Pondering the process

Okay so Wendy's found out I've heeded her advice without me even telling her - i was keeping quiet about my blogging forays... just seeing where it might lead me. So perhaps time for a bit of personal reflection.

I had one of those nights last night... I had been thinking about one of the current projects I'm involved in, wrestling with some ways to pull together some ideas that just weren't falling into place... then eventually falling asleep ... only to have the muse jolt me awake at 2.45 am. I find that often seems to be when she taps on my shoulder... i've learnt from past experience that I can't ignore her. Try to go back to sleep and it just doesn't happen. The ideas keep appearing, tumbling over each other, sometimes coherent, sometimes not... so then I give in to the mistress, drag myself out of bed and go and write it all down. It's coming together, a symbol, a character, a pre-text that will prompt young people to want to find out about our dramatic past, a theatrical device, a merchandising opportunity all rolled into one... i'm in love with her already! (I won't tell you more just yet, that might come in time - building tension, hook them in). By 3.15 am I'm ready for bed again. Heart still racing, but I'm feeling good. The ideas haven't just exploded from nowhere though... i've been thinking, researching and talking about this project since last sept (four months now), i'm drawing on lots of different things I've read and seen, my own past and lots of cultural references... the profile seems to sit well with some of things I've read about the creative process by people like Gardner, Gruber, Feldman and the big Csik man. The creative process arises from the flow of experience, knowledge, curiosity and the desire to solve a particular problem... I think i'm getting somewhere. You've got to be open to the callings of the muse I find... ignore her, roll over, take drugs to get back to sleep if you like - but often those mad midnight scribblings contain some gems of insight the next day.