It’s back. As yet more evidence that I’m a bit slow, I’ve returned to my Friday tradition of providing you links to the best resources on creativity and writing I shared through Twitter and Facebook this week, despite the fact that the one time I ran a different post in its place, that post went viral, netting more than 8,000 views in less than three days. You can’t teach an old blogger new tricks.

CREATIVITY

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  “Creative Types are Full of Themselves, Study Confirms,” Cari Nierenberg, MSNBC: Scientists not only posit this hypothesis, they suggest why it might be the case. As for me, I’m not full of myself, I just appreciate excellence when I see it — in myself.

• “An Innovator’s Guide: Five Ways to Think Outside the Box,” Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen, CNBC: I’d start by suggesting that you think of alternatives to cliches like “think outside the box”; that said, the co-authors of “THE INNOVATOR’S DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators” share five intriguing suggestions from their book.
• “Finding Creativity on IQ Tests,” Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, Huffington Post: I’m congenitally allergic to efforts to quantify one’s creativity, but Kaufman provides some insight on how an IQ test can have insights on the test taker’s creative thinking.

WRITING

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  “Joel Friedlander Interview — How Self-Publishing has Changed,” Dan Blank, We Grow Media: You’ll need to carve out some time to watch this 32-minute video, but you’ll learn a fair amount about the evolving self-publishing e-book market.

• “I Know You Just Got Rejected,” Julie Anne Lindsey, Musings from the Slush Pile: That’s not hard for Julie Anne to predict if you’re a writer. In this post she feels your pain.
• “5 Creative Flaws That Will Expose Your Lack of Storytelling Experience,” Larry Brooks, Storyfix.com: The opening says it all: “There are a million ways to cripple a story.  Here are five of them.”
• “Social Skills for Social Media,” Quinn McDonald, Quinn Creative: I always maintain that social media is ultimately about life — it’s just another form of communication. Quinn nails it with this advice list for being authentic online, because as he puts it: “You are what you say in social media.”

If your muse complains that it’s too hot, treat her to some ice cream. Tell her not to worry about the calories, she’ll just sweat ’em off.