Awesome art by Ryo Shimizu

“The Latin verb cogito for ‘to think’ etymologically means ‘to shake together.’”

Writers are often at their least creative when it comes to beating themselves up for not working, or not working hard enough, or not producing enough words – and those can be problems. But it’s an equally widespread problem that writers write too many words too soon.

I find the actual drafting of a project (or scene) usually happens pretty quickly if I’m clear about what I’m writing and why. Sometimes the problem is that the idea/concept isn’t strong and clear enough before you start writing. Sometimes, you haven’t let the idea simmer long enough. Notions happen in a flash. Good ideas can take longer.

I waited over a year after the initial idea before I started writing my current script until my take, my perspective, my POV became clear – before I had the second idea that combined with my first idea made up the concept.

The idea that ideas don’t always happen in a sudden ‘aha!’ flash has been around for some time. Arthur Koestler wrote about it – and diagrammed it – in his now-classic, and inexplicably over-priced book “The Act of Creation”. An idea simmers along then, if you’re lucky and/or receptive, it combusts with a second idea to form a new creative thought.

Now Steven Johnson elaborates on the idea – and shakes it together with some other ideas – in his book “Where Good Ideas Come From”, and he has a fun, free animation to illustrate it.

While we’re on the topic, you may also want to check out  “Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas Are Born” by Denise Shekerjian, which synthesizes insights on creativity from conversations with 40 winners of the MacArthur “genius” grant – artists, writers, scientists, inventors, cultural critics – or about a dozen other books now out on the subject.

Or you could just get back to work and slap your own ideas together.

1. Frame Your Story
2. Plan Your Delivery
3. Develop Stage Presence
4. Plan the Multimedia
5. Putting it Together

And here, according to the head TED, are some common mistakes that TED advises its speakers to avoid.

1. Take a really long time to explain what your talk is about.
2. Speak slowly and dramatically. Why talk when you can orate?
3. Make sure you subtly let everyone know how important you are.
4. Refer to your book repeatedly. Even better, quote yourself from it.
5. Cram your slides with numerous text bullet points and multiple fonts.
6. Use lots of unexplained technical jargon to make yourself sound smart.
7. Speak at great length about the history of your organization and its glorious achievements.
8. Don’t bother rehearsing to check how long your talk is running.
9. Sound as if you’re reciting your talk from memory.
10. Never, ever make eye contact with anyone in the audience.

As I say in my book, “How To Be A Writer Who Writes”, (a phrase I love saying and really should say more), different phases of the writing process call for different kinds of writing. In Phases 1 (Gathering) and 3 (Drafting), critical thinking is unnecessary and can even be counter-productive. In Phases 2 (Planning) and 4 (Rewriting), critical thinking is crucial.

If you’re in Phase 2 or 4 of your project, or you’re helping someone else with their project, you might be able to use some of these 7 Tools for Critical Thinking from philosopher Daniel Dennett, posted in this article in Open Culture (“The best free cultural & educational media on the web”)

1. Use Your Mistakes

2. Respect Your Opponent 

3. The “Surely” Klaxon

4. Answer Rhetorical Questions

 5. Employ Occam’s Razor

6. Don’t Waste Your Time on Rubbish

7. Beware of Deepities

Amazing art is all rolled paper by artist Lisa Nilsson

Hollywood is enamored with the franchise. A profitable one can sustain sequels across multiple decades that are worth billions of dollars in ticket sales alone. But, as the box-office ups and downs of the “Star Trek” films have shown, the formula is far from a guarantee. The New Yorker has charted a part of the expanding galaxy of movie series, ranking them by franchise gross, per-movie gross, and franchise profitability in this great interactive info-graphic.