Sage Bray Varon

This week, I have a few more things to help you spark your creativity and keep your imagination going strong when you’re struggling to get into a creative mode. These suggestions largely have to do with switching your mindset. Here’s a trick for increasing your creative capacity that is also extremely helpful for this time…

If you’re a writer, you have probably heard that you should not read or listen to the writings of other people before you sit down to write. The reasoning behind this is that you might start to take on the style of these other writers and that will influence your writing style, potentially drowning out…

What is the noise level of your space when you create? Loud, completely silent, or do you keep something going at a moderate level in the background? I ask because recently I’ve been reading about the effect of noise on creativity. In recent years, several studies have concluded that a very specific level of noise—70…

Let’s talk physiology. Yes, I know that sounds weird for blog on creativity, but I’ve been doing a bit of research about what affects our creative minds and there is a ton of evidence, both scientific and anecdotal, that the state of our physical being has a serious effect on the state of our imagination…

I’ve long been a proponent of a “feeling well = working well” mindset as part of a fulfilling and balanced creative life. Your health supports not only getting work done but feeling motivated and fulfilled by the work you do. That includes mental as well as physical health. Taking care of my health as part…

This past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on a short story specifically for an anthology competition. This is the first serious consideration I’m had for submitting my fiction work since I was in my 20s. In this year of writing, I’ve gone back and forth on whether to submit work even for literary magazines,…

Have you ever noticed that when creatives talk about their muse, they refer to it as if it is another person, an outside influence, separate from themselves? On the other hand, we all speak of talent, skill, and achievement as belonging to ourselves. Why do we separate the processor of our ideas from who we…

Why do some things inspire you but do nothing for other people? Why are we drawn to such particular things? The answer to that is as complex as you are, but going beyond just recognizing what you like and digging around about why you are drawn to those very particular things can help enrich your…

When was the last time you planned an excursion specifically to fill your creative well? It’s true that we can, and often do, find ideas and inspiration in our everyday life—while walking the dog, running errands, talking to friends, or just glancing out a window. Ideas are everywhere. However, we are often blind to the…