All kidding aside for a moment, what I REALLY believe about the whole creative process is:

Creativity is a gift. If you are secretly thinking, "Damn, I'm good!"
you're deluding yourself. Our responsibility is only to use gifts wisely.


When you receive a gift, you should thank the giver. I agree with Hirsutebruce that people are often the givers. Not just people we know, but all those who have used the gift of creativity in the past, who give us inspiration. I wrote a song about that once, with the chorus:

   "We are walking in the footsteps
    Of those who've gone on before
    And their music will go on ringing
    'Till we reach God's golden shore

But often, I can't thank a particular person for the gift of a song.
I have to look beyond that. And, for those who believe that creativity is a gift, it's up to each of us to decide who is the giver... a Greek muse, a cigar-smoking Irish muse, or God.

Some of the other lines that came out in the song about my muse are all part of the creative process for me.

Freshening the well of inspiration is central to creativity in my mind... kind of a more spiritual variation of the computer truism... "Junk in, junk out." And, if you don't continually freshen the well, it will eventually dry up. It is true that we start to plagiarize ourselves after awhile, if we don't freshen the well. Muse food tapes (jokingly) are one way... listening to music we love, whether it is a direct stimulus for creativity, or just a feeding of the creative spirit within all of us.

Playing music with others is another way of freshening the well, as is the simple connection of caring conversation. Long, slow walks are one form of quiet times... times of reflection, times of listening.

All of these things feed the creative heart.

In the long run for me, music is connection, as are all forms of art.
Music is more than creation, because creation needs to be shared. It is one of the most beautiful ways to step beyond all the barriers we set up between each other and find that common spirit that unites us all.

I know who I thank. Do you?

Jerry