You Can’t Be Published If You Don’t Play

“You can’t win if you don’t play,” lottery jingles tell us. The same is true with our creative pursuits. For example, with creative writing, we won’t be published if we don’t submit.

In a recent post, my friend Kate Arms Roberts posited the notion of “learning to fail better,” which she found in Alice LaPlante’s The Making of a Story. Kate writes about “failing” to produce something publishable, and how she can learn from that experience to produce something that is publishable.

If we wish to see our creative efforts published, we automatically fail when we don’t submit our work. But often we resist. We tell ourselves it isn’t ready yet. We anticipate rejection. It can be easier to savor the fantasy of success before submitting, rather than risk the reality of failure after submitting.

My personal essay "The Upset Win" starts on p. 65 of the print version, p. 77 of this e-reader. Click on the cover above to open the e-reader.

That was the case with me and a personal essay I wrote titled “The Upset Win,” about my role in emergency surgery on a pregnant cocker spaniel. I wrote the essay in January of 2011. In February of that year my friend and Writer’s Center instructor, the multi-published memoirist Sara Taber, edited it as a favor. She insisted it was publishable. Then I sat on it. For months. It wasn’t ready, I told myself.

When I finally did submit it to a handful of literary journals, the Barely South Review snatched it up, and it was published yesterday in their April issue. (The print journal is displayed in an e-reader format; my essay is on page 65 of the actual print copy, page 77 of the e-reader.)

If I were truly learning to fail better, I would have learned from this experience. But I’m not sure I have.

For the last six months I have been tweaking a book proposal that is due to my agent. It’s for my travel memoir documenting my cross-country U.S. road trip in which I interviewed artists and creatives of all stripes. Each month I write more of the book; it’s part of my graduate work in my MFA program. But the beauty of non-fiction is that one can sell the book before it’s finished. Yet I refuse, month after month, to find out if I can sell this one.

I’ve set an internal goal of completing this proposal by the end of the month. But in some respects, it likely is already done. I tweak and I tweak, but as of April 30th I will tweak no more. Seeing “The Upset Win” in print has reminded me of the importance of submitting.

Do you find yourself stalling as you approach the end of a creative project? What do you think are some of the factors that cause such paralysis?

5 Things to Remember While You Blog

So you’ve answered the “5 Questions to Ask Before You Blog” that I posed to you in the last post, and your blog is underway. Congratulations! Remember that your blog is a project of creative writing as much as your novel-in-progress or budding memoir. But there are important differences, and they are worth keeping in mind if you’d like the quality of your posts to grow, and readers to grow as a result of that quality.

(A reminder that this is the second of a two-part series in which I’m sharing a bit of the curriculum from my six-week Writer’s Center course, “Writing Compelling Blog Posts,” which begins the night of Tuesday, April 17th.)

Remember these five things while you blog:

1. Your readers face temptation. At any moment they can hop to another blog, check their Twitter feed, or pull up a video of a cat yawning to a dance beat. Open strong. Write short.
2. Allow your blog to evolve. Which posts are read the most? Keep drawing readers back months later? What are commenters saying? Listen and react. The Artist’s Road has evolved over the past 18 months in ways I wouldn’t have expected as I’ve responded to reader feedback.
3. 

   Blog gurus instruct us to put great care into the selection of imagery. I'll break that rule by sharing a photo from my cross-country U.S. road trip of an Ann Arbor, Michigan, robot repair store.

   Break the rules occasionally. When you absolutely have to, write long. Or go off subject. Unpredictability is great in moderation. Or, as your left brain might say, “Spontaneity has its time and place.”

4. Post original material. A blog is not the place to publish your work-in-progress. You’re embarking on a conversation, not a literary reading. Engage with us directly, and we’ll engage back.
5. Have fun! You get to write. You get to see your name in “print.” You get to read people saying they liked what you wrote. What’s so bad about that?

If you’re here, you’re a reader of blogs. You may have one yourself. What have I left out?

5 Questions to Ask Before You Blog

Today I’m giving you a sneak peek at some of the curriculum of “Writing Compelling Blog Posts,” a six-week workshop I’m leading at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, starting next Tuesday, April 17th. Unlike most classes on blogging, we won’t be discussing SEO optimization or social-media promotion. The course is, instead, a true writing workshop, in which we read and critique–all in real time–potential blog posts authored by each other.

