What I'm Reading Now

On Chesil Beach

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
On Chesil Beach explores the long lasting consequences of a single action (or rather, inaction). I have enjoyed previous Ian McEwan novels, and I did "like" Chesil, however it did not keep me up late at night. It's a short work (apx 40,000 words) so it you're a McEwan diehard, at least it won't take you long to finish.


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Psychology of Creativity

As I am a writer and a soon-to-be psychologist, one subject that continues to fascinate me is individual creativity. We are all creative in one aspect or another but like all abilities creativity is expressed in a multitude of fashions and degrees. One person’s most creative act is using a spoon for a shovel while another’s is using a Coke can to fix their engine; degrees of creativity.

What is creativity? J.P. Guilford (1967, 1988) proposed creativity involves divergent rather than convergent thinking. Divergent thinking requires coming up with a variety of ideas or solutions to a problem when there is no one right answer and convergent thinking is “converging” on the best answer to a problem and is, interestingly enough, exactly what IQ tests measure. Consequently correlations between creativity scores and IQ are low to moderate and really only relate in that highly creative people rarely have blow average IQs suggesting that a minimum of intelligence is necessary for creativity (Runco, 1992; Simonton, 1999).

Interestingly, creativity in the arts seems to peak, on average, for people in their late 30s and early 40s. There are of course exceptions; Michelangelo was in his 80s when he worked on St. Peter’s Cathedral. But in general, creative work is thought to require two things, experience and enthusiasm (Beard, 1874), people in their 30s and 40s have both of these. Dean Simonton (1984, 1990, 1991) suggests that each creator may have a certain potential to create that is realized over their adult years; like a well of novel ideas that slowly runs dry as they are used up regardless of when the tapping into them began; this may explain eminent works actualized later in life. By my mind then, can there be any more horrifying event for a creator than the completion of their opus? The Pulitzer darkening their door? “What now?” I hear them cry.

We’ve all read those books, “How did they come up with this?” Something so unique while still able to suspend disbelief, like witnessing magic, it’s the way I felt after reading the first Harry Potter book. This author had somehow transported me back to childhood (along with everyone else) and I clamored for more (along with everyone else) unique and yet still tapping into our ancient archetypes, the universal truths that ring our bells. Creativity.

Steamboat Springs

Well we've just returned from our annual 4th of July family camping foray up to Steamboat Springs. I love that town. Every year I swear we are going to move. Colorado is a pretty friendly state in general but Steamboat epitomizes everything I adore about living with and amongst truly great people who know how to laugh, relax, and just be. Not to mention the world class skiing (even though I'm strictly a green/blue girl) great boutique shopping, and wide array of restaurant choices from cozy cafes to fine dining. The thought of high mountain living lures me in every year and I find myself browsing their real estate guides while my husband pilots us back towards Denver.

Here's a pic of us heading up to the alpine slide on which I proved to be a pamby baby. My daughter got stuck with me and we wrestled over the speed stick all the way down. She's five!

Anyway, don't be surprised if you hear of us moving to higher elevations within the next year or so.

My Very First Customer Review!

Authors are nothing if not whores for praise. So you can imagine how excited I was to see that I've received my very first customer review at Amazon from Kim in Colorado.

Kim in Colorado writes:

"A Better Life, by Rebecca Burgess, follows one family's struggles to move beyond their past. In this amazing chronicle, Ms. Burgess has created a character-focused and character-driven novel, that nevertheless keeps the reader turning pages late into the night to see what will happen next. The characters in A Better Life experience and engender terrible darkness, yet Ms. Burgess' empathy brings them so close that you care deeply about how they will fare. She writes with humor, honesty, and a finely tuned sense of irony. If you love to be the first among your friends to discover amazing talent, read Rebecca Burgess' stunning novel A Better Life."

This is a big deal for me. Thank you Kim in Colorado for taking the time to leave a review, I appreciate your kind words and the endorsement.

Also the wonderfully talented Margaret Lyons has been kind enough to share one of the most focused pictures I've ever seen of her sporting a flashing tiara and reading my book. Thanks Mags!!

It's Like Streaking...Sober

Mr. William Brock sent me this wonderful quote this morning and I just had to share.

A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down. If it is a good book nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book nothing can help him.
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay

So, You Want to be Famous...

I recently was doing some work (of the psychological variety) with a young girl (16), and a common theme that kept surfacing revolved around her becoming a famous model or actress. Now this is not uncommon, especially in our teenage years, but it got me to thinking--I've never read anything in the literature about this very common, very prevailing desire so rampant within our culture. I found this great article in the NYT archives--very, very interesting. And might I add, it seems to have more than just a passing relevance to the many of us struggling to get our work out there.