Ideas and Energy
June 24, 2019

Lately, I've been mulling over the difference between creative ideas and
creative energy. Ideas seem to be the divine inspiration part of being a writer,
and not under conscious control because they come from the muse. Having creative
ideas seems to be as much about being open to them[1] as it is about developing 
them yourself. There are techniques to "generate" ideas, and I've used some of 
them with varying success but my best ideas have always seemed to just come to 
me, often when my mind is engaged somewhere else. (The unbidden arrival of 
ideas is the reason I always carry a pocket notebook and a pen with me wherever 
I go.)

Creative energy, on the other hand, seems to be the thing that gets a writer
from the germ of an idea to completed project. It's the drive and discipline
that get you sitting in your chair, fingers on keyboard (or in my case, gripping
the pen), working. Unlike ideas, I do believe that creative energy can be
cultivated. Cultivated by the practice of writing every day and by honing the
craft of plot and character and dialogue and description, down through the most
basic tools of writing: grammar and punctuation and word choice.

It's possible I'm wrong and creative energy and ideas both come, in fact, from
the same place. But if they are distinct and different, any writing project
becomes a two-step process. First there's the idea. Then there's the hard work
to make the idea into a fully realized story. The first part is out of a
writer's control, the second well within it.

I'm not sure yet where these musings will take me. However, I promise to bring
you along as I try to figure out what follows from the idea of creative ideas
being different than creative energy.

[1] https://www.theredhandfiles.com/do-u-have-any-spare-lyrics/

(c) 2019 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com