For lack of a better over-used cliche, trying to find inspiration can be harder than finding a needle in a haystack at times.... other times, the needle finds you (ouch!) and inspiration falls right into your lap.
All of you artists/writers/musicians/lifelivers probably know what I'm talking about. Those times where you think to yourself, "I wonder if I'll ever (insert creative task here) something good again". I know I often forget my own motto: "everything inspires" and get caught up trying to force myself into something....
Anyhow, the real point. I've been trying to force inspiration upon myself for the upcoming novel competition, and although I have a very vague idea, I feel like I need more ideas to integrate into the story. I've been falling asleep with Donnie Darko playing in the back just to cause myself to have messed up dreams. That worked somewhat, but it can be kind of hard to make sense of those dreams later when you wake up. All they have really been good for so far is character development. Sure enough though, after several days of that, I stopped having memorable dreams, my brain got used to it and the ispiration faucet ran empty.
Tonight though... stumbling through the web at a neck-breaking pace, I tripped over a real treat:
Nick Drake's "Second Grace (Demos and Outtakes)The quality isn't that great, but some of the songs are excellent. After the first quick browse through in the mp3 player, I realized that there may be a couple themes in common with the novel, so I listened closer. Whether or not it does end up enhancing the attitude behind the story, we'll see. But at least I found some cool songs.
