Wow. That’s pretty good; I’ll have to remember that one. LOL

Really though, being a writer I’ve tried something similar in doing free writes. I guess their the “improv” of the writing world. But instead of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” it’s more like “How Am I Going to Write That Next Line Anyway?”

Either way, flying by the seat of your pants is good for creativity. Sometimes it’s the only way to meet your real genius.

For me, taking improv classes worked wonders in unlocking some of my most productive creativity – and in building confidence.

It’s true, in an improv scene, the best you can hope for is just to say something that makes sense in the context of the scene. If you try too hard, the audience will see right through it, and the performance suffers. You have to be patient, and then the humor comes. But, an improv scene doesn’t *have* to be funny.

Tony — great quote! Thanks.

Maureen — funnily enough, I’ve picked the snowflake out on Friday, when I uploaded the article to the blog, ready to publish on Monday. By which time London was covered in snow …

“Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.”

I believe this was the key to Rand’s phenomenal success and I try to remind myself (and my co-workers) of it everyday. Original is overrated in my opinion, because original is not always good. It’s not always the right direction to take.

I love the idea that “your obvious is your talent”, I think that one is going up on the wall next to “Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.” Excellent post as usual.

Looking back at all the times I’ve prepared a pitch, with a structured plan of what I’m going to say, complete with carefully chosen opening anecdote/startling fact/intriguing question to hook them in, I’ve suddenly realized that my most successful pitches (ie. the ones where I got a TV programme commissioned) were the ones were I was slightly on the back foot and pitched on the fly. I can’t remember what I said, but it obviously worked.

I think it’s something to do with the need to impress someone can paralyze you (pitching/dating/stand up comedy – I’ve done them all…and it always goes better without a script. Maybe I just need a better scriptwriter..?).

But if you are thrown into a situation where you don’t have time to prepare an over-think something, then the worst has already happened and. With having nothing to lose you can relax and just do it. I think the Americans call it speaking from the heart, and Brits might say just pitch it with passion. That works for dating too!

I do agree with Amy above where she says, “I suppose it’s not just about producing something and wondering who will like it, but also producing, and not caring if people hate it.”

From a personal standpoint, I know that I struggle with originality a lot, I’d rather not write something than write “just another post about ____.” Yet, I’ve noticed that I can toil for hours on something that it seems nobody notices at all, but leave it to those times where I write a rant that I “just have to get off my chest” and it goes over like gangbusters. It’s those times where I don’t care if people like or hate what I’m working on that seem to shine.