ll help youslide into that exalted place more easily, and give yourcreative spirit the nurturing it needs. 1. Turn off the news and listen to music instead. The creative part of your self is sensitive, easily upset by thenegative stream that passes through the news desks of ournation. Therefore, limit or completely turn off the news. Onceyou wean yourself of it, you'll find that you really don't carewhat the headlines are. If you live alone, and like to havetelevision or radio 'noise' in the background to keep youcompany, play music, books or poetry on tape, or positive talkradio.2. Keep your work nearby. Ideally, you'll have an office with a door that's right in yourhome. That way, if inspiration strikes while you're foldinglaundry, you can put down the sheets, walk upstairs and dosomething about it. (I was cooking dinner when I got the ideafor this article.) When re...

...cording artist Stevie Wonder is on theroad, he has a crew member whose sole job is to set up hiskeyboards wherever he is. In an interview with The New Yorker,Stevie stopped himself several times to go off and compose whena melodic theme popped into his head, right there in the middleof a backstage dressing room. 3. If you take a break, stay 'fuzzy'. There's a certain fuzziness that comes with creating -- aloose-in-your-joints feeling that results from letting thecreative flow pass through you. By all means try to hang on tothis feeling, even when you need to take a break. Don'tinterrupt it with a lot of hard-edged activities like businesscalls, important decision-making, or reading financial mail.Instead, drift around, read a magazine, a book, or a letter froma friend, turn on music, play a game with your child. or cook alittle food. 4. Always act on your instincts. This is how some of the best research for your project will getdone. Call up that friend whose name keeps floating across yourmind; take that flyer that seems intriguing for reasons youcan't quite figure out. If you listen to your instincts thefirst time, it's really much easier to get things done.5. Keep note-making material handy wherever you are. There should be small pads of paper, notebooks, or personalmessagers sprinkled throughout your life. Put them in usefulplaces like your car, the bathroom, and beside your bed, wherethe best ideas often strike. Use a personal messager or digitalrecording device to keep track of your ideas. This is a neatlittle recording gizmo often no bigger than a credit card, thatcan record 25 or even a couple hundred messages at a time …whenever and wherever the mood strikes. Some of them even comeon key rings; many cost less than $10. When you have a moment, you can copy these messages into yourcomputer, daily planner, notes, or wherever the informationneeds to go. 6. Get out and see other people's work in your field. Read trade journals, see exhibits or attend conferences. Get toknow who and what is out there. Not only will this fill yourhead with ideas and ways to do things differently, it will giveyou inspiration on many fronts, including how to make your ownwork even more distinctive. You'll also learn things about yourbusiness you simply can't learn any other way, and possibly findyour way to valuable collaborations or business partnerships. 7. Live and work in a beautiful place. There is no substitute for natural beauty -- even if it's asunset seen from an apartment on the twentieth floor. Having aview of nature, one way or another, is a wonderful way to keepthe spirit flowing through your door and into your work. If youcan't arrange a river view, put something natural in yoursurroundings that speaks to you, even it's a window full ofhouse plants. Your soul will thank you, and your work willthrive.8. Indulge in the other arts. For decades, Woody Allen spent every Monday night playing hisclarinet with a bar band at an Upper East Side jazz club inManhattan. Steven King and Amy Tan have been known to play in arock band called The Remainders. Michelangelo wrote sonnets andlove songs, and even Paul McCartney has had exhibitions of hispaintings. Spending some time fooling around with other forms ofcreative expression is not only enriching for your soul, itopens you up to new possibilities for your main creative work. ©2005 Suzanne Falter-Barns LLC....