Why is it that sometimes I can write pages and pages of my novel, and other times I sit at the computer and just can’t write a word? Is there a relationship between working with clay, paint, and other mediums and creativity in writing? Lately I’ve been doing a lot of artwork in my art therapy classes with all sorts of different mediums, and it seems to be freeing me up to write. Perhaps any activity that relaxes your mind and gets your emotions out helps creativity. I also find that writing my worries down in my journal can free up my mind for creativity.

But lately, I don’t know, it’s like I can’t stop the ideas of where my novel should go from pouring out of my head. I can’t stop thinking about it. Which is a good thing! Maybe I’ve got hypergraphia — which Alice Flaherty describes as an overwhelming urge to write. I’ll have to pick up this book, it looks fascinating. She really seems to pinpoint what is so important in creativity, the emotional drive to make something. It really is so much more important than skill, which is also what Joanna Field was saying in her book On Not Being Able to Paint.

And there is fairly solid evidence that drive, and emotional involvement in your work, is even more important than talent in creating something new. — Alice Flaherty