Mormon Women and Creativity

As I listened to more of John Cleese's ideas on creativity, I have developed a theory of my own about how women authors, even Mormon women authors, can and do expand on his theory.

He believes that creativity is a way of operating. We must take time away from daily activities and get ourselves in an open, playful, childlike mood without pressure in order to be creative. I'm sure many of you are chuckling right now. There is no way you can take time out of your busy day for this.

He uses the word 'open' to describe the creative mood. So how come many of you are successful authors when you have lots of small children, multigenerational family responsibilities, church obligations, and the myriad of other daily activities?

How many times to you hear your author friends say they were peeling potatoes and got such wonderful inspiration? That is an oft-told story in our community. (Maybe we just peel more potatoes than other people.)

Reasons why I thing we are creative amidst our busy lives:

1.         Women in general are open to new ideas. We have to be or we wouldn't know how to handle the crazy things our kids do every day.

2.         Women can multitask. Because we keep a lot of balls in the air every day, we are good at doing several things at once.

3.         Women are great listeners. Since we have developed the ability to listen to those around us, we are also able to hear what our subconscious has to say to us when it speaks.

4.         Women—especially Mormon women—have the gift of the Spirit. We know that the Spirit will teach us the truth of all things, call all things to our remembrance, and guide us in all we do. 

So, when it comes to creativity, there are many ways to receive inspiration. We can sequester ourselves away to augment our creativity, but we also find that ideas—even great ideas—come while we are peeling potatoes and wiping runny noses.

Your thoughts on this process: