So sometimes I have these moments where my mind has an explosion of ideas of things I want to do, learn, write, or craft. It only seems to happen at times at work or when I'm trying to get to sleep. Its like I have been struck by creative lightening. Of course when I really should be doing something else all I can do is plan in my head how I would go about doing it. After an hour or so I can usually break this train of thought and focus. Sadly all of these ideas are usually kept in my "maybe one day" pile as usually after the fact I lose most motivation to follow through. For a simple example I really got thinking about wax seals on letters and stuff and how I would like to make my own personal one (some clay and melting crayons later) I created one. So, to conclude my long winded intro, What cool personal projects has everyone else done or envisioned? Let's get inspired people!
I suggest that you have this little notebook always with you. Every time you got struck by the creative lightning, you can write those thoughts in the little notebook. Today, I am continuing my very first artwork dedicated for this site. This artwork will feature 7 EC members with the interesting personalities. So far I have only done 2 artists yet and currently finishing the third one. I will hopefully finish this artwork by next week. I have also created my very own board game, back when I was in senior high school. It was not graded or anything. I just wanted to create something my nerd friends and I can play at break time.
Yes I have so many creative things in my head at times but when I actually have the time to do projects all my ideas are about as interesting as gravel.
If you want the brick wall, you have to lay the bricks. Start small. I write/type at least 1-2 sentences a day. It can be about anything, and any combination of words. So long as it makes a sentence, it's allowed. Most of the time I edit a sentence in a story I have, add or change a part, but sometimes I'll put an observation down. Sentences add up. That's 7, ideally, in 1 week. That's 28, ideally, in 1 month. That's 336, ideally, in 1 year. That amount rarely happens, as many of those 'only one sentence tonight' sessions became a 'holy shit, did I just bust out 4 paragraphs' ones, LOL. If you keep it small but consistent, it is a lot easier to incorporate into your routine. After some time, you'll have done whatever so much that you'll start thinking, you know, maybe I should get a little better with that [insert new project here].
I took a writing class in January/February and I've been submitting short stories to contests for almost a year now. One of the things that's true for everyone is, you have to write to be a writer. lol. Sounds obvious but it's so easy to procrastinate or to rationalize that you're not ready to start writing until everything is perfect.
The 'creative lightening' issue is something that effects my writing projects quite a lot actually. I will sometimes come up with or even wake up with (dreams are a great source of inspiration) whole detailed narratives complete with specific events that are key elements and even whole paragraphs and chunks of dialogue. Trouble is, they come all at once. I can only keep all this information fresh in my mind for so long and by the time I've got even a fraction of it down onto paper (or rather typed out), I will have forgotten a good deal of it. I struggle to remember good parts and start to get frustrated with it or lose motivation, which wouldn't be too much of a problem except a new idea will come along and the passion for wishing to get that down will replace the enthusiasm I had for the previous piece, which then gets placed on the back-burner as a result. I do go back to them, but I find it hard to regain that initial spark of passion.
Creative writing ... worldbuilding ... character design ... balancing power levels ... inventing weird magical things. It's a long process, and I hardly have any concrete product finished yet, but it's starting to peek out of the ground at long last, my little story sprout. Soon all that dirty messy soil made of file folders will grow into a mighty jungle of narrative ambition.
I unload my inspirations from time to time on paper. Wheter via writing or drawing. I don't write down everything pop in my head. I let them season a bit. If they are still there that means those stories have an impact to I write them down. Dream big but like Kaiser the Wise said start small. No matter how big you are thinking starting with small portion of that thing will give you more control over story/project. If you are making your own fantasy fiction universe, instead of jumping in detailed world map, build a small town/city and write your story/gaming session around it. This will let you know how many details... important ones. As I usually can't share my comic ideas with people(only two people in 40 years must mean something) so attempting to starting a mini series helps more than years of thinking. Hope you can find your own way. I believe we all have our own paths in life, own rituals to get things done. What works for me or best artists out there might not work for you. (*hug*)
That's a really good idea! Maybe being better organized will be more motivating to follow through with the project. Hopefully with the notepad idea I can find all my bricks. The trouble for me is that my natural indecisiveness makes me examine each brick too closely. I will try to not look to hard at the bricks as I use them until I at least have some semblance of a wall. :lol: As you can tell by me extending your analogy that I greatly enjoyed it. Wow that was really vivid! Thanks everyone for the advice and sharing your own endeavors!
That is the best thing you can do. Often times the hardest part about a project is getting started so really you need to just pull the trigger and get started on something. Even if its a little concept sketch. Then later you can come back to it when you have more time.