I’m a news junkie. There was a time when my best ideas were
ripped from the headlines and I subscribed to, and read, six newspapers. Four
major market – The Washington Post, The LA Times, The Miami Herald, and The New
York Times, and two local markets, The Fiddlehead Focus (Fort Kent, Maine) and
The Keynoter (Key West, Florida). Then real news became stranger than fiction
and nothing I wrote changed it. I’m down to two local markets and the NY Times.
I’m still keeping track of stories that interest me. Most writers
have a slush file of idea generating stories tucked away. Anything that arouses
curiosity goes into it. Entire series of articles or just tidbits of details
with notes scribbled in the margins or as comments in a digital file. One
writer I know will only keep the idea if she can see a way to bring the story to
a conclusion and have no loose ends.
My slush file gave birth to this blog. I came across an
article in the opinion section of the New York Times titled What
Happens to Creativity as we Age? The conclusion was, it
declines, mainly because as we age, we know more and we tend to ignore anything
that contradicts what we already think. My mind filled with scores of writer
interviews and blogs I’ve read that point to a desire to explore a question in
depth as the inciting reason for writing a certain book, and I laughed out
loud. And yes, writing does seem to encourage rather than discourage finding
your voice later in life.
The authors of this opinion piece are learned people. I
cannot dispute their findings and, in many ways, I agree with them. Perhaps
they have overlooked a key element in continuing creativity through the aging
process: Curiosity. Writers are curious people. Aging coupled with curiosity
can very well lead to the suggestion that grandpa could turn back time by not
eating his vegetables.
Readers and writers, are you more or less creative than you
were ten years ago?
Ten years ago I started writing fiction for the first time. So I’m probably about as creative today as I was then—probably because I have a contract for two more books that makes me creative whether I want to be or not.
ReplyDeleteIn 2009 I was enduring all the drama of a daughter in high school. I'm much more creative now that I have a quiet house...and all that material to draw upon!
ReplyDeleteLove it, Grace, you are creative whether you want to be or not. So true, and creativity seems to feed creativity. That was/is the premise behind morning pages. Just sit and start, the rest will come.
ReplyDeleteAmazing, Margaret, I so admire folks who can write in the midst of drama, or even play lists, but write they do, and God bless them. Catharsis maybe? I bet you got some great grist for the creativity mill, and from reading your posts, it sounds like you and your daughter also have a great relationship so you were putting your creativity in the right place at the right time.
ReplyDeleteI get a daily newspaper, and I also get some other material in the mail that keeps me up to date plus I listen to the radio and hear the news and other things of interest there, too.
ReplyDeleteI started writing ten years ago or maybe more. I also get magazines like TIME and READERS DIGEST.
I think I'm just as creative now as I was when I first started writing. Partly because now I have a series with characters that I'm attached to. Also I'm an avid reader and I think that helps me to to keep interested in writing. I'm currently working on the tenth book in my series.
I wonder if some of the "creativity" that declines with age has to do with diminishing physical abilities--things like fine motor skills, stamina, etc--that don't come into play so much with writing.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe, as we get older, we are much better at deluding ourselves.
Whatever. I will continue to write.
Can't wait to read #10, Gloria. It sounds as if you are just as creative now as when you first started writing. Look at all that you do to stay interested!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that diminishing physical abilities could and do stymie creativity. But I wonder if perhaps the inability to create, or bring the creation to fruition, in one arena doesn't spark an outpouring of creativity in another. In many ways creativity is more a matter of seeing what exists in a different way and building on it.
ReplyDelete