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[Ep 209]\n\n\n\nEach week I claim that writers are discovering ways to reach their writing goals\u2014and have fun\u2014by being more curious, creative, and productive.\n\nAnd each week you may be thinking, \u201cReally?\u201d\n\nYes, I really do believe these three traits or these three values can drive you forward to achieve your goals\u2014and have fun along the way. They are values I myself take to heart and encourage my clients to explore and embrace, because curiosity, creativity, and productivity\u2014together\u2014have the potential to transform both you and your writing.\n\nToday\u2019s overview will give you a high-level look, and in the weeks ahead we\u2019ll drill down into each one, to look at their core. By taking a closer look, you\u2019ll see how developing these traits as a part of everyday life and as part of your writing practice, you\u2019ll position yourself to become the writer you want to be.\nPillar One: Curiosity in the Writing Life\nWhy curiosity on its own? Why not tuck that under the umbrella of creativity?\n\nCuriosity drives us to discover, to wonder, to think \u201cWhat if?\u201d\n\nCould there be a more energizing trait for a writer?\n\nWriters of fiction turn to the \u201cwhat if\u201d prompt to ignite their imagination. Curiosity propels stories forward for the reader as they wonder what\u2019s next. Curiosity gets characters into trouble and then curiosity helps them solve problems to get out of trouble.\n\nPoets, too, benefit from curiosity as a driving force. As the poet asks questions, she looks more closely at anything from a fish to a father. Curiosity calls us to slow down, consider, put the pieces together in a way that the rest of the world, speeding along without a pause, rarely has time to mess with\u2014and curious poets put words to what they\u2019ve pieced together.\n\nWriters of nonfiction who let curiosity guide them will break free from rephrasing the same old points over and over. A curious writer will dig deeper, probe into subject matter, research topics to find the freshest, most accurate answers.\n\n\n\nWriters who value and practice this as a part of their daily lives will likely have more fun along the way, delighting in both big wonders and small, grieving over deep injustice, seeking truth and revealing it.\n\nIn the next episode, we\u2019ll look in more detail about how to develop curiosity as a writer and practice it regularly. Let\u2019s look briefly at the next pillar of the writing life: creativity.\nPillar Two: Creativity in the Writing Life\nYou can enroll in an MFA program to earn a degree in what? Creative writing.\n\nWhatever focus you select\u2014fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction\u2014creativity is the core concept of the program because creativity is core to a writer.\n\nYou\u2019d be hard-pressed to find someone disagree with the belief that creativity is key to great writing, and yet I\u2019ve read pieces that could use an injection of creativity. Aren\u2019t we seeking to create something new rather than regurgitate something old and stale in a style that sounds like it could have been written by anyone?\n\nEmbedded in the idea of creativity is not only that the ideas are creative\u2014they\u2019re fresh, novel, compelling, engaging\u2014but also that we are indeed creating things. We can\u2019t make something out of nothing, but we can mold into existence a passage, a poem, a project from ideas formed out of words. In that sense, writers are creators.\n\nPracticing the craft of writing builds our confidence in wielding the tools at our disposal, but we can practice creativity in other areas of life in a way that enriches us as people. That, in turn, feeds into our work.\n\n\n\nBe more creative as a person, and you\u2019ll move closer to becoming a more creative writer\u2014and thus achieving your writing goals.\n\nAnd the creative process itself\u2014even before arriving at the final product\u2014satisfies the person in the midst of creating. So you really can\u2019t lose if you prioritize this value.\nPillar Three: Productivity in the Life of a Writer\nIf we want to be writers,