Thursday Thoughts...

“The problem isn’t coming up with ideas, it is how to contain the invasion. My ideas are like uninvited guests. They don’t knock on the door; they climb in through the windows like burglars who show up in the middle of the night and make a racket in the kitchen as they raid the fridge. I don’t sit and ponder which one I should deal with first. The one to be wrestled to the floor before all others is the one coming at me with the most vehemence.” 

Werner Herzog

What an animated and lively approach to inspiration this is!

Occasionally I think about how to chart or track inspiration for work. Where did the notion arrive from? How did it arrive?  And then what did it become along the way.  I oftentimes find the How did it arrive the most variable.  Sometimes it whispers in my ear what about?  Sometimes I get a blinding flash of understanding and insight and an absolutely confident sense of knowing exactly what should happen and what needs to be done. Sometimes I argue along with the idea. Sometimes I resist. Sometimes I get swept away.

This description of an onslaught of ideas bickering for attention like a litter of lively, clumsy puppies is just great.  I felt this way recently when a friend sent me two books that she no longer felt a need for; on the off chance that I might enjoy them. And I did. 

In the lead up to the showing, with works to complete, and admin things to sort, and plans for display to ponder, I read one of them and got myself entirely carried away with a multiplicity of ideas for what to do next (also knowing full well that I have two major books to complete before the end of the year and that well, time really passing is swiftly!). It was like a cacophony of pinball in my head as my hand fought to keep up with the jumps and leaps and connections and ideas I was having.

I dealt with it by getting a new notebook and jotting down ideas; and promising myself that yes I could play with it all. IN THE NEW YEAR. 

A movie title perhaps, Invasion Of The Ideas...

Las Vegas at night, 2010.