The class is intended for experienced bloggers as well as those who have never authored a single post. Regardless of your comfort level with blogging, however, I maintain there are five questions you should always keep in mind when you blog. They are essential to ask before you begin a blog:

1. Why am I blogging? It’s important to be honest with yourself here. Is it because you’ve been told you need a “platform” as a creative? Then that’s your answer. You won’t be able to maintain the pace if you don’t know why you’re doing it.
2. 

   Lots of things inspire me. Bacon, of course. But also monkeys and antique maps. Be glad monkeys make lousy cartographers, or I'd abandon The Artist's Road and blog about nothing but mapmaking simians.

   What inspires me? Whatever it is that interests you, that is what you should blog about. You can tie your subject matter to universal themes that any reader can relate to, but trust that you’ll draw me in with the power of your passion for the subject. Conversely, if you don’t care about your topic, I won’t.

3. How will my blog be different? You know that “elevator pitch” you’ve been told you need when you pitch your novel to an agent? If you have one for your blog–one that goes beyond “It’s by a writer and is about writing”–you’ll find it much easier to stay on course and harvest return readers.
4. What value do I bring to my readers? It could be formal instruction. It could be shared moments of your personal life. It could be anything in between. Just remember that readers are giving you a precious gift; their time. Be sure to give back.
5. What commitment can I truly make? I maintain that the strength of any blog is in the writing; thus, we workshop the writing in my Writer’s Center class, not SEO optimization. It takes time to write well, and you need to be honest with yourself about how much time you have to spare, and if you can maintain that pace long-term. On the plus side, you’re writing, and that counts as practicing your craft, even if you’re a fiction writer or poet.

What questions have I left out? Are some of the above more critical than others? Let’s discuss that below. I’ll be back on Friday with a follow-up post, “5 Things to Remember While You Blog.”

Creativity Tweets of the Week 4/6/12

Care to join me in an interactive, creative storytelling workshop? Make your way to D.C. on Wednesday, April 11th for “Telling Your Story Creatively: Principles and Whole-Brain Practices for Writing Compelling Blog Posts.” It’s the April event for the Capitol Creativity Network, and it should be a lot of fun!

Will you join me in my six-week Writer's Center workshop, "Writing Compelling Blog Posts"? Mr. Bacon no longer appears on this blog, but you might be able to meet him there in person...

Now on to some of the links on creativity and writing I tweeted this week.

CREATIVITY

• “Don’t Just Create ‘On Demand,’ Create for You,” Todd Henry, 99%: Do you create daily in your day job? Henry says: “When we spend all of our time and energy creating on-demand, it’s easy to lose touch with the passions that fuel our best work.”
• “Why Everybody Needs to Make Art Everyday… 7 Keys to Creativity,” Ann Voskamp, a holy experience: “Quit trying to fit. Why try to squeeze all your extraordinary into ordinary?” (Warning: A piano interlude begins playing when you open this post.)
• “The Arts as a Management Tool,” Giovanni Schiuma, ARTSblog: Creativity should be as automatic as thinking, but we must work to maintain a culture friendly to the arts to sustain creativity, Schiuma says.

WRITING

• “Why Poetry Should be More Playful,” Noah Berlatsky, The Atlantic: Lighter verse is now frowned upon and poetry readers suffer, Berlatsky says, as “the serious, high-art poetry tradition has retreated into the halls of academia, closed the doors, and then triple-locked them.”
• “The Essay as an Open Field,” Robert Vivian, Numero Cinq: Vivian details how he came to write essays and why the form matters to him. (Bias alert: Vivian is a Vermont College of Fine Arts instructor, and Numero Cinq is published by VCFA instructor Douglas Glover.)
• “Sarah Manguso: ‘I revise the sentences in my diary from day to day,’” Dianna Dilworth, GalleyCat: Manguso’s short memoirs manifest from restructured diary entries.
• “Official Deets about the Emotion Thesaurus,” Angela Ackerman, The Bookshelf Muse: Ackerman and her colleague Becca Publisi have published  a book expanding on the emotion thesaurus on their site. My emotion for their accomplishment? Enthusiasm. My emotion for their use of the word “deets” in the blog headline? Annoyance.
• “12 Steps to Blog Tour Success,” Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer: #1: Research blogs. As for me, I get highly annoyed at emails asking to guest blog on The Artist’s Road that are clearly form letters and reflect no understanding of what the blog is about. Take your time with #1, authors!

