I’m a writer. Sure, it’s been seven years since I had anything published, but I have one novel out looking for a place to live (publisher), and I’m currently writing another one. There are half a dozen more in my head.

When my first book came out years ago, my mother was proud but also amazed. She said, “Where did you get your creativity? I’m not creative.”

This from the woman who made much of my clothing and that of my sister when we were growing up. Having a son of my own now, I’m not sure Mom sewed much for my brother. It’s hard to find patterns for boys.

Anyway, after I got married, Mom took up quilting and found her medium! She made quilts, jackets, tote bags, and placemats and table runners galore. She made quilts when there was no one to give them to. She made them because she loved it.

She died two years ago and I inherited all of her sewing stuff because my sister-in-law didn’t want it. In fact, she tried to get me to take HER sewing machine, too, but as much as I love to sew, a girl can only use so many machines.

I found a baby quilt top Mom had finished. It only needs batting, backing, quilting and binding to be done, so I’m doing that. There are several more tops and parts of tops I’ll be working on, too.

All of this got me to thinking about creativity. Mom didn’t think she was creative because she didn’t think of herself as an artist.

What is an artist? Is it merely someone who paints masterpieces that hang in galleries, or is it someone who sews her daughter a skating costume to wear to the roller skating rink every Saturday?

I know lots of writers and nearly all of them engage in some other form of “art work.” Many paint, but others do needlework or garden or create scrapbooks and other paper crafts.

Creativity, I propose, is a way of thinking. An outside the box way of thinking. A way of thinking that says, “Just because we’ve always done it this way might mean it’s time to do it another way.”

I think if you make your child a lunch for school and you decide not to put in a sandwich because you know he won’t eat it, even though that’s what a school lunch is supposed to be, that’s creative.

If you decide to take a vacation to a campground in Canada when everyone else is going to Disney, that’s creative.

Sometimes just taking a different route to work or school because it might be fun is a creative thing too.

Be creative today!