Magazines

I've been getting through Rereadings slowly, reading one essay every few days. It's been a slow read because each person's story about their important childhood book makes me remember back to other books that I read and held close. (Not just the Little House books!) I have also been reading magazines as they come in. Vanity Fair is one of my favorites. It has such a great blend of politics and celebrity and gossip and history. If you don't already read it, I recommend picking it up from time to time. And don't be put off just because Lindsay Lohan is on the cover. Time Magazine this week was also very inspiring. There was a special section dedicated to "How to Sharpen Your Mind." There were various articles about the brain and how to keep it sharp, how it works, what food is best, getting sleep, etc. My favorite article was about creativity. Francine Russo interviewed R. Keith Sawyer who is the author of the new book Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation and what he talked about was very exciting to me as a recently discovered creative person. The last question and answer sums it up:

Q. What advice can you give us nongeniuses to help us be more creative? A. Take risks, and expect to make lots of mistakes, because creativity is a numbers game. Work hard, and take frequent breaks, but stay with it over time. Do what you love, because creative breakthroughs take years of hard work. Develop a network of colleagues, and schedule time for freewheeling, unstructured discussions. Most of all, forget those romantic myths that creativity is all about being artsy and gifted and not about hard work. They discourage us because we're waiting for that one full-blown moment of inspiration. And while we're waiting, we may never start working on what we might someday create.