The real reason for writer’s block can be found at the very amusing Savage Chickens’ site. All you have to do is follow this link and all will be revealled.

I once had a dream. I remember the dream felt like a movie blockbuster. There was action, suspence and a fantastic story. I remember thinking in the dream that this would make a great film (don’t worry dreams are like that). The dream ended and so did my sleep. I slowly woke up, still thinking about the awesome dream. Gradually the plans and practicalities of the day ahead loomed into thought. The dream drifted to the periphery of my thought, but I still wanted to record what had happened.

I got washed, dressed and went downstairs to the desk that had my pens and paper ready to write the basic outline of my fantastic dream story. As I approached the desk I searched my mind for the story, reached out into my subconscious, grasping futilely. The idea was gone.

“Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down.”
Hector Berlioz

I now keep a notebook and pen next to my bed. I have never had that dream again, however, perhaps writing this post will enable my subconscious to leak it into my dreams again.

“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.”

Erich Fromm

and as you let yourself go, you’ll discover creative vistas laying themselves before you.

Words are a wonderful source of inspiration and the following site could prove useful to those seeking it.

Wordie [wûrd • ?]

Like Flickr, but without the photos.

Wordie lets you make lists of words—practical lists, words you love, words you hate, whatever. See who else has listed the same words, add citations and comments, and discuss.

Wordie

There is a great find over at graphicdesignblog to help with sourcing digital images for your creative work. You can find all about Yotophoto by following the link.

Graphic Design Blog » Find Free Photos on Yotophoto, the Free Images Search Engine

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There is a great post, with some very interesting questions at the end over at Inspiration Bit. I’ve been mulling over them since reading the post so I thought you should have the chance too.

Not content with simply being a creative genius in the genre of the Dilbert Comic Strip, Scott Adams is now handing out advice for us all. Follow the link to see a great post from Scott on how to be creative.

The Dilbert Blog: How to Be Creative

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I spoke recently about letting your emotions free in order to be aid your creativity. It isn’t always easy for us to  do that. Years of programming has deadened our emotions and hidden them  from us… the joys of adulthood  – just look at the release that comes when you actually break down and let things go with a good cry.

But I digress, yes sometimes I do, don’t look so surprised. Whilst not condoning excessive amounts of drinking one quick and simple way to let your emotions out is a drop of alcohol. The reason this works is that alcohol loosens our minds and our inhibitions. If you are finding it difficult to release your emotions and inner child then a glass of wine could be just the thing. More than that though and your judgment is impaired and you may be creative but not in any direction you wanted to go, but hey.

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It happens to the best of us (me) and it can strike at any time. We don’t know what causes it to happen (well perhaps someone, somewhere, knows the reason but they are not telling the rest of us) and the resolution is often drastic. I am, of course, talking about a windows fatal error. Windows won’t load, it crashes, it gets stuck in endless loops. You follow all the rescue tutorials, (printed out from work as you now have no access to t’internet at home) use all the rescue disks, (even the installation disk that claims it will either rescue the OS or overwrite any corrupt files) but still no joy. When this happens there is only one thing to do… reinstall. Well this, as you may have guessed, has just happened to me. XP went AWOL and so I had to bite the bullet and say goodbye to a hard drive crammed with… actually a lot of rubbish, which leads to this post.

Having started the process of getting the family PC back in working order there were one or two things that I had to do, or think about, which could help us all in our creative journeys. So hold on tight and let’s take a look.

• Rip it up and start again. Sometime what you have isn’t working, we shouldn’t be afraid to simply let it go and say ‘bye, bye’, however long we have been working on it. If it isn’t working, sometimes it needs to be thrown out.
• Reassess what you have. My PC was full of many programs that I really didn’t use. They had been loaded with the intention of using them ‘someday’. Although diversity is needed within creativity it can sometimes hinder. Too much choice is as damaging as too little. So, do you really need to ‘waste’ time deciding the medium for your creativity?
• Do you really need it. Similar to above but more of a ‘clear your head’ attitude here. I had backed up certain files and folders but not everything. A reinstall would mean that I would lose anything that wasn’t backed up. There were one or two things that I would need to work on again but… there was a lot of junk and clutter that was simply sitting there, gathering dust and clogging the creative cogs.
• If you need it, keep it safe. We all know we should back-up the important pieces of work we do, but how often and how well do we do it? If you are a writer do you have your work in hard and soft copy and in several locations should one be destroyed? If you are a painter where are your canvases kept, are they safe from fire, flood and theft? Of course, we are limited by our resources but we should be as careful as we can be, or afford to be.

Well, I am going back to reinstalling the software that I do need, speak soon.

PS Yes I know I could also do the following:

• Use a different OS
• Not change the file system from FAT 32 to NTFS without reading all the small print
• Stick to pencil and paper

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We’re all naturally creative, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t get stuck at times as we try to express ourselves. Here are five simple ways to kick-start your creative imagination; very simple yet very effective.

• take a different route – routine is one of the worst enemies of creativity, get stuck in a rut and you’ll stay there. Think differently and you’ll be creative, take a different approach than you normally do and you’ll solve the issue.
• lie down – this is basically making you relax, putting out of your mind all the worries and cares of the day and letting your creative thoughts run free. I often lie down, forget about everything and then focus on one creative task, within minutes my mind is being creative, the only danger is drifting off to sleep but that is my problem.
• stand up – ‘eh? You just said lie down.’ Well, if you are hunched over a blank piece of paper, trying to be creative, concentrating and worrying, it can be deadly. If you focus too much on an issue or problem you may miss the simple solution. So stand up, walk around and change the environment, stretch, rub your neck, anything… just get away from the blank paper.
• change the genre – still stuck? If you were a musician how would you solve the issue if you were a writer? Or vice-verse. If you’re stuck think how someone else would think, it can be a revelation.
• phone a friend – and remember you are not alone, two creative minds are better than one. Working on the same problem two minds can solve a seemingly insurmountable problem.

Go on, have some creative fun.

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