I was wondering why I was so resistant to sitting down and writing my next book. I just wasn’t in the magic groove, the obsession, the conspiracy to disappear for long periods of time where just the book and l could be alone together, writing each other. So I took out my creative first aid kit, The Nine Modern Day Muse (and a Bodyguard) book, and opened to Muse #3. There, Bea Silly whose principle is essentially “Make it Fun,” instructed me to walk with the question: “What will make this more fun?” Duh, I have a hard time doing ANYTHING if it’s not fun. If you’re willing to let go into the creative matrix of dissociated possibility almost anything can be fun (except maybe going to the dentist).
The book was going to be about creative lenses that you metamorphically look through to see the spiritual wonder of the present moment. I loved the concept but it was all over the place.
One of the stories in the book was about how when we are oblivious to the present moment but we see something like ducks crossing the street, we snap out of our stupor and become present to this little parade of innocence.
During my walk with Bea Silly I remembered that story and exclaimed, “DUCKS! I LOVE DUCKS. A-HA!.” Then the theme became clear, I thought I’ll have little illustrations of ducks crossing roads at the beginning of each chapter. Instead of the chapter titles being “The Present Moment” and “Thinking Differently”, they would be “Duck into the Present Moment,” “Duck into Thinking Differently.” My eyes got wider with how flocking brilliant I was.
I couldn’t stop. There could be plays on the meaning of Migrating South, we could Migrate North to our higher self, we could allow things like drama to roll-off our back, the book would tell people “waddle” they do with creative ideas. We could let go of effort and float downstream; we will imprint our behavior from those who inspire us. I felt I was on a ROLL! A DUCK Roll. This was IT. Instead of podcasts I’d have pond-casts. I’d have a whole line of duck caps and t-shirts with ducks and the slogan … hmmm, how about: "Fly not?" or just, "Life is Ducky." I’d have other illustrations with ducks wearing goggles to weave in the lens theme. I was quacked with this idea! (I’m not sure what “quacked with an idea” means but it’s part of the duck theme, so who cares?)
I got home and told my boyfriend about it and he started adding ideas too. “You could call your readers ‘peeps’ and your website a ‘webbed foot’ site.”
Then he said, “Wait, lenses AND ducks? That might be too much. Maybe put just one story in about ducks.”
NOOooooOOOOO!
I was flying too high with this idea to even consider any discouragement… or good judgment… but I did sense a little discomfort in the Inner Department of Intuitive Deliberations (IDID). This has happened before, the grandiosity of flying high sans discrimination, and I’ve learned when this happens to PUT THE IDEA DOWN, STEP AWAY FROM THE IDEA AND NOONE GETS HURT and give it space. I was sure the idea would still be stellar in the morning so I slept on it and when I woke up, the sober truth made itself known.. WHAT THE DUCK WAS I THINKING? THIS IDEA ABOUT DUCKS SUCKS.
It was frightening how convinced I was that I had not a good idea but THE greatest idea ever. Creativity is like that. It exhilarates us with its novelty. It takes us to infatuated heights of blind obedience, we are in love with our half-baked cleverness. We need that energy to take action but it pays to step back a bit with some discernment.
The idea did drive me back to my original idea way before the lenses. A journey to Über Bliss.
When I put the ducks down and rebooted my awareness with a little time and distance, I could see more clearly what could stay and what needs to go, sometimes reluctantly. But I’ve learned to enjoy the ride; the aMUSEment of generating funny flowing ideas is one of my favorite things to do – and it’s free. And even if the idea sucks, there is always, always, always ways I can use it:
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For reinforcement that good creative judgment comes with space and time
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As a workout for my creative brain pathways and assurance my mind still loves to generate ideas, puns, and silliness and the love I feel doing that
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Find a piece of an idea that WILL work: everything is fodder for writing
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This blog post
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The exhilarating feeling of being quacked with an idea
Addendum: I reread the description of the duck idea … and I kind of like it again.
Every idea I get I have to deny,
that's my way of testing it.
~Alain, Histoire de mes pensées
The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas,
and throw the bad ones away.
~Linus Pauling
Just for fun:
Practice saying “A-ha!”
Go ahead and say it out loud, feeling and sounding as if you just had the spiritual electricity of an irresistible idea occur to you. Draw it out the sound: AAaaaa-Haaaaaa! Sometimes saying it first can rewire your radar to find an idea you might not have found otherwise. No, really, it can. If you didn't try it, you'll never know.
Now try “Eureka” a few times too, putting the emphasis on different syllables. EU rek a. Eu REK a. Eu rek A. Okay, that probably did nothing except maybe it was fun. Sometimes coming up with ideas is just for fun and nothing else. People who have fun are more likely to stumble into brilliance. Naysayers are missing out.
If you’re from Mayberry you could say “Shazam.”
If you’re from the Bible belt use your best evangelistic tone, slowly with feeling: “Thank you God, Thank you God!”
From New York city say “Sh*t, I’m good!”
And if you’re from Minnesota you might say “I’m not so shore aboot that,” but you use your idea anyway with humble intentions and Powder Milk biscuits (heavens they're tasty).
Whatever you do, if you do get a creative inspiration, feel the gift of that divine connection colluding with the collective consciousness of creative contentment and then take a tiny step in its direction. Your mind will open to the colossal wonder of an idea’s evolution when you say yes to the world inside of an idea.
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