Observation for me can be a discipline to concentrate on the world around me and write from that, but observation is useful in writing, of course. My art teacher said to me, “Look at the world first, then go into the mind.” It’s something to apply when I catch myself wandering in my imagination a bit too much when the task requires more concentration on what’s in the world or right in front of my nose. Because it seems that art is based on something in reality–which people, my readers, can relate to.