Over the Thanksgiving holiday, someone asked me if I worried I’d run out of ideas. With complete confidence, I shook my head no. Ideas are not the problem. I have more than my share and could spend most of every single day for the rest of my life trying to do them all justice. And they come from anything and everywhere. Mostly music for me–all kinds of music from hard alternative rock to trip hop to classical–but an idea can spring to life from a line of dialogue in a movie or even from a strangely-shaped stain on a garage floor.
Just yesterday, I hit the 3/4 of a mile spot on my treadmill, had Ladytron playing loud (okay, probably too OMG-frying-my-eardrums- loud) and had an idea hit me with such force, I lost my footing and left one of those horrible black, tennis shoe marks on the wall behind the treadmill. <g>
Between the song and the running, a story took shape that sucked me in pretty deep. I kept running, staring straight ahead, and instead of a bedroom wall, I was seeing the industrial, oily filth in the ruins of a great city. Instead of the slap of my tennis shoes on the moving belt, I heard the slap of a girl’s feet on broken pavement as she ran from pursuers. I got so caught up in wondering why she was running, wondering who was after her… and who she was trying to protect, that I went over a mile past my usual stopping point. I was all loose and wobbly when I finally got off that thing, but the grin on my face was probably something to see. Especially since the face surrounding it was fire red from exertion.
Sweat and all, I typed up the idea while it was fresh and put it into the idea file.
No ideas aren’t the problem. Time is the writer’s adversary.
But it’s not an impossible one to beat. Determination and self-discipline make all the difference. Find that time even if you have to stay up later or get up earlier to get it. That wonderful idea, that wonderful story… it will not be told unless YOU tell it. 😉
And before anyone teases me for being on this New Wave Music kick lately, let me just say the fast beat makes fantastic workout music. And… it’s just possible the steady thumpa thumpa does something to spark that stream of creative thought, as well. 😉
Ladytron’s Runaway
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHMynl9QX7g]