The Creativity Gene

Where does creativity come from?

I will tell you that my mother is an artist and my father is an accountant. Taking that at face value, one might automatically conclude that my mother gave me her talents. There was a time when I drew. I was pretty good, but it wasn't my passion. Growing up, I knew that was required to stick to something that was hard, that would be put in front of a critical public and have them make snide remarks.

My drawings (yes, I still have them) are for my own personal consumption. They're not perfect and I never plan to devote the time to get them that way. I never plan to put them in front of anyone to critique. My mother has a critique group made up of other artists. Just like in writing, being around others who share your passion is required to improve your talent. Of course, there are also those that don't 'get' you but that's a topic for another story.

Growing up, I realized that my father was extremely talented too. Now before you start thinking he was cooking the books, I mean his talent was in the way he saw patterns in numbers that helped him invest and budget. Many times I would go grocery shopping with my father and we'd talk about value of products--taste is important, not just the price tag.

But there were also the times when we'd be alone in the car and he'd entertain me my making up lyrics to songs. My favorite--Car wars, nothing but car wars. Get in your cars and drive away, sung if you will to the Star Wars theme song a la Bill Murray style. There were many more and to this day I still sing the lyrics he did, often when my kids are in the car:-). Some traditions deserve to be passed down.

He also made things up besides lyrics. Once when we were waiting for one of my sisters to get off work, he told me he'd been a jackass in another life and my mother had been a snake. They'd kept each other company in their animal forms until he found her in this life. Now that's creative!

So where does my creativity come from?

Both my parents. I'm a very visual person as well as being analytical. As for why I chose writing, both actually wrote at one time. My mom created short stories for children and my dad wrote a murder mystery in the style of Mickey Spillane.

Where does your creativity come from?