Creativity in Progress

I am in the middle of writing several new books. One is the next book in The Shy Artist series. (It's about barriers to success.) The other books are patterns of some of the designs and techniques that I have developed.

A couple of days ago, I was talking to my boyfriend about the books. I was complaining about the inadequacies of the new Kindle Kids Book Creator software.

As I was talking, my boyfriend suddenly and abruptly silenced me with an exclamation, "Wait! Hold that thought. I have a brilliant idea!"

I waited patiently as he gathered his thoughts. Out came the idea. Yes, it was brilliant. (No, I'm not going to share. It was his idea and he needs to be the one to share it. All I will tell you right now is that it is going to be a children's book based upon an object that I gave him for Christmas.)

So, why I am telling you this, especially since I am not telling you what the idea is? Well, for this post, the idea is not the important part. The important part was the creative process.

You see, my boyfriend has repeatedly said that he is not creative. He claims that his purpose in life is to provide the environment for others to be creative. And, he has done well at fulfilling that role. However, I have never met anyone who wasn't creative in one way or another.

I think some people have the misconception that to be creative something has to be completely a brand new, never before seen, completely original concept. And yes, that certainly is one way of defining it, but that is not the only way.

Creativity has many forms. It can be a simple as a rewording something to make it more understandable. It can be combining two things is a different way. It can be using a tool for a different purpose than the intended one. There are as many definitions of creativity as there are people because creativity is inside each one of us.

We just need to learn to recognize it. I think my boyfriend finally understands that. I am glad that I have been able to open one person's eyes to their own inherent creativity.