The Artist’s Road values the thousands of inspiring people who sample his links on creativity and writing on Twitter and Facebook. As a sign of his gratitude, he vows to adhere to a higher moral standard than members of the U.S. Congress; he will never tweet or post a picture of his “package.”

CREATIVITY

• “Nature as Creativity Booster,” Melissa Crytzer Fry, guest post on Sheri Lopatin: Rogue Writer: Emerson isn’t the only writer who’s been inspired by nature. Melissa is inspired by the state where I grew up, Arizona (you’ll love her photos). (Related: Do the Work, Dispel the Myth of Creative Inspiration)

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  “Finding Creative People is Easy (and Here’s How),” Kate Canales, The Atlantic: Here’s the subhead: “Instead of searching for creativity, we should be fostering it in people we already work with—and redefining what it is.” (Related: Collaboration and Mutual Respect)
  

• “Watching Jon Stewart might make you more creative,” Melissa Dahl, MSNBC.com: This is not, fortunately, related to the frequent Daily Show appearances once made by Twitter sensation Anthony Weiner. Melissa reports that some scientists suspect a correlation between hearing sarcasm and thinking creatively.
• “20 Reasons Why Creative People Work in Cafes,” Mitch Ditkoff, Blogging Innovation: This refers to those of us sitting there silently tapping on our laptops, not the hard-working baristas. Number #4 could top the list: “Easy access to caffeine.”

WRITING

• “Why All Writers are Secretly (or not so secretly) Schizophrenics,” Leah Petersen, Write Me! One of the things I love about declaring myself a writer and creative — I have an excuse for my delusions. (Related: Living an Art-Committed Life)
• “Should you blog? And if so, what are best practices?” Jane Friedman, There Are No Rules: One takeaway — it all comes down to voice. Or for this blog, frequent mentions of bacon. (Related: Blogging is Such Sweet Sorrow)
• “What can David Cronenberg teach you about writing?” John Magnet Bell, Start Your Novel: An interesting connection between the director’s approach to film making and a writer’s approach to a novel.

For those with fine attention to detail, the answer is yes, one of the monkeys pictured is wearing a cowl. I hear they’re all the rage with simians.