Meryl's Notes Blog
Things wordy, geeky, and webbyCreativity
Monday, November 7th, 2005 at 8:47 AM |Whenever I read one of my daughter’s stories, I’m struck by her creativity. But then I remember that I used to write poems and stories like hers. What happened to that creativity? I stopped practicing. During the middle school and high school years, we’re assigned to write papers in a certain way. Nothing like the creative stories we did in elementary school.
During the teen years, few students care about writing or worry about creativity. They do what they need to do to make it through school and then use their free time for socializing or extracurricular activities. Then we go to college where we’re taught what we know as stiff writing. It’s impersonal and never in the first person. When I re-read my college papers, I’m shocked at the difference between my writing then and today.
I got better by practicing and I moved away from some of the strict rules I learned in college.
In spite of being a lefty, I’m not a naturally creative person. Just like the natural-born athletes and leaders, there are people born with that extra burst of creativity. However, many of athletes and leaders who weren’t “natural” at it proved that with practice that you can excel with practice.
When I first got into Web design, I thought it was perfect for me. But the more I did it, the more frustrated I got. I just didn’t have an eye for design and it wasn’t comfortable for me. If I had kept practicing and building more sites, I would’ve gotten better. But I didn’t enjoy it enough to make the effort unlike I did with writing.
Anyone who puts her mind to it can work on creativity and start writing stories like my daughter’s or designing like some of the most creative designers.
Search and archives
Get Updates
-
Categories
Archives
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
-
Other Stops
-
Connect with Meryl
-
Recommended
Blogroll
All Content © Copyright 2010 Meryl.net. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Privacy Policy | Thanks to Blue Flavor and Fireside Media for WordPress Consulting | Valid XHTML and CSS
3 comments
I think a lot of it has to do with our own self-conciousness. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve begun to write something and ended up crumpling the page (or deleting the file). Kids don’t have that apprehension. They revel in silliness. But as we age, priorities change.
I remember being a kid and seeing a news story about how Crayola was “retiring” some old colors to make way for newer neon ones. One of the colors to get the boot was lemon yellow. I remember images on TV of people picketing about this. In retrospect, it was a really silly thing to picket about. On the other hand, from my childhood perspective, it really was a big deal.
For better or for worse, as we get older, we become less silly, and thus less creative.
The Diva Marketing Blog has excellent tips and resources on creativity and innovation.
http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/2005/11/innovation_fort.html
Nice article on 10 Steps for Boosting Creativity. Short, simple and easy to do. Another from Fast Company on the Six Myths of Creativity.
Post a comment (or leave a trackback)