Howdy, all! I’m filing this entry from the AWP writer’s conference in Washington, D.C. (you can follow it on Twitter at #awp11). Because I’ve been dutifully spending time sitting in windowless ballrooms, I haven’t sent as many tweets on creativity and writing as I usually do, but here’s a roundup of this week’s highlights. On Monday I’ll post a “Best Of AWP” summary. I attend so you don’t have to!

CREATIVITY

• “Neuroscientists try to unlock the origins of creativity,” Ann McIlroy, Globe and Mail: One interesting finding? That the brains of improvising musicians shut down their “inner critic” portion of the brain and fired up their “self-expression” portion.
• “Creating More Little Aha’s,” Melanie Sklarz, Dose of Creativity: Our friend Melanie makes a return to the Tweets of the Week with a post emphasizing that creativity is about more than just those “aha” moments.
• “10 Steps to a More Creative Office,” Jeffrey Baumgartner: In this post “office” refers to a company or enterprise; I’m afraid it won’t tell you the best place to put your stapler. I like #3 (establish trust) and #10 (know it’s a long-term process).

WRITING

• “Interview with Ali Luke,” Ali Luke, Upgrade Reality: Anyone who has worked as a freelance writer or aspired to do so could learn something from this audio interview, and as Ali noted in her Twitter feed, it’s also fun to listen to her British accent.
• “Why Freelancers Should Never Retire,” Alexander Dawson, Freelance Switch: Frankly this post applies to any creative. I like this point: “Passion Never Totally Dies.”
• “7 Tricks to Write Faster, Better and More Insightful Articles… Right Now,” Henri Junttila: The title oversells this post a bit, but it has value, and I like #7 (be you).
• “Are Book Editors Paid Too Much?” The Gatekeepers Post: This is less a how-to link than a look at the fact that editors aren’t paid nearly as much as many writers likely think they are. Thank goodness for all of us writers there are editors out there willing to make our prose better despite the pay.

In honor of the SuperBowl, the picture today is from September, when I had the opportunity to take my son to his first-ever pro football game, a Redskins OT loss to the Texans. Now I mean no offense to all those in western Pennsylvania, but last summer I picked the Packers to win it all, and I’d love to look like a genius Sunday night. I’ll be wearing my Arizona Cardinals Kurt Warner jersey and hoping that unlike two years ago the Steelers come up short. Power to the Cheese!