Why creativity? Why now?

It wasn't the intention to tackle the monstrous topic of creativity. But these things evolve, and now I'm nearing something close to a first draft of The Creative Condition, my 2nd non-fiction book, due out 8 years after my debut, Champagne and Wax Crayons: Riding the Madness of the Creative Industries. There's so much I've learned, and continue to soak up, not just through this research, writing, and editing process, but since I consciously began my fascination with the infinite forms of human creativity in my early teens.

This platform, over others, seems to attract healthy discussion and none of the toxicity of others, so I wanted to crystalise that and invite you in to share the process with me.

Writing helps to make sense of life. For me it did before I wrote with a mind to show it to anyone. That's why psychotherapists and life coaches will recommend it as a starting point to understanding our own minds.

Creativity is paradoxical: on a personal level the solution to the vast majority of the challenges in my life but at the same time, this shapeshifting, amorphous entity that is incredibly difficult to understand on a conscious level. Trying to articulate or define it can baffle even the most celebrated minds, and with my double F in school science, I'm really not one of those. So most people leave it well alone, or diminish its worth, keeping it in its classic box; the domain of bohemian slackers and hobbyists, forever in the shadow of good old quantifiable, parent-friendly academia.

To flip it back and defend myself, what I see now is, the broader, societal lack of understanding of creativity's value beyond the easel or instrument played a major and infuriating part in that shocking grade and years of believing I was simply stupid. The gradual understanding that it had more to do with the grotesque championing of academic intelligence to the borderline abolition of many other forms of intelligence proved the fuel to want to write another nonfiction book. To challenge and change the madness. I cannot sit back and continue to watch more vulnerable young people failed and demonised by the institutions that should be empowering them to overcome troubled starts in life. These people are the next generation of every pillar, fabric, and facet of our society.

I was terrified of dissecting creativity's infinite layers; each one its own colour and texture. So it took five years and half a binned manuscript from the conception of the idea for 'The Creative Condition', to settling on an approach that would work best. The more fascinating people from all walks of life I had the privilege of speaking to, the more I trusted that if I stayed true to myself, and my creative spirit, without shying away from my ability to write a more journalistic and at times, scientific book, I could tackle this monster. People have tackled the topic successfully in a more academic manner, so ultimately, this was not about not oversimplification, but distillation.

Maybe my large head is the barrel in which these raw materials have been aging, and by the time the book jacket is designed, with its sexy foiled lettering and impactful artwork, it'll have all the appeal of those whisky bottles we can't quite come to discard when they're empty. That's what I want: to make something from all this toil, anger, and at times what feels like enlightenment, that people can read, and read again. I want to help people not just maximise their creativity but understand it well enough to trust, then activate within others. Until we reach a point in our collective culture where, as Professor Anna Abraham perfectly put , we reach our '1980s physical fitness moment' - an awakening where everyone realised they could do this too.

But for now, while I knock the draft manuscript into shape, I hope you'll join me on this ride of discovery and exploration.

Alongside these newsletters, if you don't already listen, my podcast of the same title is seven years old and as fun as ever to make, so it might be up your street. You can listen here on Spotify , or on your preferred podcast platform.

Ben x