If you want to learn how to do something, the best place to start is with someone who has shown their ability. You can’t learn how to copy-edit from someone who has never done it before, although they may have latent ability.

Not wishing to open a debate about belief, atheism or creationism I wanted to take a look at the creative act performed by God as recorded in the opening book and chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1. Whether you believe these events to be literal, mythical or apocryphal, it doesn’t matter; there are a few good lessons to be found.

1. God created out of nothing, ex nihilo for all you Latin buffs out there. [Please note, I am not one of them, I simply looked this up in the dictionary, so don’t expect any fancy noun declension.]. Imagination requires nothing tangible too. We can look for sources of inspiration and other prompts but the actual creative spark is from nothing. This is the very essence of being creative; something new.
2. It took God seven days. Ok, six and then one to rest. We need to realise that creativity takes time. We shouldn’t expect the final results straight away. The creative process requires work on our behalf; we need to put in some effort, or perspiration. (This isn’t to say that sometimes creativity leaps upon us and before we know it we have created that complete masterpiece, it does sometimes happen.)
3. God created different things on different days. God laid the foundation first and then the detail work. There is a wonderful symmetry in the Genesis account where day one is linked with day four and so on. Creating a framework for your work can be a great way to set things up. Story outlines, broad brushstrokes and song arrangements, to name three, give a framework to hang your detail.
4. God did take a break. God did the work and then had a rest. Perhaps this is the most important lesson. Tiredness and exhaustion are the natural enemies of creativity, and they are always on the prowl

We can all expect to produce some heavenly creations now

Not wanting to totally miss out on the bandwagon of giving advice when the majority of the next few hours are going to be spent destroying brain cells, I thought I’d give you a short list of creative resolutions for you to ponder as you sober up in the next few days – have a creative 2007.

1 Clear the decks – remove as much junk and clutter from your life as possible, this will release your creative energy.

2 Set some goals – if you don’t know what you want to create how will you ever be able to create it [that's rhetorical].

3 I don’t like it – read (although I suppose watching could work, at a pinch – although TV drains creative energy) a style of writing you don’t like, or don’t normally read. This is a wonderful source of inspiration.

4 Make time – there is no excuse for not having time to be creative, if that is what you want to do you’ll find or make the time to do it.

5 Share it around – c’mon don’t be shy. If you are being creative then let the world know. Free web-hosting is all around, no excuses.

Once again, have a wonderful and creative 2007!

Imaginality covers the whole spectrum of creativity and being creative – and that includes the basics.

Create is a verb. At its simplest it means to ‘make’ or ’cause to come into being’. It is also described in terms of being ‘inventive’ and using the ‘imagination’. But its very essence is an action. Being a verb is, as we learnt at pre-school 101, a doing word.

The point is that we can’t simply sit around and expect to be creative. Even as we sit and think about something it is the act of thinking that leads to the act of creativity.

The only excuse for not not being creative is that you aren’t making any attempt. To create you need to ‘do’ something. That isn’t to say that there aren’t obstacles to overcome and techniques that will make creativity easier, but it all starts with a will to act.

As for the techniques and barriers, we’ll be covering them right here, so stay tuned.