The other day I quoted a line from the myDetour Moleskine Notebook Experience: “A tribute to familiar places and an invitation to find the extraordinary side of your ordinary surroundings.”

It occurred to me later that the opposite idea is also very important to creativity; that reminded me of my friend Mike.

Mike plays the saxophone. Specifically, improvisational jazz. He told me the other night that he especially loves playing jazz worship services at his Christian church.

Jazz worship services?



I imagine that part of the appeal is leading people to unfamiliar places in ordinary surroundings.

“Don’t play the saxophone. Let it play you.”
-- Charlie Parker

That line lead me to a quote by the film director Ingmar Bergman about his creative process: “If you can imagine,” he says, “I throw a spear into the dark.”

How’s that for unfamiliar places.

“I throw a spear into the dark. That is my intuition, and then I have to send an expedition into the jungle to find the spear and to find a way to the spear. That is absolutely another process. That is my intellect.”

So, fellow Knights, what’s your habit for giving your creative self a bit of push?

Here are a few suggestions:

* Make it a habit to do something totally out of character once a month.
* Look at old art and question it.
* Read books that you would not otherwise reach.
* Read a quotes book.
* Sketch your ideas (especially if you don’t think you’re an artist).
* Write a Haiku
* Eat frozen peaches and cream
* Learn how things work
* Take a road you’ve never been on before

Listen to Charlie Parker!


Strive to be original.

“Most people are other people.
Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions,
their lives a mimicry.
Their passions a quotation.”
-- Oscar Wilde

Damn, how unoriginal is using that quote -- any quote -- to end an essay on creativity and originality? I guess need to work on that.


Sir Bowie “who will be spending the weekend away from computers and in the 1800s again” of Greenbriar