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What characteristics do creative people cultivate that others do not? In my own life as a writer, author, and musician, these five characteristics have served me well: Continue reading…

I’m currently working on my third album to be released sometime next year. And I was recently reminded that you can’t force creativity.

For example, I visited Madrid this fall for work. On the first day, I was feeling jet lagged, isolated, and especially restless. So much so that I wrote two really great songs from that emotional state. They just came out of me.

Afterwords I decided, “Maybe I should always write songs when I travel.”

The next month, I visited Mexico City, another Spanish speaking capital. “This is going to be good,” I excitedly told myself. I even bought a new travel ukulele and blocked off some time during my trip to dedicate to songwriting.

What happened? Absolutely nothing. It was a total bust. Not a single idea or spark came. “Well that was a waste,” I told myself.

That’s not entirely true. It never hurts to try. But the experience reminded me that emotional highs and lows are always the best conditions to create in.

If we want to create more, we must put our psyches in unique or new situations, and then let our emotions tell the story. I’m in awe of how effective strong emotions are when creating.