One of my favorite analogies for "The creative process", and something I highlighted in my talk last week, is gunpowder. Huh? Did you say Gunpowder? Oh yes I did.

I'm on a "Creative Process" kick lately, probably because I spoke to some students at UGA last week about it, and wrote last week on the thinking inside the box.

Gunpowder is something highly explosive and if lit of fire will explode and go everywhere, making a mess if not properly handled. Take that same gunpowder, put it in a gun barrel, and you could use it to shoot a bullet and hit a target a mile away. That's a big difference.

The creative process, and creativity in general, just like gunpowder, needs guard rails, it needs a system. Without rails, putting ideas into action becomes a lofty and lethargic task contingent on your own vigor. Some people might disagree and say artists need a free floating zen-like environment to produce magical ideas, which might be true for some, but for the most part those are the dreamers and not the doers. Those are the artists that live up to the black-rimmed-glasses-can't-get-a-job stereotype. That's not what I want to be. I want to be the dreamer and the doer.

For the doers out there, treating your genius like gunpowder, giving it a barrel of manifestation, is a great way to bring your ideas to life and potentially change the world.

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