Where Ideas Come From
I’ve often gotten the question “where do you get your ideas?” and nothing insights more incoherent babbling from me. I’ve never had a good answer… Until now:
Ideas are born on the highway between Montreal and the Ottawa Valley.
I didn’t say it was a great answer. Probably not what the interviewer is looking for per se… But literally, I’ve come to realize, this is where I get my ideas.
I just got back from a 10 day writing retreat to the country. That was the plan anyway. In truth not much writing got done. More exploring, kayaking, mushroom hunting and television watching than anything else. I saw a beaver. Not on the TV either - in real life. Come to think of it, it was very much like one of these so called “vacations” that I’ve heard so much about. I can’t say I liked it much. I tend to be happier when I’m working. But you can’t get blood from a stone and I think that I was so jazzed about getting some writing done that I stalled my brain. In textbook irony it wasn’t until the drive home that things started percolating again.
Joke’s on you, Irony. I don’t have a day job, so I’ll still get to write now that I’m back!
I think it’s the monotony of driving. Compared to the usual cacophony of hat juggling I’m used to it’s a real change of pace for my grey matter. It tricks my brain into doing something else with its time. I suppose if you’re the opposite and your day to day is a little on the bland side you may need some action to generate those ideas. Like a mental backwash. If you’ve got a bit of the ol’ blockage just do the opposite of what your brain is used to.
Probably a little bit of an obvious tip but hey, it can’t hurt to remind ourselves that there’s no secret formula for inspiration. Just different ways of coping with the lack of it.
May 7th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
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