I recently stumbled upon a blog by Austin Kleon (author of Steal Like an Artist and Keep Going) in which he provided some themes for questions when trying to interview or get to know someone. His work centered on conversing with “creative” types but I was so struck by both the simplicity of the questions and the depth of conversation that would come from the questions I made note of them.

The questions include:

• What do you read, watch and listen to?
• How do you organize and keep track of your ideas?
• What are the favourite “tools” of your trade? (Or what are your favourite apps?)
• What do you do to prompt your creative juices or get unstuck?
• How do you collaborate with others in your work?

The questions also made me ponder my own answers, how the answers will differ by generation and if there are people in my world I should ask to learn more!