I was having a conversation with my wife yesterday (whose artistic inclinations tend in different directions) which seemed extremely relevant to this forum. It boils down to:

Strong creativity happens when you have sufficient self confidence to try something new that probably will bomb, but not so much that you think you've already done everything perfectly.

I think that your wife has pegged the physical manifestation of creativity, and also the difference between it and talent.

'Talent' being the measure of how severely one 'bombs' if at all.

This is a topic close to my heart for two reasons, and I thank you james_west for bringing it up because I was thinking about this last night and this morning.

To wit: Orbit will be published by me (6-0 Games). My 'publisher' flaked out (no hard feelings, -like many he's cashing in on d20) and I recently came to the conclusion that the measure of my own confidence shall ultimately be tested in the form of one maxed-out credit card; my credit card, and the question of confidence about whether or not I've 'done everything perfect' is weighing heavily upon my mind. Yet the thing that I keep recalling is that I got into this crazy business because I like gaming and I want to create the same kind of fun for someone else. Corny, I know.

Anyway, it's nearly Zero-Hour for me. So I have to ask: When your game is about to hit the market because you made the deals and paid for the thing yourself, what are you thinking about? How successful (and measure that 'success' anyway you want) do you think you'll be? How do you rate yourself? -(expressed by your game) in Talent + Confidence + Creativity (using the standard 1 - 10 scale) Not to turn up the heat more, but think about it. That game of yours is YOU.

I'll start.
Expressing my 'game-itude' and genius through Orbit

Talent: 9
Confidence: 4.5
Creativity: 7