I'm about to test a theory that, if I write a lot, writing will come easier, and I will be able to improve my writing style with less effort... here goes.

Let's see, what's the difference between being creative and being artistic? I find it annoying that people confuse these two terms, especially when people 'express themselves' through art and everyone calls them creative. They might very well be creative as well, but it is not creativity they display by expressing themselves artistically, but it is their artistic ability. They did not create anything new, but rather they channeled what was already there into existence in the physical realm. It would be creative if they depicted something that does not already exist or rearranged existing things to mean something new. Arranging things to be aesthetically pleasing is artistic, as is depicting something that already exists, physically or not.

Another thing is what people refer to as 'expressing themselves'. This seems to be one of those buzzwords that everyone seems to accept as a valid expression, but is hard to define from what I've seen. Everyone that I've talked to seems to think it means 'creating a piece of art', which, in my humble opinion, is rubbish. My tentative definition is 'depicting (I love that word) a normally private part of yourself, (e.g, thoughts, emotions, opinions) in such a way that other people can understand.' As you can see, this opens up a lot more options of what could considered 'self expression', and it also removes some things that some people consider to be 'self expression'. For instance, by my definition, this ramble is expressing myself, although it could hardly be called artistic. On the other hand, if someone paints a picture, although it may be highly artistic, the artist may not necessarily express themself through it. Creativity and artistic ability are in no way connected to the ability to express oneself, although artists usually find it easier.

There we go. I'll probably try to write something useful next time, like a character profile.