What To Do When Creative Ideas Overwhelm

When Creative Ideas Overwhelm

Having many creative ideas at once is something that many people wish they had, but for others, too many creative ideas can be just as bad as having none at all.

As a result, we do nothing.

Or maybe we try everything and end up with a scattered or diluted focus.

I've been there, trying too hard to take action on too many things at the same time.

Perhaps attempting to blend them into one thing, convincing myself that my thinly spread action will be fruitful.

In that place, I can say with certainty, that the results are not pretty.

A lack of creative ideas, such as writer's block is a whole other ballgame. One I'm thankful I don't seem to suffer with.

I can't tell you which is worse though, to be honest.

Too many wonderful creative ideas poorly executed, or not so much as a sniff of one good one is enough to leave the creative mind exhausted and frayed.

A Space To Think

For the next couple of weeks I'm in the north of Ireland, the wilds of Donegal.

I've been looking forward to the trip for a while now.

And because of the lack of development and customary coastal holiday town entertainment here, it offers me the chance to think and to plan.

It's quiet.

There are no busy shops, there are no shops at all actually.

Just the two beachside cafés and the local post office come convenience store about a mile from the strand on the high road near the harbour.

Many people live and holiday here but it's rural so houses are spread out. There are no dense developments.

In wintertime I'm told, the place becomes deserted apart from the locals.

I haven't been here in the winter, I'd like to though.

The kids spend their days on the beach no matter what the weather, and in the evening at high tide, pay a visit to the harbour to jump off the top wall into the sea.

The sunsets are breathtaking here and there is little to do except take in the beauty of the place.

And think.

There's plenty of space for that.

It is in this space away from the demands of the day job that ideas are coming and fleshing themselves out in my mind.

But I must exercise some discipline and focus. Afterall, I still have a book to publish.

Sticking To One Thing

I've always had an abundance of creative ideas coming, that's my biggest asset and challenge at the same time.

I get them all the time.

A song may come on the radio and I see a movie play in my mind. The entire story plays itself out.

Mary Jane is there wrestling with her demons. She feels the pang of anguish coupled with a reluctant pleasure which of course, has no right to be there.

I think; I'll make a movie about her one day. Damien Dempsey will provide the soundtrack and everyone will love it.

A poem comes my way and I hear a song.

I see a movie and a picture draws itself in my head.

I walk on Narin beach looking at the rope that must have come from a fisherman's boat and imagine his life.

All the time I am accompanied by visions of other people's lives and stories that maybe have been somewhere at some time where I am not.

I get business ideas all the time too.

The greatest problem for me is staying with one of those ideas long enough to make it something great.

I'm not stressed about it, I have to be clear about that.

Perhaps it's because I'm not reliant on my creative work to bring me an income that I can avoid getting hung up on it.

I'm grateful for that.

Or maybe it's the exact opposite. Maybe if I were reliant on my creative work for income then that urgency would produce something great.

But I don't think so.

I have felt the pressure and anxiety of needing work to produce for me before, and I know that's not a place I wish to return to anytime soon.

Been There Done That.

For a creative mind to function as it is meant to, there must be a quiet space where it can create. I've written about this in The Artist's Manifesto.

Sometimes pressure and deadlines can help us be productive, I've seen that too.

But there is for me a pressure that comes from a positive, engaged place, then there is a pressure that comes from a negative disconnected place.

One feels like I'm on fire and growing, the other feels like I'm on fire and I'm dying on my feet.

The difference is palpable.

But when we are in it, it can be difficult to realise the difference let alone have the courage to stop and take stock of circumstances.

In retrospect, that's how it was from 2007 to 2010 in my work.

Loads of ideas but the severe pressure to deliver and conform to flawed ideas I held about what success meant.

A little wiser now, I'm glad for the experience, and to be honest, I would not change any of it.

The thing about it is too, there's no talking anyone else you may know in this situation out of that place.

They must find their own way out.

If you happen to be there, my only suggestion is that you suck it up and make the best decision possible from that place you are.

There's nothing else you can do.

Maybe a trip to a place like Narin, Co. Donegal is something worth considering.

Settling On One Idea

The key for me in all of this current wealth of ideas flooding my mind, is to chill out and follow whatever one is calling me hardest.

My studies are important to me and no doubt they will continue to influence the content I create, so as such, I will continue to put energy in that direction.

Keeping a few bob coming in to fund my studies and keep the lights on at home is important too.

For that, I rely on the skills that I first began learning over 30 years ago.

I'm grateful for those skills, they keep me in a healthy place financially.

They are helping fund the building of my new studio at the bottom of my garden too, without which I wouldn't be able to grow creatively.

All told, I have one creative project that I must finish.

The Artist's Manifesto paperback is that project and for the next two weeks here in Donegal, my objective is to get that completed.

All the other stuff will have to wait.