As I sit here writing, my children have thrown a blanket over my legs and the coffee table and have now made a hideout underneath me. They have night vision goggles made of legos and a sonic screwdriver from a broken mini lightsaber. This makes me think about creativity. When we are children we play and fantasize about all sorts of things then somewhere along the way we are told to grow-up, memorize facts and figures and our time to play is lost.

What would happen if I wandered around as an adult, building forts of pillows in my office or dressing like a superhero to go to the grocery store? There are many times when I want to sneak down the halls of my office humming the Mission Impossible theme song, but I don’t for fear of appearing unprofessional and childish. I’m sure if I acted this way, I’d be on the next bus to the funny farm.

Today students are required to study for a test (in Iowa it is Iowa Test of Basic Skills) to prove that they have grown and know more than they did last year. Teachers are pushed to get their students to do well on this test, so much that they are forgetting having fun and being creative. In Middle School and High School, students no longer have recess, no chance to play. As adults, they go off to college and then work where creativity is squelched in most jobs, replaced with repetitive tasks.

I’ve notice that current job want ads are now asking for creative people or those that think outside the box. Finding someone like that is hard to do as creativity has been pushed out of our lives. As a writer, I’m expected to be creative, yet sometimes it is extremely difficult to come up with a story idea. I hate No Child Left Behind. As it is now, our children are at a great disadvantage, and getting left behind. They are pushed to take tests and do well on them, teachers are pushed to record and measure the results and don’t have time to have fun teaching.

Students learn differently and each one is unique. Perhaps creativity is just the thing we need to bring back into schools and work to increase productivity and learning. Recess for adults would not only help with creativity in the work place, but get a little much needed exercise. Teaching kids imagination is ok could be just what the world needs. After all, someone imagined going to the moon or a box that showed moving pictures. I bet those guys had a blanket tent.

By the way, I am NOT dissing the teachers, they do what they can, when they can and many I know (I work at a school district) go above and beyond. But with legislation guiding what they need to be teaching, they spend most of their Professional Development days learning how to properly give tests to their students to get the best possible results. And with budget cuts, the arts are the ones getting left behind as the push is to learn math and science.

While I can’t solve the world’s problems, I can do my best to nurture creativity in my kids and myself. I also will continue to fight for creativity in schools, art, music, and play, whenever and where ever I can. For right now, I’m going to invade my kid’s hideout and maybe they will except me into their club or take me prisoner, either way, I think we’ll have fun.

 

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I did it! 50013 words in 30 days. Not really sure how much I'll really use of it. But it was a really neat experience and really fun to just write without editing. My inner editor screamed at me the entire time, but I occasionally silenced her with lots of chocolate.

Instead of writing a novel, I wrote a series of short stories on the background of some of my characters for Prophecy Awakens. It was great to go through each background that I’d already pictured in my mind and expand on them. I was able to really dig into character motivation and pulled out a few surprises.

All in all, I’m very pleased with my first NaNoWriMo attempt. I didn't have a plan, or any idea what I was doing, but I thought I'd give it a go, after all, it not like I'd be sent to the gallows for not finishing, right? No, really... that doesn't happen, right?

I’ve always liked a challenge and between birthday parties, Thanksgiving dinners and meetings up the wazoo, I still managed to plug along, even if it was a few words in the dead of the night. At many points, I was sure my husband was going to kill me as I typed away at my computer and the shows we watch together on the Tivo kept piling up.

I will be editing and adding more stories to the group and hopefully will put them out on the podcast for your enjoyment. Some will have to wait until Prophecy Wanes so as not to spoil that plot, unfortunately, but I’ll get them out, don’t worry.

Will I do this again? Ya, sure. I think it was all worth it even if it didn't result in a complete book. I take a page from Avitar the Last Airbender, Cave of two lovers episode: "Sokka, I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey." But then again, I also remember in that same episode that Sokka keeps slapping himself in the forehead, kinda like I felt the entire month. Hummm.... Anyway, I think I've learned a lot and I will learn more next year as well, especially now that I have a whole year to plan and not just a few days.

Now, I need to get caught up on Ghosthunters and the last season of Monk. Later!

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