What writers and others say
“I’d like to remind you again, Winfield, that daydreaming is only a part of the creative process.”
— Boss to employee in a New Yorker cartoon by Charles Barsotti
“The best time to write is when you’re doing the dishes.”
— Agatha Christie, the world’s best-selling author of all time
“Simmer ideas in brain before writing.”
— Peter Elbow, author, Writing With Power
“There’s a good reason Google puts Ping-Pong tables in their headquarters. If you want to encourage insights, you’ve got to also encourage people to relax.”
— John Kounios, cognitive neuroscientist at Drexel University
“It’s only after we stop searching that an answer may arrive.”
— Jonah Lehrer, author of Imagine: How Creativity Works
“Concentration, it seems, comes with the hidden cost of diminished creativity.”
— Jonah Lehrer, author of Imagine: How Creativity Works
“Break is the most important part of breakthrough.”
— Matthew May, creativity expert
“Out of nowhere the Idea will appear. It will come to you when you are least expecting it — while shaving, or bathing, or most often when you are half awake in the morning. It may waken you in the middle of the night.”
— James Webb Young, a pre-Mad Men-era ad executive, in A Technique for Producing Ideas
“Turn the problem over to your unconscious mind and let it work while you sleep. When you reach this third stage in the production of an idea, drop the problem completely and turn to whatever stimulates your imagination and emotions. Listen to music, go to the theater or movies, read poetry or a detective story.”
— James Webb Young, a pre-Mad Men-era ad executive, in A Technique for Producing Ideas
Want to experience that Eureka moment? Bring ideas to life? Develop a more creative personality? Experience more aha! moments?
What they said.
Master the magic of the creative process
Have you ever come up with a brilliant idea — on the way home from the brainstorming meeting?
Developed a creative theme for the annual report while pulling weeds? Written the perfect headline in the shower?
If so, you’ve tapped into the wonderful and productive world of the creative process.
Now you can learn to access this superpower every single day at our Write Better, Easier & Faster — our writing-process workshops.
There, you’ll learn to come up with brilliant solutions to communication problems and overcome writer’s block and procrastination by working with — not against — your brain.
