Mark, the Broadcasting Brain, has simple needs: he does his best work at the kitchen table with papers spread out around him.

I do too.

Bill finds there’s an astonishing lot of physical movement in the apparently sedentary act of writing, and a good hike with his dog can shake out the ideas.

Same here.

Susan’s muse is best courted by a morning ritual of just the right balance of distractions and peace, in just the right workspace.

Me too.

Kat says the key to doing great creative work is simply starting, though possibly with the aid of a kayak and a glass of wine.

Ditto!

So what’s the real bottom line here?  How do I do my best creative work?

Tough question. And the specifics depend on what kind of creating we’re talking about: building a website, writing a book, constructing a blog tutorial, plotting a film treatment, sketching for a painting, planning a lesson… And what do we mean by “best,” anyhow? Most satisfying, most lucrative, most original, or most critically acclaimed?

(A terrific way to avoid creative productivity, by the way, is to keep answering questions with more questions instead of forcing yourself to find an answer – even if the answer might change or be tossed aside, later, as you continue to explore and refine your work!)

I do my best creative work in a two-step process:

1. Channel the Romantic poets
2. Do the Hokey-Pokey

Bear with me here – there’s a chance this may not be quite as lunatic as it sounds...

... or maybe it is?

So, just for fun, try this exercise as a time audit. Set a timer for random intervals, say 40 minutes. There are a number of online timers, but I like to use one called e.ggtimer.com. (You could also go old school and get an actual egg timer.)When the timer goes off, take a moment to note what you are doing. I like to do this in a spiral notebook I keep on my desk, but again, whatever note-taking method you prefer is A-OK. Do this throughout the day. It should go without saying that this will only be useful if you are really honest. Then look back over your notes. How many times did you write down Facebook?

We were working dogs on scent discrimination, and one lady had her sheltie on a table doing two metal articles. Now, there are many ways to do scent discrimination. You can do it by starting with all articles scented and gradually introducing non-scented articles. I do this like any other I would do, establishing the scented article and immediately teaching the dog to discriminate based on scent by introducing an unscented article right away. I'm not sure either approach is better, I'm just more comfortable with this approach.

Anyway, this sheltie had not done scent before this event but she was starting to "get it". She picked the scented article 3 times, and on the 4th time picked the unscented one. The trainer gave no response, and the sheltie dropped the unscented article but it fell right onto the scented one, forming a kind of X. The sheltie started nosing at the articles but couldn't get the unscented one off -- so she picked them both up! And then stood there, proudly, the two articles in her mouth, looking expectantly at her handler. I don't know if the written description gets it across, but it was hilarious and exhilirating at the same time to see this shy little dog working with such determination on a task she had only first learned about 10 minutes before.

This is exactly the kind of moment that makes dog training by operant conditioning so exciting and rewarding.

As a proud parent, you have raised little Billy or Luke to that age at which they have decided they would like to have something to nurture and care for of their very own. There are many factors to consider when choosing your child’s new playmate, so I’ve compiled this helpful guide to help you in your decision....

Bottom line, your choice of Mogwai or Ewok will depend in large part on care and feeding and lifestyle of the family into which it's to be introduced: Ewoks understandably come out ahead on maintenance issues, according to this handy guide by Mike Hepples - and let's face it, they win the Adorable Sweepstakes hands down - but you might want to hide the slingshots and pointy sticks.