It’s not too late to sign up for my 6-week course at The Writer’s Center, “Writing Compelling Blog Posts,” starting April 17th. Engage with a group of talented and focused writers as you find your blogging voice and grow your craft. I might even let you have your picture taken with Mr. Bacon.

What’s Your Take on Pinterest?

Pinterest is the next big thing, right? Look out, Facebook. Get over yourself, Twitter. You’re so 2011, Tumblr. That’s the noise echoing through social media. It’s so loud it reached the editor of one of my freelance clients, who asked me to write an article about how Pinterest is causing both excitement and concern among artists.

Like these koalas chilling on a pretend beach, the Ross family knows that when you're on a staycation, you can be anywhere you want to be. As you read this, I'm floating on a gardenia-scented lagoon, being hand-fed strips of bacon by giggling mermaids.

The Artist’s Road is driven by conversation, so I’d like to engage you directly today on the topic of Pinterest. Do you use it? Have you considered using it? Have you never heard of it? (If you said “yes” to the last question, have no fear. I’m less hip than you. I discover all of my bands through Saturday Night Live, which is produced by a spry 67-year-old hep cat, Lorne Michaels.)

Here are some questions to start the conversation. Let’s all learn from each other in the comments section:

• What attracted you to Pinterest?
• How long have you been using it?
• What is it you like best about it?
• Are you finding it supplanting your other social media use, or are you simply engaged in social media even more now?
• If you had to give up one social media service, would you sacrifice another one rather than Pinterest?
• Do you use Pinterest more for promotion, information-gathering, or connecting with others?
• Have you given any thought to the copyright concerns surrounding pinning others’ visual art?
• Do you make an effort to ensure your pins track to the original source of the image?
• How could your Pinterest experience be more rewarding?
• Would you recommend Pinterest to others?
• How does Pinterest work for writers?

I’ll confess that I’m handing the work off to you, my readers, this week because it’s spring break this week in the Ross household. The kids are off from school, the wife has taken a few days off work, and we’re staycationing. I’m also struggling to wrap my head around the fact that my daughter just turned seventeen, which means that, like Lorne Michaels, I am now old.

Let the Pinterest discussion begin!

Creativity Tweets of the Week – 3/30/12

If you share my fascination with creativity and writing, I invite you to join me the evening of April 11th for a get-off-of-your-feet workshop experience titled Telling Your Story Creatively: Principles and Whole-Brain Practices for Writing Compelling Blog Posts. I’m honored to be the April workshop leader in Michelle James’ unparalleled Capitol Creativity Network series, which meets monthly in the charming Cleveland Park Club House in Northwest Washington, D.C. It will be a night of improv and interaction, so I fear it’s only an in-person event; but is there a better reason to take a trip to Washington? (Don’t answer that question.)

Now on to some of the links on creativity and writing I tweeted this week:

CREATIVITY

• 

  Have I posted this photo I took in Yellowstone National Park in 2010 to symbolize the flow of creativity through a fertile mind? No. I'm bowing to the SEO Nazis who say you have to include beautiful images to please the Pinterest devotees. Sigh.

  “The Neuroscience of Creativity: Why Daydreaming Matters,” Matthew E. May, OpenForum: You may recall my post from last week on lessons I drew from the new book Imagine by Jonah Lehrer, namely the concept of shifting your focus. Matthew focuses on Lehrer’s related discussion of daydreaming.

• “5 Exercises to Get Your Creativity Unstuck,” Sarah Whitman, HOW: I often practice the first lesson, writing a haiku in thirty seconds. I write them for fun; the habit annoys my kids; my wife ignores them.
• “The War of Art: The Reason You’re Avoiding Your Most Important Work,” Susan Biali, Psychology Today: You’re here at The Artist’s Road instead of doing that work, aren’t you? Susan shares lessons from Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art on possible resistance.
• “The Collective and the Future of Creativity,” Mark Changizi, The Creativity Post: Mark writes about one of my favorite thinkers, Jaron Lanier, and Lanier’s thesis, that “the Web is a creative bust.”
• “You Must Engage Your Creative Side,” James Prescott, guest on Jeff Goins, Writer: If you don’t, James will come after you armed with a sharp pencil.

WRITING

• 

  I wonder if anyone will want to "pin" a photo of a buffalo urinating?

