Last night, Karla Dobritoiu, one of my former students, interviewed me. It was a role reversal because usually, I'm the one who gets to ask the questions. Actually, it was kind of fun! I got to lie on the couch, while Karla (who did the interview by phone) did all the hard work! Karla, who is doing a double major in Communications and English Lit., at Concordia University, is taking a coursecalled "The Creative Process." Her assignment was to interview someone who does creative work -- and so she thought of me. She had 21 questions, mostly about how I get my ideas and what my writing routine is like. The hardest question she asked me was, "How do you define creativity?" Hmm... that took some thinking. I explained that my definition of creativity is fairly broad. To me, creativity means making something from nothing -- whether it's a story, or a song, or even a sandwich. Anything really! Even how we interact with others can be creative. Karla promised that if anything comes up in her class that she thinks might interest readers of this blog, she'll post a comment. There are more than 100 students in her class at Concordia and they're all interviewing someone different for this assignment. So Karla, let us know what you learn -- and pass on any tips you discover for making the creative process work!
That's it for today. You already know what I'm going to say: "Back to the rewrite!"
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Comments
I hope you enjoyed that interview more than the one you were put through in the I.C.E. class last August!!
I like your definition of creativity, though I wouldn't normally think of associating sandwich-making with it. I do think that creativity can also being the smaller details, such as one's personal interpretation of a song, because, depending on the musician, a same song can take on a different feel, and it has to do with the musician's creativity, and what he does with the notes written on the score.
being creative to me also has something to do with self expression. the way people dress can even be considered creative. so i agree with you ms polak, creativy is pretty broad. hope school is going well and that you are enjoying your nonsense class better than the one i was in! anyways off to read flip turn which is sitting next to me.
I liked the definition of creativity. Although you can also create something from something else and do that in a creative way. I have friends in your nonsense class who said they're having a lot of fun. And another friend, who owns signed copies of most of your books, lent some to me. So when I finish the four books I'm reading at the moment I'll read yours! It might take a while though, I'm only halfway through A Hundred Years of Solitude and reading in Spanish takes me longer than reading in English or French.