Bragi, On the Taking of Vows

a poet waiting for a muse.

To be creative.

What does it mean?

Pulling something out of nothingness. Creating substance and meaning from where there is none. Pulling words and images and ideas and creations out of the ether, out of the empty void. So, how does it work?

Where does creativity come from?

If you ask Neil Gaiman, he will tell you there is an idea fairy out there, who visits only when compelled, or that you order ideas from an idea of the month club, like a gift box subscription, and once a month, an idea appears in neatly packaged cardboard on your front stoop. You pick this box up gently and open it carefully, or full of zeal, ripping open the packaging like a demon child on Christmas morning, and out pops a new idea.

This is as good an explanation as any.

We know that creativity comes from divergent thinking, outside the box and outside the norm of cognition. This is why creative types are so often social outsiders, because they think differently and have a hard time fitting into the tidy little boxes most people want to keep themselves in.

But, where does this divergent thinking come from? It’s possible it is nothing more than a personality type. Some people are born with an openness to new experience, they demonstrate an usual amount of curiosity — they…