  “25 Lies Writers Tell (And Start to Believe),” Chuck Wendig, terrible minds: Number 5: “I can only write when the muse allows!” How fortunate for us that most people don’t also apply this rule to bathing.

• “10+ Sure-Fire Ways to Find Blog Post Ideas,” Cheryl Reif Writes: You could actually end this list with #1: Read.
• “The Difference Between Style and Voice,” Mayra Calvani, Writers on the Move: My voice on this blog is that of an irreverent cheerleader. My blog style–when not assembling Creativity Tweets of the Week–is to formulate a personal-essay reflection on a topic of broad interest, while avoiding (as much as possible) blogging tropes such as “4 Steps To…” and “5 Reasons Why…” No offense to the many authors I cite here on Fridays who do practice that SEO-friendly style: I’m just lousy at counting.

If you found one of these links of value–either having followed it via my Twitter feed or here–let me know. If you thought one of them was a dud, then definitely let me know. That will make for a far more interesting conversation.

Is Creative Genius Inherent or Learned?

Is creative genius a gift that only some people are lucky enough to have, or can we all remake ourselves into creative geniuses?

For the word genius to have any meaning, it must denote something special. And as Dash told his mother in The Incredibles, if everyone is special, that’s “another way of saying no one is.” I would suspect, however, that just as most Christians came to reject the Calvinist notion that our actions on Earth have no bearing on our predetermined post-life fate, most of us most likely reject predeterminism in creativity as well. Furthermore, it seems reasonable that natural selection would have favored the creative, and thus given each of us a taste of it within ourselves.

Is it possible to reach the highest peak of creative genius? (Oregon's Mt. Thielsen, taken in 2004)

Some people clearly are gifted. Take sixteen-year-old Olympic swimming hopeful Missy Franklin. She says her success is due to her unique physiology, which maximizes movement in the water, and doctors agree. Her parents told The Washington Post that they knew she was special when, as a two-year-old, she took off into the ocean after a fish with her feet moving like a fish’s fins. But Missy’s coach, Todd Schmitz, said “[i]t’s not all physical. I think that there is definitely a mental aspect of what makes Missy special.” She has a gift, but has learned how to maximize it.

Consider this observation by A.J.A. Symons in his 1934 biography of novelist Frederick Rolfe:

There is no easy explanation of genius or talent: they exist and we accept them as facets of creative force. Some measure of artistic power or sensibility is inherent in all humanity; “genius” is as good a word as any other to denote those exceptional beings in whom, unaccountably, it rises to full force.

Rolfe was, by all accounts, a literary genius plagued with all manner of psychoses. Even if you didn’t chronicle the many moments of paranoia, megalomania, delusion, and schizophrenia in Rolfe’s life as Symons did, you could see it in Rolfe’s novel Hadrian the Seventh, in which he simultaneously creates entirely new English words while telling a story that essentially involves the world being put right when the protagonist, based on Rolfe, is named Pope.

Symons applies the word “genius” to Rolfe, suggesting he rises above that “measure of artistic power” inherent in all of us. But Symons also tracks the lifelong dedication Rolfe applies to improving himself first as a painter and then as a writer, at the expense of income, his health and his personal relationships. Are Rolfe’s sacrifices for his art responsible for his genius? Must we all pursue such an extreme path to reach creative heights? As someone who values a steady income, a good meal, and my wife and children, I would hope not.

I would posit that while pursuing creative genius in ourselves, we take the time to enjoy the beauty of the journey. (Lava Lake near Mt. Bachelor, Oregon)

Part of my personal mission in promoting creativity and an art-committed life is the belief that we all harbor inherent creativity, as Symons suggests, and that we can all harness that creativity in ways we never imagined.

I do believe, however, that not all of our growth curves have an equal slope. By that I mean that some with more inherent talent will see quicker yields on their investment of time and energy. Not every two-year-old shoots forth with the grace of a dolphin when spotting a beautiful fish. Missy’s upward curve starts off steeper.

Our creative growth curves may flatline at different places along the axis of time as well. When I was in the 6th grade I was “discovered” by the director of a chorus of singing talents from across metropolitan Phoenix. Soon I was the youngest member of a traveling audition choir, and for the next ten years I applied myself to singing, winning awards and singing in top choirs. I had, at 11, a steep start to my creative curve in music. I also, after a decade had passed, found myself no longer seeing growth in return for further investment at the craft. My curve’s slope had flattened.

