An article about creative people...

Some weeks ago I got an article sent to me about creative people. Since I was not that impressed with it, I'm not going to link to it... But it got me thinking! And my mind played a trick on me...!

A few years ago I attended a retreat at Lilleskog. One of our teachers were the very wise man Magnus Malm, you could even call him a sage... for you not knowing about him, he is a writer of what we in Swedish call uppbyggelselitteratur (literature-to-get-get-you-on-your-right-path-with-a-smidge-of-inspirational-issues). He is writing within the christian faith tradition. As a writer and lecturer he has a knife-sharp intellect, with a knife's edge of humor.

We had a talk and he gave me some pointers about creativity, in his case writing. I've always thought that I wrote those pointers down. This morning I looked through the notes from that retreat and I didn't find anything about those pointers... My mind tricked me!

So here are his pointers, as I remember them...
We talked about the creativity, and how I wanted to get there but ultimately didn't got there. At the time I sent applications to design schools and art schools, because I thought I had something to contribute, and they seemed to think that I did not...

Anyway, what Magnus Malm told me was this:
A lot of people think that they will write "that book", on their vacation or when they retire. But that is not how a book is written! You just don't sit down in front of your computer and write a book. No, a book is written on napkins, tissues, receipts, and various pieces of paper. These notes can then be transformed into a book.

That is how I remember what he said...

I took this to my heart, and started to have notebooks in my backpack so that I could write down ideas. Although it took some time before I used them... These scripts that I've written recently has started out as notes and then ordered in the computer.

So what has this memory given me?
1) I always have notebooks with me or in my proximity.
2) I try to keep myself open for new ideas and when I get them I write then down.
3) I create documents on my computer where these ideas are further worked on and developed.

Maybe this will be of help to you, I hope so, it sure has helped me!

Take care!