On Creativity

I work much better when I'm surrounded with creativity.

My apartment is awash in other people's stories. There are rows and rows of books and movies and music. I hang other people's dreams and nightmares on my walls. I place their passions and hopes in fine display on my shelves.

When I'm crossed up, mentally battered, blocked or just not able to get in tune with my creative side, I turn to these items. Stare at a painting, listen to an album, re-read a favorite book that's going soft and worn from all my years of seeking inspiration in its pages.

In my experience, creativity feeds off creativity.

A painting inspires a short story. A short story inspires a film. Someone's photography inspires a poem that inspires a song that sparks a novel.

When we create something—on the smallest scale or the grandest—and put it out there for everyone to see, we cast an idea into the waters of human thought.

We create a ripple effect.

And who knows how long it will last or how long it will span?

Who knows what it will inspire?