I have been writing professionally now for more than 20 years, and remain startled at my continuing growth. I am far from what anyone would label “genius,” but as my growth curve still has a positive slope, I see no reason not to continue aspiring for great heights. It is that belief in my potential for further growth that keeps me on the path of an art-committed life.

Where do you fall in this debate on creative genius? If we all accept that some element of nature and nurture is at play, I’d love to know where you are on that spectrum. Are some of us better disposed to some fields more than others? Do all of us possess some element of genius within us, waiting to be discovered and developed?

Lit Journal Nugget: fugue

Today we’ll take a look at the literary journal fugue, which like e.e. cummings eschews capitalization. I discovered this journal last year via NewPages, and picked up a copy last month at AWP. It is edited by university graduate students, and given its quality, it appears no worse the wear for lack of a permanent non-student editor.

fugue

• 

  This caped crusader's cowl does not prevent him from reading literary journals. What does hamper him is that he cannot read, because he is a plush monkey toy.

  Publisher: U. of Idaho English and Creative Writing Programs

• Publishes: Primarily Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
• Editor-in-Chief: Mary Morgan
• Publisher’s description: “Fugue is a journal of new literature edited by graduate students within the University of Idaho’s English and Creative Writing Programs. Since 1990, Fugue has been promoting diverse literary voices of new and established writers… Fugue also awards cash prizes and publication for prose and poetry in our annual spring contest.”
• Print schedule: Print issue biannually, winter/spring and summer/fall.
• Submissions: No formal guidelines on their site; they use on online submission engine.
• Submission schedule: Poetry, nonfiction and “Experiment” submissions accepted September 1-May 1; fiction September 1-March 1.
• Issue Reviewed: Summer-Fall, Vol. 41
• Content: Seven poems (a contest winner, two finalists, and four others); four fiction works (a contest winner, a runner-up, and two others); six nonfiction works (a prize winner, a runner-up, and four others); an interview; and an “Experiment” essay consisting of Facebook updates.

To give you a taste of the journal, I’ll focus on the striking nonfiction prize winner, “What We Learn About Love, We Learn from Quarries,” by Sean Prentiss. Contest judge Judith Kitchen wrote that the essay “is innovative in its use of narrator–the present-tense presence behind the past-tense story, the person who can assess the fallout from one evening long ago.” The essay is the memory of a thirty-six year old writer of a time when he was twenty and he had a sexual encounter with a nineteen-year-old girl at a Pennsylvania quarry.

What I found compelling was that the essay was written as if it were an outline in 28 parts (designated with roman numerals), with the narrator inserting himself as follows (from Section V): “There is the girlfriend at her apartment, the girl beside the boy, the quarry’s cold water. If the boy were to ask this narrator for advice, this narrator has no idea what advice he would give. Not one idea. What to tell him? What best to do? But that’s not true. This narrator is just afraid to give advice since he knows and understands the lessons of the past and the lessons from the stretching future; this narrator knows what tonight can become.”

A reminder that I am soliciting volunteers to write their own reviews for this “Nugget” series. Inform readers of The Artist’s Road of a journal or magazine that publishes creative writing. Just email me your suggestions and we’ll talk.

Creativity Tweets of the Week – 3/23/12

If it’s Friday, it’s time for my latest collection of links on creativity and writing I tweeted this week. There’s a lot to be said for reliability. Tourists will be coming here to D.C. through April 27th to take in our beautiful cherry trees in the 100th anniversary of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, but with this early spring, the trees are almost done blooming. I would suggest those tourists instead visit Traverse City, Michigan, and take in tiara-wearing beauty queens competing in a cherry-pit spitting contest.

THIS WEEK’S LINKS

• “How Creativity Works,” Maria Popova, Brain Pickings: In my last post, I highlighted how Jonah Lehrer in his new book Imagine: How Creativity Works discussed the notion of needing to stop focusing in order to have a creative insight. Maria highlights another point of the book, that creativity is the cobbling together of what already exists into new forms.
• 

  This cherry blossom tree was in the back yard of my previous house in northern Virginia. I learned the hard way that cherry blossom petals do not want to remove themselves from a wooden deck once drenched in rain.

  “Jonah Lehrer on How Creativity Works: 5 Insights from Julia Child, Dylan & Picasso,” Michelle Aldredge, Gwarlingo: Another takeaway of the Lehrer book? “Art isn’t all fun and games.” Work never is.

