Gene and Dick were recently at Ollivanders watching wannabe witches and wizards get measured and matched to a magic wand. The wand selections were overwhelming. The wand cores were made from exotic materials like Phoenix feathers and holly wood.  The more expensive wands could even activate motion in the shop windows on Diagon Alley.  Gene and Dick tried a few but remained convinced their pen is their magic wand. Gene’s magic wand core is ink and Dick’s contains lead. They believe that as long as they keep practicing, practicing, practicing and writing, writing, writing the magic would continue to flow out of the Thinking Anew process.

Here are some creativity quotes from Dick Quis’ Thinking Anew notebook.  Whenever Dick reads something that moves him he likes to copy that thought into his notebook with the hope this wisdom  pops-up when needed.

Creativity

Creativity is not a magical force or an uncontrollable entity.  Creativity is not exclusively attached to art.  Creativity is problem solving with relevance and novelty, nothing more, nothing less.  Creativity cannot be present without a problem to solve.  Every one of us possesses the ability to create, regardless of the suppression that ability has endured over time.  Creativity can be learned; it is a process that we can repeat and in that repetition, we find growth.  Stephan Mumaw

You cannot will things to happen.  It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work. And then the miracle happens.  Anne Lamott

It’s easier if you believe in God, but not impossible if you don’t.  Anne Lamott

I’m not making it happen, I’m letting it happen. Gene Moynihan

I shall seek creative ways to engage the world today and not fear praise or criticism. Dick Quis

The mistake is to quit before the miracle happens.  Shunryu Suzuki

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.  George Bernard Shaw

When you are on the right path, invisible hands will come to your aid. Joseph Campbell

To truly master something we need to be okay with spending time not being a master at it. Judy Collins

Michelangelo’s creative process

The initial phase of creation in which he revealed the preconscious state of the Spirit, whose arms try laboriously to make headway against the nebulous chaos surrounding it.  It is the subconscious striving towards light and clarity, an instinctive movement without a rationally defined aim.    Charles de Tolnay

Creation rarely occurs without fiction. Joe Paquet

You can’t become what you want to be by remaining who you are. Max Dupree

What they call talent is nothing but the capacity for doing continuous work in the right way. Winslow Homer

For us there is only the trying. The rest is not our business. T S Eliot

You can tell how good a deed was by how big a thrill you get out of doing it. (Author unknown)

The professional trusts the mystery. He knows that the Muse always delivers. She may surprise us. She may give us something we never expected. But She will always put something inside the box. Steven Pressfield

OUR PROMISE  – If you come to this writing practice each day, eventually you will be able to do what you formally could not.