The rest/recharge idea is paramount. As Don Draper says: "You came here because we do this [creative work] better than you, and part of that is letting our creatives be unproductive until they are."

You can also sign me up for the "introvert" category. My endless curiosity and vivid imagination has never disappeared. And because of it, I am more than happy to spend hours and hours writing and reading everyday.

Then couple my love of writing and reading with a passionate love of cinema - watching a movie practically every day - and you have 3 dominant activities in my life that don't require other people...lol

I am not some bitter hermit that hates people or being around them. I'm beyond open-minded and compassionate towards all human beings. And as a paradox, I LOVE traveling and experiencing new places.

But my interest in creation just supersedes my desire to constantly consume.

As I storyteller - I mix my life's experiences with my heart's passions and my mind's "what if" questions.

I was meditating on this very fact on my walk today. For me it's all about the Creator. By definition, He is the origin of all things creative...and His Son was a pretty good storyteller too.

That's interesting, but it doesn't really get far enough. It just sounds like a variation of Myer-Briggs. What about all the left brain-right brain stuff? I still have to check the original article, so may be jumping the gun here.

I was a musician too. (I've noticed so many creative people are talented in more than one area.) Stage fright pushed me toward specializing in my second interest, writing.

So yes, I'm shy/ introverted. And yet when I'm around people that I'm comfortable with I can be hugely gregarious. And my day job (marketing/ PR) forces me to interact with people, sometimes even larger groups.

The points you've highlighted have all been pretty obvious to me in my own life: I'm extremely sensitive (which contributes to the introversion), need to recharge and yet go full-speed when I'm really into something.

I think I'm also a little ADD, or maybe it's just my restless mind. So I love it when I get into that laser focus stage. "In the zone." Musicians, visual artists, actors, writers all know what that's like on a good day.

I've been interested in the topic of creativity/ the brain for years. I recently started thinking about a sci-fi script that centers on the brain. And as a sidebar to the main story it includes a little about the brain & music.

That's pretty on point for me too. I've always noticed my contradictions, especially the first two.

The first one sometimes means days of unproductivity until energy builds up and must be spent. :/

I'm no fan of pop psychology - but that seems pretty accurate for me too.

I love nothing more then being on stage, unless it's sitting quietly and working for hours.

I'll cry at the drop of a hat (at things which are wonderful, not just sad things) - and admit to it in public.

Energy/Rest, well, not so sure - I think I prefer the "rest" bit :-)

Wow, I didn't think someone did research into this.

Yes, this does describ myself. At any given moment I am thinking about a story idea, plotting it out or thinking of ways to improve it. I go to bed like this, and wake up like this. I may be sitting in front of my laptop a lot, but I'm working on two story ideas, two seperate blogs, critiquing other's work, and thinking of ways to promote my own. And this doesn't include the 'real world' stuff.

The extroversion/introversion I found very interesting. Two opposites, and yet they work. I love to talk to people online, but face to face or at a party, leave me up against the wall, thanks.

I am overly sensitive. I've never seen Old Yeller, and I don't want too. I know the story, and I can't get past the opening credits.

Good post. :)

I've often (but not always!) thought of us creatives as being almost bi-polar or having multiple personality disorders - exhibiting symptoms just not enough to require medication...usually.

Fits me to a T too and explains a lot- I need to be around people and then I need to be alone to engerize- I like being curled up watching a movie and working- and I love being in the swirl of a big project- just nice knowing I fit somewhere!

As a trait of creatives, I would add a tendency to be scattered. Most suffer from a lack of focus -they want to do and know everything (It probably has something to do with having all those people in their heads.) But those that are able to knuckle down and work on one thing at a time achieve magic.

"Do I contradict myself? Very well; I contradict myself. I am vast; I contain multitudes." --Walt Whitman

Creativity is finding new solutions. Seeing new worlds, forging something from nothing, hugely relevant to artists, scientists, and all writers. Creativity is where all the fun is.

In art, you got medium and message, form and content, mode and matter. Picasso played beautifully with both in Guernica, cubism (new way of revealing world), speaking to revolution (seeking new world). Writing is limited to words, our vehicles of public language, and the screenplay is more prescribed than most writing (needs to be, it's a distilled template, needs to be instantly communicable).

I think creativity comes hugely into play in the story, the construct beneath the words, and the dialogue which arises from the story, and the action lines, which arise from the story and your voice. Me, my voice is clumsy, so I'm just aiming to strip every unnecessary word from action, trusting the heart of the story to help guide me.

My thinking is tangential, my nature introvert, I'm a comfortable extrovert professionally, even public speaking, but that spectrum from just past personal up to professional, leaves me befuddled, and I suspect I'm often too intense, frank, and possibly ask too many questions (very curious), on the plus side, I always get great stories from people.

I honestly don't know which one describes me. I'm almost tempted to say "extrovert/introvert" because I do have very good people skills and can work a room, but I actually prefer to be alone. Most "wallflowers" are afraid or can't talk to people. Whereas you could drop me off in the middle of the Gobi Desert and I'd be laughing and bonding with the locals in no time. My solitude was always a choice. (I'm from a big family and am now married into a big family - so "solitude" really doesn't exist any more in my world...)

Since I was about 2 or 3, it seems, I've been fairly consumed by existential questions. But somehow I didn't get swallowed up by despair and nihilism. There's too much in this Universe that holds my attention. I've literally never been bored in my life.

So, I'm sort of like a distracted puppy - always finding something to focus on. (usually not my writing...) But when I don't have anything to focus on, I go right back in my head and start working out my views on Purpose and Meaning and whether or not I'll stop being stubborn and accept that there is an Afterlife...