Comments on: Ideas – Hone, Discard or Wait

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:43:41 +0000

arghhhh… classic typo in a headline… thanks

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:10:07 +0000

I don’t understand the title. What is disgard?

By: jorgekafkazar

jorgekafkazar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:06:12 +0000

My theory is that the best ideas come from the subconscious. Thus there's no conscious mechanism that will create them on demand. On the other hand, the subconscious works with what it finds in our heads and hearts. In other words, it may help to fill up our minds with new things. Have as many new experiences as you can. Read. Go places. Observe. Attend performances. Meet people. Find excuses to talk to strangers. Take courses. Explore a few new blogs or websites. Do a what-if as many times a day as you can. Even a bad experience can be turned into a creative moment. .-= jorgekafkazar´s last blog ..Tenirax, Ch V =-.

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:44:54 +0000

Wish I could claim credit for “don’t deflect ideas.” I can’t.

Re inspiration, seems to come in roughly the same proportion that I’m open to it.

By: Paula Swenson

Paula Swenson — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:58:39 +0000

I love that line "Don't deflect ideas" -- it is officially my new mantra! Thanks, Anne! Some of my best writing has come from taking a passage that had to be cut from somewhere else and expanding it into its own thing. I also agree with Kathleen, reading other people's stuff sometimes inspires me, especially if I think I can say it better, or differently, than they did. Sometimes even correcting student writing inspires me, because they either present or miss a connection that is a good jumping off point for a tangential piece. .-= Paula Swenson´s last blog ..A Gift of Time =-.

By: kahtleen

kahtleen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:54:33 +0000

I take something that I see… or I am involved in … and write it; if I am not on assignment. Like when, this weekend, my father-in-law brought the subject up of ‘Missing riding horses’… which I do and it now seems he does too.
I took the dialog from that conversation… added description and will expound upon the subject in a first person view. I have places to submit it.
I read a lot, too. Which as I write this I feel like I am writing a cliché… but it is true… reading helps. Reading someone else’s work either makes me agree with it, or think ‘I could have written that better’ or ‘no, I think this other way on that’ and I write about it.
Proofreading other folks’ work helps me to refocus on what I should be writing. Better writers encourage me to be more like them and lesser writer take me back to when I used to make the same mistakes.
I offer my services to my church which is selfish on my part, because it keeps me from going within too much. They only have me write an article about the happenings at the church a couple of times a year, but I figure I can share my wordplay ability with others and I do whenever I get the chance. Paying it all forward and all, it’s been my motto since I can remember… okay, since adulthood, but still it is a way to keep my writing juices going.
And when all else fails… I pull out a picture from a magazine and make up a story to go with it.