Creativity and the Art of Wasting Your Time

There's a quote out there that says something like, "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

I apply it to writing, but it applies to painting, or music, or even engineering - anything that takes passion, creativity, and drive to accomplish.

It's easy to tell ourselves to take chances, but it's so much harder to implement. If I know that I can get, say, 1000 words a day by sitting my butt in the chair and doing nothing else for an hour, why switch it up? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

But even when you have set methods that work for you, I think there's a lot of value in doing something new every once in awhile, if only for the sake of it. Stretching your creative mind can be a huge waste of time. It can also push you to think differently. And even if it never shows in your work, it's valuable for your mind. It's like travel - sure, you could live a happy life without ever going five miles from your hometown. But do you want to live like that?

One time I sat down and forced myself to try freewriting for 30 minutes. I filled up five notebook pages with complete nonsense that I immediately threw away. Another time I did an "interview" with the main character of my WIP. It did nothing for my WIP, but that interview made me think about how some of the answers I gave the character didn't make sense... And how I wanted to write a book with a hero those answers would make sense for.

And then I wrote it.

What are you going to try?

All about the anticipation

Reading a thousand romance novels is so much better than going out on a thousand dates. Not just from a time management standpoint, but also because you get to experience that delicious anticipation of a developing relationship without the actual fear of losing the guy.

I've heard that butterflies in the stomach is exactly that, and I suppose sometimes that's true. But it's fun anyway.

A great slow-build of tension as things heat up between our hero and heroine is my very favorite thing. To me, the first kiss is the best part of the novel. That's the most passionate and real part, the first time our protagonists throw caution to the wind and take a chance on each other.

Speaking of chances, there is a definite possibility that I watched too many Disney movies as a child.

You would not believe how many results there are
when you google "Disney true love kiss".

What do you think? Is the first kiss really the best part, or do you like watching the characters grow together and really learn each other?

In the end, it's all fun!