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Creativity

Creativity posts explore techniques for coming up with new ideas, inventing new thoughts and techniques, and generally following those activities that are perhaps more right-brained but also could involve heuristics and other content generation approaches.

The following content is in the creativity category:

Seeing invisible details and avoiding predictable, conditioned thought (ZAMM series)

How the blog-to-book experiment is going: challenges and thoughts

Book review of the Art of Noticing, by Rob Walker

Three questions people ask me each week

Benefits of tool diversity, part II

The part of the brain you should listen to when writing

Asking questions is more important than finding answers -- why?

Guest Post: Is Technical Writing Creative?

A Lifetime of Reading Versus a Lifetime of Writing

What I've Learned from Lunchtime Creative Writing Workshops

My Problem with Fiction, and How I Tried to Resolve It

Presentations Versus Conversations

What Does It Mean to Be Innovative?

I am perhaps finishing my basement, someday

*Don't know how you do it all*: Some Thoughts on Productivity

Content Curation versus Content Creation

Being Contrarian

I miss working with my hands

Problem Solving and Sprinkler Repair

Breaking Things as a Form of Creativity

The Compulsion to Figure Things Out

The Long Tail Applied to Writing

Comparing Creative Writing with Technical Writing (2 min Videocast)

What You Cannot Do Sitting Down

Removing ice from a driveway is like .... everything

Theme Parks and External and Internal Input

NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo Start Nov 1

Forms of Play

Being boring (Sins of blogging)

Choosing Between Academic and Corporate Life: Did I Make the Wrong Choice?

Being irrelevant (Sins of blogging)

My STC Summit Blogging Presentation Is Free

"Tell me a story" -- Advice from Writers

Writing as Conversation -- Brainsparks Podcast with Ginny Redish

Creativity in the Workplace

Avoiding the Shut Down Mode

The Link Between Creativity and Organization

Write When Inspired, Rest When Tired

Blogging as an Outlet for Technical Writers

My Guest Post on Unstoppability for DMN Communications

If You're a Writer, Write

Seeing the World in Clearer, Simpler Ways

Thinking About Vienna and the Legacy of Mozart

Drawing as a Tool for Thinking: The Back of the Napkin

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and the Real Reason You Are a Successful Writer

The Wind and A Lot of Thoughts About Pessimism and Optimism

What to Blog/Write About

Introduction to Technical Writing (podcast)

"Like My Own Personal Brand of Heroin"

The Pleasure of Language -- Essential Listening for Hyper-corrective Grammarians

What I See -- James Hall's Essays and Florida

Writers See Stories Where Others Don't

Snippets Toward a Philosophy of Life

Usability Newsletter Interview – I'd Rather Be Writing – The Man Behind the Words

Answering Reader's Questions: 'My Desire to Write Burns in My Heart Daily'

Ten Technical Writing Stereotypes

The Intersection of the Personal and Professional, or, Why My Attempts at Nonfiction Essays in Grad School Bombed

Keep an Open Mind: Detention Without Amanda Jones Isn't Necessarily Bad

Lots of 2008 SXSW Podcasts Now Available

Two Types of Posts in the Blogosphere: Knowledge Posts and Creative Posts

Stoking the Creative Muse: How Finding Ideas to Write About Is Similar to Remembering Your Dreams

Brain Waves and the Stimulation of Motivation/Creativity

Evening Fishing at the North Pier

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me. Finally, note that the opinions I express on my blog are my own points of view, not that of my employer.