Matthew Kieran: Creativity, Procrastination and Courage

Many creative people suffer writer's block or procrastinate from time to time. This may take the form of seeking out diversion, half-heartedly 'trying' or even in extremis self-sabotage. Assuming the person is capable and has a decent shot at creative success this seems puzzling.  This talk will attempt to make sense of the puzzle by working through different explanations including fear of failure, perfectionism and anxiety. In doing so it will be argued that - sometimes - the phenomena are best made sense of by thinking in terms of creative vice (i.e. personal weaknesses of someone's creative character).