Tag: Creative Things

Being Creative…

RJ Walters

2015-08-01_16-28-31.pngSome people seem amazed that I have put out about 400 posts a year for over five years here at RJsCorner! But in reality I usually struggle to limit it to that many! 🙂

I often, like today, have at least twenty posts ready to go online. No, I don’t spend all day at my computer writing. In fact I usually spend no more than part of a couple of days a week engaged in generating posts.  I know my blogging process is probably unique to me but maybe some of you can learn something from it.

My process for daily posts here at RJsCorner is to browse my Internet news sources every morning and saving possible post stories to a draft file.  Other sources are the books I constantly read and of course inspirations from my heroes in life and of course what comes off the top of my head. 🙂  Most of my post ideas are just a few quotes or maybe a editorial cartoon that gets me to thinking. At any one time there are usually about 30 or more stories in my draft bin. When a story goes there it  somehow starts automatically brewing in my mind.

I don’t fully understand the internal process but I often find that I am at least subconsciously thinking about a couple dozen stories at any given time. Sometimes this process changes the original thoughts almost completely. Sometimes they go almost immediately to a published post and often times some end up in the trash. How I juggle all of this is a mystery to me; it just seems to happen.

2015-08-01_16-25-42.pngWhen my mind spews out just the “right” words  it then goes over to the scheduled bin where it usually sits for a couple more weeks. During this period I review  it several times with slight editions here and there.  As it gets close to the publish date each post gets a final review for grammar, any final thoughts and maybe a picture added. There are also time when like Whitman’s Leaves of Grass where I continue to edit a post even after it has been published. I just can’t seem to leave them alone.

That is my creative process. Sometimes my creativity is so active that I flesh out a dozen posts a day and sometimes a week goes by without any additional words being added. I don’t fully understand the process but one thing I do know is that I am passionate about most everything I write. I also recognize that I am obsessed with writing. It is something that I am just addicted to. I simply can’t not write even if no one cares to read the words I must put them to paper.

I don’t imagine I am unique in this regard. I know some of my heroes in life were addicted to the same thing. Teddy Roosevelt kept daily journals throughout his life. Thomas Jefferson wrote over 10,000 letters in his lifetime. And of course Will Rogers put out daily newspaper articles for most of this life before it was abruptly ended. That puts me in pretty good company if you ask me.

 

About Knowing…

RJ Walters

I went to quite a few “summer camps” during my corporate career. These were multi-day seminars most often in the summer to teach me one thing or another about how to do my job better.  They were rah rah sessions to keep me excited about what I was doing. Some of them were worthwhile, some were just boring. But since the company paid all the expenses and they were a welcome change from the day-to-day office.

One of the summer camps I remember most vividly was about discovery. The cubes below stick with me almost thirty years later:

Knowing

  1. Obviously you know what you know. These are things that stick with you for periods of time. For instance you know your birth date and some of us even know our wedding anniversary. These are things that we know and we know that we know.  Some are essential to our lives.
  2. Then there are things that you know that you don’t know. For instance I know that I don’t know much of anything about nuclear physics or biology.  These types of things I trust other to know so I don’t need to.
  3. The third category is the one that most often gets us in trouble.  Some these things we think we know but we really don’t. These include many of the reasons for our various prejudices.  We think all people of color are to be avoided.  Our knowledge in this cube is faulty due to our limited exposure to the topic or maybe an ingrained belief drilled into us by others.
  4. The fourth cube is where discovery, creativity and insight come from. We just don’t know what we don’t know. For some that is as far as it goes.  But for others it is a realization that we have much to learn.  The way to turn this cube into a positive is to be open to possibilities that we have never been exposed to.  It means actively thinking outside the box.  I pride myself in keeping box number 4 front and center in my daily life. I am open to possibilities I never knew existed.

Unfortunately there are some that absolutely refuse to even consider cube four exists. They are stuck in their current circumstances and refuse to acknowledge any other possibilities. Most often their lives are dark and often negative. They are anti almost everything unknown to them.

Question everything and always think outside your box.

I am that wise guy

TWiG 1

 

We All Need A Creative Boost Once In A While…

RJ Walters

Creative PhotographerI admit that I struggle with my creativity from time to time. Sometimes it comes in quick spirts  and sometimes I hit long dry spells. I, like most of you I imagine need a creative boost once in a while. To accomplish that I have numerous books on the shelves behind me and in my Kindle to give me some encouragement. The Creative Photographer by Catherine Anderson is one I frequently pull off the bookshelf. It isn’t about the technical aspects of photography but totally focuses on the creative side.

MyScans154I find it fascinating that Catherine started out as a lawyer before she found her creative side.  If you are into photography as I am I highly recommend picking up a copy of this small book. It just might get you moving again. She just might give you a different way to look at what you photograph…

(I have received no compensation from anyone for this endorsement)