My Future Restraining Order

There is a question creative people get all the time from less creative people: Where do you get your idea? Mine come from my muse, Jed. Jed is a great guy (most of the time). I love hanging out with Jed. I go to dinner with Jed, I watch movies with Jed, I force Jed to stay up way past his bedtime talking about exactly why the movie Clock Stoppers is total crap.

The first few years I knew Jed, I had no idea he was my muse. I went to watch movies with Jed and it was a lot of fun (Jed's a fun guy). I'd leave thinking about something I'd like to write. Then, one July day, I was in Jed's presence and a story idea hit me in the back of the head so hard it hurt. It took me two years to write it all down and during that entire time, I was still in the dark about why the idea came to me when it did.

And then, I was near Jed again, and again, BAM! Story idea, this time right between the eyes. Made my eyes water a little. Time after time, I would go see Jed and walk away flooded with ideas and the feeling of intense creative vibes swimming around me. When I finally did notice that Jed was the cause of all of this, I named him my muse and he's been disgusted with me ever since.

The point of this is, it doesn't matter what or who inspires you, or if that who gets a little mad that you follow them around with a pad of paper in your hands. It matters that you find it, or him or her, and continue to follow him or her around even after they have filed a restraining order against you. And, damn it, after you post bail, follow them from a legal distance.

Here's tip: Write stuff down. I have a little notebook for each project I'm working on. If I get an idea specific to that project, I write it in that notebook. I also have a book for random ideas. So, every time I think some inane thing that I'd like to remember, I write it down. And then I can go back and read it and remember the things that I had thought before. It's a novel concept and I'd be lost without it. Seriously, I would never remember a thing. My name is written in that book. Okay, that's not true. My name is on the back of my hand. Have to have that handy. Get it? Hand-y?

So, thank you, Jed. For all the great inspirationalness you give me, even if you don't mean to. Even if you actively try to stifle my creativity. Thanks anyway. And thanks for not filing the restraining order. Yet.