Technology and Creativity

Technology has had a positive effect on creativity.  I just
related a story told to me into a voice recorder and then
plugged it into my PC and, like magic, there is the story
recorded in my voice.

I first purchased a computer in 1997, around April of
that year. I knew nothing about the computer.  I did not
know anything about the internet or even that I had to
have a browser to get there.  I had a browser, but did
not know what it was.  Within a few short months I had
an email account and signed up to get recipes,  news,
and book reviews.  This was the heyday of chatrooms,
when thought they were anonymous just by using a fake
name.  Most did not realize how easy it was to track
one down with only an email persona to go by.  And
some of those individuals within those chatrooms  were
scary.  I quit going there.  I had purchased the computer
as a tool, one that I hoped would help hone my writing skills.

In 1998, during the Winter I found my first writer's group,
Cafe Blue, and I have been a member ever since then.
I asked all the embarrassing questions that new people ask.
But most of my questions were about books and writing.
I was working as traveling cardiac nurse and had not been
seriously invested in academics for a great many  years.
That wonderful group of people woke me up, challenged
me to grow beyond what I was and stretch my writing far
beyond my reach at that time.

I started carrying huge book lists to the library, reading
both poetry and prose.  I read the The Divine Secrets
of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood while in Seattle.  I believe the
author was living in the area, Whitby Island I believe.
Out of the reading and daily writing, a story burst forth.
It was about the years 1967 and 1968 in my home town.
I had forgotten about the dark side of that time.  In one
summer I learned, not firsthand but close enough, about
sexual perverts that liked young girls and I learned about
racial discrimination.  That story is somewhere in all  my
prolific writings and a copy exists on an old hard drive
somewhere.  Moving and traveling had distinct
disadvantages, but I could feel myself changing, a
metamorphorisis of soul, from inside to outward.  My life
proved to be challenging, but I discovered inner strengths
of which I was unaware.

Today I have a literal library of poetry books, most still in
storage, but they are safe.  I rarely go a day without writing.
And most, not all, of that writing is done on my laptop.  I
have a desktop computer, but the laptop was my birthday
present.  This new computer and I fought daily in the
beginning.  Now, well, I love it.  I am able to write in comfort.
That is a definite plus.  (I continue to have paper journals however.)

The latest new form of technology in which I have indulged
myself is a Kindle,  I did a lot of thinking about this decision
and finally said, "I'm going to do this."   I just ordered my
books, classics all except for two quick reads, today,  I
am going to the beach and wanted to take good reads with
me.  There are more books on that tiny apparatus than I
could read in a year.  I only spent between 20-25 dollars.
I have already read a bit of poetry by Emily Dickinson. The
Kindle  is a breeze to operate.

With the internet, books and dictionaries are at my fingertips
always and an abundance of genre writing groups to surf, one
cannot avoid improving their writing. I read for my growth
and information. And all this reading and learning can only
have positive effect on my writing.

Technology has spurred mr to learn more about all subjects
of interest. It promotes leaning and creativity by opening
the doors wide to whole worlds of information.  The internet
has been focal in the ways we now view the world and learn
about it.  Learning new things, new skills and information,
spurs creativity.


Kate Thorn--3/26/11








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