Habits of the Creative Mind: Connecting

 

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Connecting

"Thinking is the intentional act of making connections" (100).

"No one would argue that connecting the dots is creative" (99). This line is bluntly stated by the authors and is honestly very true. The simple idea of dots being connected is very boring and lacks any kind of creativity whatsoever. However, the text goes on to say that while this idea is boring, when we as writers begin to connect ideas together in our writing, it takes on a whole new form and suddenly becomes an entirely new paper.

In my own personal writing, connecting the dots is something that I can say I do pretty well. In each paragraph, I use one idea from my thesis, and break it down sentence by sentence until I feel that my argument is strong and persuasive enough. I do this with the rest of my ideas included in the thesis and in the conclusion, paragraph, I wrap all of my ideas together by restating my thesis in a creative way to bring my audience full circle. 

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Another great idea discussed in the text are the "three most important words in the English language." These words are the conjunctions, "and, or, and but." They connect sentences and phrases, but most importantly IDEAS together. These connections allow the writer to expand on idea and keep the reader entertained throughout the entire piece of writing. Although I stated above that connecting was one of my strong suits, I believe that I can still implement more of these words into my writing. Sometimes I have great ideas come out, but the lack of using these conjunctions kills the idea and makes my writing less interesting.

The fun video below goes into detail of how connections are made between words and why they make such a big difference in the entertainment value of one's writing.

https://youtu.be/RPoBE-E8VOc

Habits of the Creative Mind: Diverging

Diverging

This reading for this blog discusses the importance of diverging and how it affects our levels of creativity. The authors chose to use the Robert Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken" to open up and it reads, 

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Though starting off with this poem that even uses the word "diverging" seems unoriginal, the authors address this fact and state that people miss seeing what it really is about. They state that, "Frost diverges from the expected because his poem about divergence is actually about the failure to diverge" (Miller and Jurecic, 253). This divergence from the normal is what brings out the true creativity of a writer and allows one to avoid falling into the same old boring style of writing. In my work specifically, I seem to follow a strict pattern of introduction, a few paragraphs, and then wrap it up with a conclusion. However, these papers lack creativity and it makes my work less interesting to the reader because they know what they are getting before they have even started. This year, I have been doing my best to "diverge" as the book would say and be a little more free in my writing. So far, this has actually paid off tremendously as my grades have boosted from past essays. Departing from the norm and my lack of creative writing has allowed to to travel down the so called "road less taken" and unlock a creative portion of my mind that I never knew existed.

In order to diverge for this blog post, I did some outside research that really helped me understand the importance of divergence even better. I stumbled upon a video that I have attached down below that speaks to the importance of implementing divergence in the school system and how students need to be taught to be innovators. A classroom becomes boring when the activities become redundant. This eliminates the creative minds of the students and hinders their ability to truly diverge.

https://youtu.be/c1wfyBvkeqQ

Habits of the Creative Mind: Beginning

 

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Beginning...

Beginning is the word of the week here in this blog and regarding writing, "beginning" can be a very tough thing for me. I have had a lot of papers and assignments in my life that I have known about for days and sometimes weeks. However, I always seem to wait until the last minute to start writing. This is not so much because I have nothing to say, but because I have no clue where to start.

            

 According to Merriam-Webster, beginning simply means, "the point at which something begins" or "the first part." In an essay, the beginning could be choosing a topic or argument to discuss. As mentioned before, the ideas are always flowing around in my head, but I have trouble knowing where to start. Another way to begin writing is by thinking of a title. Sometimes I like to wait until I finish writing to pick a title, but if I am having trouble starting the essay, no title ever comes to fruition.

           

The hardest part about beginning an essay is boiling all of my ideas from my jumbled head into just one so I can begin the writing process. Usually, I have an ending in mind without even thinking of where I am going to start. One thing that has helped me in the past is to outline and put all of my thoughts down on paper just to see what ideas I already have. Because of this, it is easier to begin a paper without trying to remember everything as I go.

    

According to the advice given by the book on writing, beginning and writing an essay should not involve the generic 5-paragraph essay with a thesis, topic sentences, and a conclusion. Never will you see an example of this outside of the world of English class. Rather, one should begin a paper with more complexity and genuine thought that leads them to even newer thoughts. If an idea leads to another idea, beginning the writing process will be much easier because you are coming up with organic material and not just reiterating the same topic over and over again.

 The book states that, "a beginning is also an ending" (15). This is a great way to look at it especially for me because sometimes, the start of my papers come after I already know how they are going to end. Down below, this fun video does a great job of explaining how to start an essay and keep it going throughout the whole paper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVLOOtKFKOI

Habits of the Creative Mind: Asking Questions

Asking Questions

Asking questions to further enhance my writing is not an entirely new idea for me, yet it is something I should strive to do more. Rather than summarizing and answering one question or prompt, I need to open the topic up even more by asking my own questions during my writing. The authors doubt that there is a "bad" question, but ask, "What makes a good question?" (54) This makes me think about how many questions I have daily and consider if every single one really served a purpose. 

    

By reading the RadioLab story of how the 2 guys start with a broad question and narrow it down into even more complex ideas was very eye-opening. I could not help but wonder how they seemed to come up with the questions off the top of their heads and why it is that they chose to tackle some of life's biggest questions? 

    

Next, I read on to the section with Donovan Hohn and his travels in search of the plastic bath toys. For him, it all started as just a few questions and eventually he quit his job in search of the answers. Why would he quit his job and search for something that seemed so unknown? I am sure he had questions like that for himself when he was traveling, but those questions led to more questions and he later wrote a very observant and reflective book over his search and questions he asked. 

    

Later in the chapter, we find Michael Pollan contemplating the ethics of eating meat. Why is it that he chose to ask a probably unanswerable question? I may not know why and he may not know either, but his questions developed into more very articulate questions that developed into 2 books. The title of these are The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. 

    

In order to truly reflect on what I just read, I feel it is only appropriate to ask a question. Why is it that questions open up so many more ideas then some answers? What makes a question one to leave everything behind and search after like Donovan Hohn?

The video down below essentially questions, questions and does so phenomenally. Karen Maeyans is an excellent speaker and she gives a great discussion regarding the value of asking questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZIuAQw8RA4