Recently I finished a major project and it was time to write something new but I couldn't think of anything. So I caught up on my sleep and my chores, hung out with some friends and began to relax. All the while I kept looking for an idea. I went to my studio as early as I could and I sat at my writing desk. Then I decided that I'd write something for the paper but I still couldn't think of anything. So I read a book, cleared away old business, wrote in my journal, organized my planner, edited some earier writing. I made myself a strong cup of coffee and stared out the window. I got bored but I stuck it out till quitting time, 5;45 PM. After a few of days of that I began some serious daydreaming. Then I got an idea. I'll write about how I get my ideas.
So there you have it. That's how I get an idea.
Of course, it's not the only way.
I get ideas while travelling or at the lake or playing with my young son or just as I am falling asleep or even in a dream itself. They may be ideas about writing or they may be about gardening or decorating the house, how to solve a problem at work or what I should have said to someone. For me, the real task is to enter a creative state of mind and then to involve the imagination in whatever I do.
I asked some teenagers how they get their inspiration. I like the word, "inspiration" because it means to breathe in. Take a deep breath. Relax. Something interesting may begin to stir.
This is what they answered,
"Sometimes I get upset about something and I have to get "under the influence" - like be all alone. Maybe I'll get drunk and surround myself with music. Or I'll drive to the railway tracks because trains scare me and I'll sit in my car and then I'll write."
"I have this place down in the rec room. It's sort of dark and there's a deep upholstered chair. No one ever comes down there. It's where I go when I want to have really deep thoughts or when I want to write really deep feelings."
"I have all these people who I know. And some of them I don't like or they're really bad in some way. So I turn them into characters in stories. In the stories they become good and kind and we have these terrific times."
"I'll go to a party or better yet to a concert. I'll be with lots of people and we'll all go crazy watching the band because the band is so into its music. Then I'll go home and get out my guitar and I'll play all night. I'll imagine that I'm on stage and everyone is watching me."
"I just keep remembering things. I want to write out what happened and what I learned. Lessons. Everything I've learned I want to write out like they're lessons."
"I don't write. I'm an inside kind of person. I don't get inspired. I don't like to think about things. I dream sometimes. I have some pretty wild dreams. But I don't think about them."
"I get inspired by comics like Adam Sandler. I'll watch one of his movies and I'll think about him for months. I'll try to act like him. I'll tell jokes or do things in a funny way - make everything funny."
"I have my room completely filled with posters, even the ceiling - all of them are musicians. In the middle is Jimmy Hendricks - he's my dad's favourite. All I think about sometimes is what it would be like to be Jimmy. Dad's always talking about him. He's even got his autograph."
"I'll be in my room - it's totally empty, nothing on the walls and I'll read biographies. Then I'll start to pace in my room thinking about the guy's life and how it could be my life. I can pace that way for two hours with nothing in my room but my thoughts about that book."
"I get ideas when I take showers or when I go for long walks, or runs, like I'll get a runner's high and that gives me ideas for a story. It's got to be at night because there's no one around and no distractions. It's like I'm in this big force field, it's coming out of me and getting bigger and generating all sorts of ideas. It's how I like to feel."
There are so many ways to enter a creative state, for so many reasons and with many rewards.
The next question is, how do you get your ideas?
THE END