Creative inspiration…zzz…oh, wake me up. Because if I sit around waiting for creative inspiration, I’m likely to fall asleep. If you click the link above, you’ll find a wikipedia article that defines creativity as something new. But that new something is most often an outgrowth of lots of older pre-existing ideas. As a young pianist, I spent much of my time listening to the great pianists I admired, imitating and emulating their styles. As a beginning songwriter, I spent hours upon hours listening to and then dissecting my favorite songs. Creative people spend years assembling their own personal tool boxes. If you’re a visual artist, that toolbox may be filled with your imitation and inspiration from the masters, Picasso, Monet, etc. Here are some tips on how to be more creative and work toward your inspiration, instead of waiting for that great idea to just hit you out of the blue…like that’s going to happen!
Don’t Wait For That Light Bulb Moment
Let’s Make Creative Inspiration Happen
- Take it all in. It’s not often that I wake up in the morning with an inspired idea. But I do often wake up inspired to work. That work usually starts by listening, reading or watching. I’ll fill my head with the wonderful creative things and ideas that already exist. That’s how I begin to find my creative inspiration.
- You have to schedule time. Grab a palette of paint, a brush and sit in front of a blank canvas with one rule; that you’ll have more paint on the canvas than on the palette before you are done. Don’t judge the quality of your work too harshly. It’s most important to begin, to make a mess and to work. I’ll sit at the piano in the morning even if I’m not inspired. After a few minutes, things begin to happen. Good, bad or in the middle, at least I’m making music.
- Make More. Even a one hit wonder probably wrote lots of songs before that first hit song happened. Think of the drafts that came before the final version of a novel. And, sometimes your best creative ideas come in the middle of the work. I’ve started many songs with an emotion and a few chords, not knowing where the song would take me. Sometimes the hook, that best creative idea, reveals itself well after the song’s begun. For me, creative inspiration often comes in the middle of a work in progress.
That thing I said above about scheduling time? That’s the beginning and the end. The middle is the perseverance you’ll need to fill the time you’ve scheduled. Remember, the harder you work, the luckier you’ll get.