My Mind Finished Writing My Article While I Was Asleep
How losing the moment of inspiration can cost you dearly
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What’s more painful for an artist than to lose a great idea? Just recently I saw a David Lynch interview where he said he always writes down his ideas immediately, because if he doesn’t, he loses them forever. But he seems to be a quick learner — he’s only lost a couple of ideas so far.
How much I still underestimate the power of inspiration. That thing that happens just out of the blue. An emotion triggered, perhaps by a thought, a conversation, a street scene — it may come from any direction — and if you’re not ready to write it down immediately, it may be gone forever.
As so often, I had to learn it the hard way. I’ve dozens of unfinished stories on my hard drive which I started writing with great enthusiasm, but put them aside for a few hours or a day to finish some paperwork or other obligation, just to find out that my whole concept of the story disappeared below the surface of my brain never to return. It’s one of the saddest things to experience as a writer.
This is even worse than a writer’s block, because it was there, and now it’s gone because of a mistake. And it is that mistake I want to talk about.
This tragedy happened to me — again — just 10 minutes ago, and it pissed me off to such a degree that I started writing this article instead. And the reason why is simple: If art is the communication of an emotion, then my current emotion is my anger at losing another great story due to negligence.
And that word is not too strong to describe the loss of it, because I believe that many of those stories may have helped people solve some of the problems they’re having, and by neglecting that stream of creativity— I’m exercising negligence.
🡺As it happened
Two days ago, I started working on a really interesting story, and at about one o’clock at night I decided to stop writing because I had to attend a meeting in the morning. I didn’t really interrupt my writing; the basic idea and construct of the story was there, so I felt I’d be able to continue writing it the next day.
