I have a friend who swears all his ideas for his poems and stories come to him in the shower. And another friend says he has to be on a walk with his dog for ideas to sprout in his head. If he's alone -- without a leash in his hand and his dog panting by his side -- he's empty-headed. My girlfriend says most of her ideas for her art spring from her while she's watching her giggly kids. So I guess everyone has their process.I was trying to figure out mine. And it occurred to me that, to be creative, I need absolute silence -- a sort of creative meditation. Which is a total joke in my household with two whiny cats, an attention-craving dog, a goldfish that has somehow turned into koi and begs for food every time we get near the tank, two sweet but boisterous boys, and a husband whose latest obsession is this Plants Versus Zombies video game he downloaded to the computer directly next to mine. Needless to say, Zen rarely happens. It's especially ellusive amidst the moans of zombies. But when I do get enough silence and can slip into my creative meditation, it's magical.
So what's your process, your muse, your creative wellspring? Share, share, share! Some of the wacky things that inspire us would make for a great article, don't you think?
THE SHOWER
ReplyDeletei am alone, unencumbered
clean of conscience
unawake to ego
the day is new and i'm baptized
water to cover my earthbound eyes
i am open
to the world
of ideas
I don't really have a muse, that I can think of. I do often think of ideas when I'm falling asleep, which is unfortunate, because I don't then get up to write them down!
ReplyDeleteChris, you're giving yourself away. And Ian, you need a tape recorder by your bed!
ReplyDeleteI wonder about the ideas. That moment in between sleep and, um, wakefulness (?) is when logic sort of goes out the window, and things make sense that really aren't supposed to make sense. :-) But I like the idea. I might do just that.
ReplyDelete