasso would be found hung behind the painting. Today it’s one of the world’s most famous modern art paintings.

7. Write Your Autobiography in 400 Words or Less

Write the entire story of your life in 400 words or less. This is how the magazine 400 Words got started: with a project to collect super-short autobiographies from as many people as possible. Now it’s a magazine of short-short fiction in which each issue covers a different theme. You can also try the theme for the next issue of the magazine, which is work: “Tell the whole story of your working life in 400 words or less.”

8. The Barrel Monster

Is the “Barrel Monster” below art or vandalism?  Joseph Carnevale–a history major at North Carolina college–was arrested earlier this year for hacking up traffic barrels to build a 10-foot, orange-and-white Frankenstein hitching a ride. He was among Time Magazine’s “Top Ten Guerrilla Artists”.

9. Dancing in Belgium Train Station

In a train station in Belgium, unsuspecting passers-by got treated to the following performance:

10. Creative Workspaces

The Milan headquarters for Comvert–an Italian skate/snowboard design firm–includes a suspended bowl in which employees can go skateboarding. After all, it’s a company founded by skateboarders.

Conclusion

Of course, to really get your creative juices flowing, you should purchase my ebook, “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”. The lovely Melissa Donovan from “Writing Forward”–named by Writer’s Digest as one of the “101 Best Websites for Writers”–wrote a review of my ebook here.

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photo credit: DerrickT

photo credit: Tigerlily1978

Related Posts:

• Make Your Workspace More Creative
• Creative Insights From the Worldwide Web
• Creating in the Dark – Your Sacred Dance
• Potpourri of Creativity Tips

I Recommend:

My ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” explains that creativity is not the sole domain of the arts but is important in any field. Whatever you do, creativity helps you do it better. Discover practical advice on how to be more creative in every life endeavor by reading my ebook.

The Sedona Method is a simple, powerful, easy-to-learn technique that shows you how to let go of any negative, unwanted or painful feelings you may be experiencing at any particular moment. It consists of a series of questions you ask yourself that lead your awareness to focus on what you’re feeling in the moment and gently guide you toward letting it go. Read my review of the Sedona Method here.