Monday's Muse - the blog meme for Creative Moms

Read about the Meme

Restless.

Energy zips past my eyes, flows through my mind and finds itself trapped there. It feels cramped and twisted. It wants out. It wants to bring the things it encounters, the things it sees outward so that there is room again to rest.

This energy is not happy to loll and roll and meander. It wiggles out, down, down to the fingertips which tap and dance on the keyboard in front of them. They twist yarns around needles and whisk colors across papers and constantly move, move, move.

And when they are happy those fingers rest. And there is room once more in the mind and there is space to spread out and be comfortable and the energy will be still, if only for a little while.

I don't really know what to call this - just a little snippet that happened as I was thinking about what to write for today's post. I was thinking about my creativity and what it is and how I thought it might work from within me. I sat down to write for Monday's Muse and this little set of words just popped out.

What do you think about your creativity? How does it feel. What does it do?
Think about what your creativity would be like as a person. What attributes does that person have?

If you've written about creativity or maybe written a piece answering these questions please leave your link below so we can see what you've been up to.



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How to Encourage a Love of Reading by Nurturing an Interest in Storytelling.

A fantastic way to show your child the virtue of reading is by developing their love for a good story. Not only does an interest in storytelling encourage curiosity for what's between the pages of a book but nurturing that interest will also give kids some creative problem solving ideas as well.

Creativity is a skill. Use it often and it will grow, multiply and become stronger until creative approaches to challenges become almost instinctual. Ignored, this skill withers and becomes wrought with second guesses, dead end walls and the feeling of not knowing where to begin.

To me, beginning is the hardest part. Once I get rolling a story often takes on a life of it's own. So in helping your kids to come up with a story where do you begin? You begin with DreamStarters.

The DreamStarter Book: by Jennifer Karin Sidford is a collection of 50 story beginnings.

Here is what Jennifer has to say about her book:

In truth, DreamStarters began out of desperation and an inability to pull a creative thought from my brain at the end of a busy day. The day had come when my kids (three boys, ages seven to fifteen) had mastered reading, and they no longer needed me to read them chapters from their favorite books. Instead, they asked me to tell them a story. At bedtime I would begin the story, then (struggling to come up with something compelling and worthy of serious Harry Potter fans) I would ask my kids to tell me what happened next. What began as a solution to my creative drought turned into a favorite family tradition.

Soon DreamStarters made its way to the dinner table, as we found it was a great way to keep our kids engaged at the table a few precious minutes more. Even my teenager stayed to present his own plot twists!

Here's one of the DreamStarters from the book. This one is called "Ice Wind"

Justin and Nicole were hiking toward the top of their favorite mountain when the wind
began to blow. At first, the wind was light and warm, but it soon became fierce and bitter
cold. Even though it was summer, the wind turned everything around them to ice.
“There’s a cave,” Justin yelled to Nicole over the high-pitched scream of the wind.
They leaned into each other as they walked, bracing their weight against the powerful
gusts. The cave’s entrance was covered with icy vines that refused to move. Justin pulled out
his Swiss Army Knife and cut through the vines. From deep within the cave came a blast of
warm air. Justin pushed Nicole into the cave and followed next. It was very dark, and the
warm air smelled damp and…

Is this not a great idea? Engage with your kids. Spend time on something together. Encourage siblings to work towards a conclusion. Show them that daydreaming and being creative is something to indulge in. How could they not enjoy this activity and how could it not develop an interest in story and the written word?

Want a copy of the book? I have one to giveaway! And yes, it's signed :) To be eligible to win, visit the DreamStarters Website and read through this reader submitted DreamStarter. Come back here and tell us in comments what you see happening next. Make sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you're the winner.

Bloggers, get an extra entry by posting about DreamStarters on your blog. Leave a separate comment with your url for it to be counted.

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Monday's Muse - the Meme for Creative Moms

‘Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences than other people.’

— Steve Jobs

I thought I'd post a quote today. It struck me as interesting as I believe strongly in the first part and disagree with the last part. I've often looked at my need to create as more of a need to problem solve. For me, writing or painting is equivalent to completing a complex mathematical problem -only my brain isn't wired for math (nearly failed actually!).

Being creative is a challenge and that's what attracts me. The learning and personal growth I experience keeps me coming back. I think part of it is that I get bored easily, so I start to find ways to entertain myself. I challenge myself to stay engaged with something - anything and when I'm being creative, I get to define what that anything is.

Why do I disagree with the last part? I don't think creativity has anything to do with experience. As a kid, I often felt compelled to draw or paint or organize things (another problem solving equivalent), and I had little or no experiences at that point in time. Yes, the wider your knowledge base, the more things you will recognize and connect but it doesn't mean the process functions differently based on life experience.

So what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Have a totally different view altogether? Share your thoughts in comments or share your creative themed post in the Mr. Linky below.