My goodness. There are 14 Creativity Tweets of the Week listed below, a selection of the resources I sent out this week on Twitter. So that’s where my week went! Well, I need to re-read Linda Formichelli’s post below to learn how to reclaim some of that time. In the meantime, enjoy!

CREATIVITY

• “How to be a Creative Badass,” Justine Musk, Tribal Writer: 12 great tips, including “love the world” and “make mistakes.” I always try to do the former, and I do the latter quite well.
• “The 3rd Stage of the Creative Process: Investigation,” Orna Ross: How’s this for an opening sentence: “Creativity cannot be killed but it can be starved into stagnation by ignorance.” Okay, you’ve got my attention.
• “The Body Brings Wonder to Creative Innovation,” Jeffrey Davis, Psychology Today: A must-read by an insightful creativity consultant. Bottom line: You’ve got to use your body as well as your mind to reach full creative potential.
• “How I Use Visualization to Drive Creativity,” Mark Suster, TechCrunch: The title of this blog post makes it easy to visualize the wisdom it will hold. (Caution: the post is quite long.)
• “Becoming a Life Change Artist,” Melanie Sklarz, Dose of Creativity: Melanie strongly endorses the book “Becoming a Life Change Artist: 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life” by Fred Mandell and Kathleen Jordan.
• “The Easiest Way to Crush Creativity,” Paul Sloane, Blogging Innovation: It’s easy, just shoot down those ideas. I’m reminded of the boy who stops painting colors in Harry Chapin’s ballad “Flowers are Red.”
• “Is it Possible to Write a Hit Song in Three Hours?” Helienne Lindvall, The Guardian: My opinion is of course, after years of dedication to the craft. This article highlights efforts to track the creative process.

INSPIRATION

• “How Tall Do You Want to Grow? Taking Risks Toward Reaching Your Goals,” Mary Carroll Moore: The title of this inspiring post says it all.
• “Stepping Out of Your Day Job and Into Your Creative Dream,” Interview with Heather Plett on ABCcreativity: I ask your indulgence, dear reader. As I have now jumped into full-time freelance writing, I’m reading a lot of good blog posts like this to keep inspired, and so I’m putting them in front of you too. This post is insightful and educational.
• “Q&A with Laura Vanderkam, Author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think,” Linda Formichelli, The Renegade Writer: Learn how to reclaim “lost” time. Oh, and read her encouragement for pursuing full-time freelancing (I know).

WRITING

• “Tai Nasha No Karosha: Reflections on a Week of Blogging,” Michael Chabon, The Atlantic: The Pulitzer winner finds it’s hard to write the first sentence of a post, and says this of a blog’s comments field: “The pleasure of a favorable notice lasts about three hours and twenty-four minutes; the sting of a bad one settles down to a dull ache that can endure for decades.” So true!
• “Reject the ‘New Rules for Writers,” Andrew Shaffer, Huffington Post: A fiery post in defense of traditional elements of publishing, from MFA programs to editors. I agree with Andrew, but I wonder, could this post also be titled “Speaking Truth On Behalf of Power”? 🙂
• “Tightening Your (Manuscript’s) Belt: A Checklist for Eliminating Unnecessary Prose,” Cheryl Reifsnyder, Cheryl’s Musings: I’m a big fan of Cheryl, and this is a very useful post. That said, it gave me flashbacks to a ruthless editor whose purple pen I absolutely dreaded.
• “What’s Missing From my Writing?” Jessica McCann, guest blog on The Bird Sisters: On the importance of revisions.

A final note for all you writers out there — are you planning to attend the AWP writer’s conference in D.C. February 2-5? If so, welcome to my back yard. Let me know you’re coming, and I can give you a proper welcome!

(The photos today were taken by me last summer at the Sundance Resort in Utah.)