• “Planner or Pantster?” Thomas Drinkard, Creative Flux: I once launched a mini-rant against the notion that creatives work either from outlines or the seat of their pants. That said, I would have to say I’m a planner, not a pantster. I’ve never much cared for pants.
• “Ten Questions to Ask When Planning a Book,” Cheryl Reif, Cheryl Reif Writes: Wouldn’t you know it, Cheryl tells us up front her post works for “planners” and “pants-ters.”
• “12 Most Excusable Reasons Why I Don’t Want to Write Today,” Susan Silver, 12 Most: Susan had me with this opening line: “Writing is a craft and some days I just don’t want to work at it.” Yup.
• “Trust Your Instincts,” Anna Elliott, Writer Unboxed: While praising the many resources out there to help people write, Anna admits that when writing, “I very rarely use it in any conscious way.” Well said.
• “A Storytelling Lesson from South Park,” Rob Biesenbach, Act Like You Mean Business: Does your story follow an “and then” pattern? Boring…
• “What Can the X-Files Teach You About Writing?” John Magnet Bell, Start Your Novel: I can tell you what the show taught me about how to produce a suspenseful TV show on a small budget: Always have your lead characters exploring the dark with only flashlights, even if there’s a light switch nearby.

If you know of any other festivals involving beauty queens and spitting contests, let me know. I still haven’t selected where I’ll be headed for summer vacation.

Want to be More Creative? Stop Focusing

Are you a night owl? Try reflecting on that thorny issue with your novel’s plot before your morning coffee. A recent study suggests being groggy will increase your chances of finding a solution by 50%.

In his book released yesterday–Imagine: How Creativity Works–Jonah Lehrer explains that focusing intensely on a problem often makes it more difficult for us to solve it. He outlined some of this counter-intuitive thinking, including the study mentioned above, in a recent Wall Street Journal article.  After describing how your creative processing can improve after distracting yourself with a humorous video or–brace yourself for this–an alcoholic beverage, Lehrer writes this:

What explains the creative benefits of relaxation and booze? The answer involves the surprising advantage of not paying attention. Although we live in an age that worships focus—we are always forcing ourselves to concentrate, chugging caffeine—this approach can inhibit the imagination. We might be focused, but we’re probably focused on the wrong answer.

And this is why relaxation helps: It isn’t until we’re soothed in the shower or distracted by the stand-up comic that we’re able to turn the spotlight of attention inward, eavesdropping on all those random associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain’s right hemisphere. When we need an insight, those associations are often the source of the answer.

Of course, as anyone who has studied creativity knows, it’s never this simple. Relaxation and distraction doesn’t help if you haven’t already made progress toward the answer you’re seeking, and that searching requires focus. But I know firsthand what he’s saying works.

An illustration of the "full locust" yoga move, drawn by my daughter. Some may recognize it as my former Twitter backdrop.

I’ve written here about how I allow my subconscious, while I sleep, to work out knotty creative problems. It only works, however, when I’ve already gathered up a nice, messy ball of string. My subconscious then works out the knots.

Lehrer cites several examples of “Eureka” moments that came when the individual struggling with a creative knot was focused on another task. As I wrote in an “MFA Nugget” from my last residency, this is not an uncommon occurrence for creative writers. Vermont College of Fine Arts Instructor Patrick Madden explained that Gabriel Garcia Marquez conceived of the method he would use in writing One Hundred Years of Solitude while trapped behind the wheel on a family vacation. It should be noted that Marquez had been wrestling for some time with that very issue.

So how do we know when to keep focusing on a problem, and when to turn away from it? Lehrer again:

The good news is that the human mind has a surprising natural ability to assess the kind of creativity we need. Researchers call these intuitions “feelings of knowing,” and they occur when we suspect that we can find the answer, if only we keep on thinking. Numerous studies have demonstrated that, when it comes to problems that don’t require insights, the mind is remarkably adept at assessing the likelihood that a problem can be solved—knowing whether we’re getting “warmer” or not, without knowing the solution.

There’s a great deal of focus in creativity research on the importance of less focus, or perhaps redirected focus. I’m thinking now of the “Yoga as Muse” technique taught by author and creativity consultant Jeffrey Davis.

It seems that, even when a writer on creativity posits something that seems counter-intuitive, a brief examination causes numerous supportive examples to spring up. What are some experiences you’ve had with creative insights and the magic of relaxation and/or distraction?