Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Creative intelligence is going beyond the given, as defined in the previous post. And why do we do this? So we can fully give.
(Yes, creative intelligence is often paradoxical 
)
Inspiration is creative intelligence in action and it operates within the gift economy. It may – often does – go unrecognised or undervalued by the money economy, part of the great swathe of unpaid or underpaid ‘work’ that keeps our world well, work that is done for different, often deeper, rewards than money.
Inspiration is always experienced as a gift (even if what we’re talking about is an inspired business idea). And for it to be passed on, it must be offered as Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it is stupid.” Albert Einstein.
There is no universally accepted definition of creative intelligence — because there is no universally accepted definition of intelligence itself.
So here’s my definition. Creative Intelligence is: ‘the ability to engage the imagination in order to go beyond what is given’.
In writing and art, the ‘given’ takes the form of Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Welcome to this month’s collection of insight and inspiration from around the web. 
See The Movie: Lemonade?
What happens when creatives are made unemployed? They get creative. See this inspirational film about 16 advertising professionals who lost their jobs and found their calling — encouraging people to listen to that little voice inside their head that asks, “What if?”
Start an Ittybiz?
If you listen to that little voice and what it tells you is to start a business, Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Monday, February 1st, 2010
‘It’s too hard.’ That’s a sentence I hear a lot – in relation to creativity, to writing, to life. ’I can’t do this. It’s too hard.’
It’s also a sentence I’ve heard myself say too often. I’ve learned enough to know that, actually, it doesn’t have to be hard. That it could probably be knock-me-down fantastic if I’d just get out of its way.
My Irish Catholic relatives used to say: ‘The Lord never gives anyone a cross they can’t bear’. I’d express it differently. I’d say: Life is always giving us precisely what we need in the moment that we need it.
If I’m experiencing creativity or life as Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Friday, January 29th, 2010
I’m sitting here half-watching ‘Supersize Me’ – an American documentary about the perils of fast food, especially when served in extra large helpings.
And the themes raised by the film are reminding me of Jerry, who asked for help because his novel, begun with gusto last year, had stalled.
In talking to Jerry, it became clear that he was trying to make his book do too much. A spy thriller with a compelling anti-hero for a protagonist, it was also attempting to be a love story and a family drama. At 180,000 words, he felt he was still only half way through. Great material was being swamped by bloated subplots and extraneous themes. And though he knew where he wanted the book to go next, he kept procrastinating and was getting very little done.
Jerry had bitten off more than he could comfortably chew in one mouthful but was resistant to the idea of breaking the material down into more digestible bits. He had a deep need to Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
When we ask for feedback on something we’ve created, we can be like schoolchildren hoping the teacher will give us an A.
A for approval.
Admiration. Attention. Applause.
But that sort of feedback is pretty uncreative in terms of feeding our work. All it feeds is our ego – which is nice, but…
In giving and receiving creative feedback, I have found it much more useful to think in terms of Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
This is a guest post by Phil Bolsta. In this long and very generous article Phil offers ALL the secrets learned in his career as a writer for major greeting card companies, as outlined in his book, How to Write Humorous Greeting Cards.
Phil’s advice concentrates on the US market — those of you who wish to submit to other markets will find the advice highly transferable.
It’s a long post – 9 rules, 8 insights, 11 business tips and 16 techniques - so you Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Some years ago, on the first of January, I made a new year’s resolution. For once and for all, for good and ever, I was going to give up … making new year’s resolutions.
According to The Miami Herald, almost 97% of resolutions go by the wayside.
It’s partly because the first day of the year is a poor time for framing intentions. Bloated, dazed and confused by the peace & joy season, we sign off recent excesses with vows we only half mean.
Research indicates that today, or any other ordinary day, is a better time to think about what you want to create in the months ahead — and how you
Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
I am a freethinker. I prefer the enlightened to the religious.
I distrust dogma, including dogmatic atheism.
And I believe “Is there a God?” is the wrong question.
What I do believe in is creative intelligence — my own and that of the world in which I live.
(And I believe in yours too, whatever you might Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
This tweet arrived today in my Twitter DM box: “Hi Orna, thanks for the quotes you tweet, especially your own ones. Have you collected these together anywhere?”
I was going to reply that I hadn’t and then I thought, you know I probably should, and next thing I knew, I had.
- Freethinking: asking questions that may not have answers. Belief or nonbelief: having answers that may not be questioned.
- It takes a great reader to make a great book.
- Success comes when your desire to achieve exceeds your fear of foolishness or failure.
- To let something go, it helps to know that you’re holding it.
- You say the world is made of atoms? I say
Read the whole post »
Post by: Orna Ross
