When You Least Expect It

As I sit and write this blog post, I have a publisher's proof of one of my forthcoming handbell pieces sitting beside me.  The piece is entitled Sarabande, and I can remember exactly where I was when I got the first inklings of an idea for it.

I was petting Marcus, our Primary Cat; saying good-bye to Susan, our Emergency Backup Cat; and rushing out the door to go to my job as an elementary school librarian.  This tune started running through my head, and I had no time to capture it.  It would have been so easy to just disregard the idea, let it slip away, and go on to work.  It's the sort of thing all of us do a dozen times a day.  It's just easier to let the idea disappear, so we let it go, to be lost forever to the ether.

But something told me this idea was worth keeping, and so what did I do?  I usually play the radio or my MP3 player in the car while I'm on my way to school.  This day, I played my new handbell piece over and over in my head, so much so that by the time I got to school a half hour later, it had become an ear worm, one of those annoying songs you hear ad nauseum in your mind's ear.  At that point, I knew I wouldn't forget it ... but I still jotted down what I could of the melody as soon as I wasn't piloting a moving vehicle. 

It's a truism of the Creative that ideas are going to come when and where they will, and usually at the most inconvenient of times.  In the car.  As we're rushing out the door.  In the shower.  In bed about twenty seconds before we'd otherwise fall asleep.  These ideas come, and our first inclination is to disregard them, discard them, let them die.  It takes work and extra effort to somehow store these ideas for our later use ... but we would be wise to go to that extra effort.

First, though, why do ideas come at such maddeningly inconvenient times?  The answer I like best is that God (or the Muse, if you wish) has a perverse sense of humor.  The answer that's closer to the truth is that these times are when our minds are most relaxed and at ease, when we give our conscious minds permission to wander willy-nilly from topic to topic -- which is exactly the sort of mental leisure our minds need to be creative. 

It's also the sort of mental leisure that causes us to want to just ignore the idea and go on about our daydreaming.

What's a creative to do in such a case?

• Keep a journal, manuscript book, or sketch book handy -- Just like a smoker can train himself not to smoke, a Creative can train herself to jot down her ideas as soon as they occur, no matter the circumstance.  Before long, rising back up out of a half-sleep to put down that plot twist for a story won't seem like such a big thing anymore.
• Speak your idea aloud -- Sometimes the simple act of verbalizing an idea and making it audible can trigger our memory centers enough that we'll remember it later.  Be careful, however -- this method is far more fickle than putting it down in a concrete form.  That's why it's better to...
• Invest in a digital voice recorder -- I carry one of these, as well.  With the flick of a switch and the push of a button, anything I can speak aloud (or sing or hum or whistle) is recorded.  I can then either play it back directly from the recorder, or transfer the audio file to my computer and listen to it later (or store it in an "Ideas" folder).
• Let the idea die and don't sweat it -- This one appeals to me the least, but it's one I do on a regular basis.  If you cling to every idea that comes into your head as if it were the best and last idea you'll ever have, the Muse will visit less often -- who wants to be around someone that needy and clingy?  I'm not recommending you take a cavalier attitude to letting ideas get away, but should one slip through your mental fingers, let it go in peace and don't berate yourself.  This will, in turn, open up the flow to more ideas to come into your life, because they'll know that you won't grasp them with a death grip until they wither and perish.

Ideas are tricky, ephemeral things, and must be treated as such.  When they come -- even if we let them go -- it is ever wise to acknowledge them for the wonderful, amazing things they are.

Anyone have their own ways they capture ideas for later use?  Please share it in the comments section below -- we'd love to hear from you!  Until then, keep daydreaming, and keep creating.