Since I started this blog in 2003 the majority of my writing, save for my anecdotes on my daily life, has been in response to the ideas of others. My theories on personality, perception, natural instinct, womanhood, beauty, and art, are based off my own experiences, but those experience as with other people, other writers, other theories themselves. This is a ball that will fly back and forth across the court endlessly, but I'll teeter up on my soapbox and clear my throat into the megaphone to say that I don't believe there really is such thing as intuitive thought without the input of other people and society. My more "intellectual" writings are 99% inspired while reading something else. Citing or linking back to said inspiration is one thing, but while flipping through my years' worth of notebooks, I am amazed at what a different animal the note taking, train of thought, process is from both the initial reaction and then the written reaction itself.

Mu audience has evolved and grown with me in my past decade as a blogger. While I have the few diehard fans who have stuck with me from internet hatchling to niche market personality, I doubt even they would remember the poetry of my early years as a public writer. Much of the past few years for me have been spent weeping (figuratively...maybe) the loss of my capacity as an artist--as a writer, and as a photographer. My artistic voice has shifted from fresh & ornate, to verbose & crass. I have spent less time in the company of writing and art in the last few years than ever before in my life. The absence has taken it's toll in my own lack of experience and inspiration. To regain control, I am forcing myself to read, look, and see, to oil up the gears and reunite with long-lost creative part of my brain. Obvious, right?

A few days ago my dad sent me a copy of "Making Ideas Happen," a book addressing the the obstacles creative individuals face between inspiration and productivity. I'm sure many of you know the problem. It has been a few months since I've really sat down to read much, and nothing really in this genre for even longer. While annotating my margins I wondered what could be gleaned not from my personal interpretations and application, but simple from my notes. Even when perusing my notebooks and stopping to remember or reasses some old thought, 90% of my scribbles and quotations are left untouched after I set my pen down. And in the vein of this particular book, perhaps putting my raw thoughts and the bits & pieces that stick for me out to the world for interactivity could be interesting, and potentially further inspiring. Don't expect any pretty writing out of this, these are purely quotes and shorthand notations. This particular blog doesn't have so many readers any more (and to think, man, I was Miss XangAmerica once, and the #1 hit on Google for Bekka...sigh...), and I don't keep rules for myself here like I do on my other sites, so....

 "Making Ideas Happen," Introduction

• "Creative people are known for winging it; improvising and acting on intuition is, in some way, the haloed essence of what we do and who we are." 
• is there ever really true balance between the two? every laregly successful artist I know produces work that is worlds different than their roots; is that just maturity & growth, or a lack of creativity?
• "Everything in life should be approached as a project. Every project can be broken down into just three things: Action Steps, Backburner Items, and References."
• "You must embrace opportunities to broadcast and then refine your ideas through the energy of those around you."
• in everything. When is it too much? I have found candor to become a hindrance past a point. What is that point?
• "Creative professionals--defined as those who generate (and sometimes execute) ideas for a living--constitute what is likely the most disorganized community on the planet."
• "I'm not for the notion of 'artistic' or 'creative' meaning making a pretty picture. Every entrepreneur I have ever met is an artist. They are all forced to become comfortable with failure. And for entrepreneurs, their canvas is their company." - John Maeda, Preside of the Rhode Island School of Design
• "Creativity is the catalyst for brilliant accomplishments, but it is also the greatest obstacle."
• "Risa was a brilliant mind left to her own devices. Without others to challenge her ideas and hold her accountable, she was struggling."
• accountability!!! Where do we draw that from outside of a professional or familial environment? Who are we accountable to other than ourselves? How does one pinpoint prospectives?
• self-dicipline and simplicity!!
• "an idea executed for an audience of one is an awful waste of potential inspiration and value for the greater good."
• "you want to treat your work like a virus that will reach a lot of people."
• "You can make something really, really palatable and turn it into an HBO miniseries or you can make something moderately palatable and turn it into something that goes in an art museum or you can make something not at all palatable and turn it into something you do in your basement."
• "All great inventions emerge from a long sequence of small sparks; the first idea often isn't all that good, but that to collaboration it later sparks another idea, or it's reinterpreted in an unexpected way. Collaborations brings small sparks together to generate breakthrough innovation." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from his book "Group Genius"
• "Sawyer would argue that [the idea of lone creative genius] did not [exist in the past]"
• !!! WHY is this so true? Where does communal consciousness stem from? In our species evolution, where did this stem from?
• "Community strengthens both your creative energy and your commitment to channel it."
• There need to be more obvious outlet for us introverted starving artists. How do we teach new (and young!) creatives to not fear rejection?
• candid self-assesment!!