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by Staci Stallings,

Narrated by Artificial Intelligence, Jenny,

Click Above to Read/Listen to the Devotional,

Creativity is an odd animal.

It has to be constantly fed, but there is no routine to its needed diet.

You cannot coddle it nor coax it.  It will come out and play when it’s ready and not a second before that.

Forcing it to do anything will result in it immediately shutting down completely.

That’s why being creative on demand just doesn’t work.

It’s like this post.  I want it to be creative and mesmerizing.

I want you to love it so much you will remember it forever.

Yet…. Sometimes, creativity seems to remain one half-inch out of my grasp.

That’s how it is right now with writing, and it’s one of the most frustrating seasons of writing there is.

People have asked me, “What’s the most difficult part of writing and publishing?” To which I answer, “Whatever part you happen to be doing at the moment.”

It’s weird because after 45 novels, you would think I would have this creativity thing down to a science—or an art.  Either way, after all this time and all this practice, it should be easy.

And yet, it’s frustratingly…. Not!

The good news is, I’m finished with Book #6 which will go on preorder at the end of the month.

The better news is that Book #5 (Only Together) which goes on sale June 1 is finished and ready-to-go.

That leaves Book #7, which I’m writing and Book #8 which is currently on permanent-swirl in my head.

Strangely, I have many parts in mind for both books. I just have to sit down and write them—or so it seems. But first, somewhere I have to find that creativity that somehow seems to have gotten lost.

Don’t worry, dear reader. I’m sure I shall find it somewhere.

Maybe it’s hiding in the Game of Thrones videos I’ve somehow become so interested in watching even though I’ve only known of the show in passing these last eight seasons. (And no, I’m not going to watch the whole thing. I’d never make it through it, but it is fascinating nonetheless from a story person’s point of view. For a mesmerizing take on that for all you writers out there,

Maybe it’s hiding in one of the myriad of TED and TEDx talks I’ve watched over the last month or so, trying to find just the right ones for my sixth grade life skills class. Lots of amazing people in this world—that much I now know.

Maybe it’s in those snippets of dreams I get at three a.m. when I’m just too enthralled with trying to, you know, actually sleep to get up and write something down. Though I did stumble out to the kitchen and find my white board the other night to write this part down:  My old man was a thief, a drunk, and a liar, and now here I am raising a doctor. I guess it just goes to show you what one generation can do to change the world.

Crazy thing is, when I re-read it, it sounds so motivational, and yet, I know in the story it is so not.almost see it, almost feel it, almost experience it, and then it’s gone again.

I think that’s why I started writing in the first place, or at least one of the reasons—because I wanted to try to capture the ephemeral nature of the splashes of insight God had seen fit to send into my life.

And oddly, I think one of those insights is that creativity is a blessing that must be recognized and used at the moment it shows up. Because there is no guarantee you’ll ever come across it again.

How about you, dear reader, how do you experience creativity in your life?  What things do you do to get it to show itself?  What is your most creative endeavor?

I’d love to know….  Maybe that will be the thing that will spark my own creativity and get it to come out and play. It’s worth a shot!

About the Author:

A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe with her various Internet and writing endeavors.