09 Feb 2012, 12:23 am
09 Feb 2012, 12:32 am
09 Feb 2012, 2:07 am
09 Feb 2012, 3:57 am
Kraichgauer
Veteran
Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 48,561
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.
09 Feb 2012, 4:38 am
09 Feb 2012, 7:29 am
PaintingDiva
Deinonychus
Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Age: 72
Gender: Female
Posts: 335
Location: Left coast aka Northern California
09 Feb 2012, 8:33 am
Have a daily practice, do it anyway. Even if I am feeling no inspiration at all.
Sometimes I use the mental trick of setting a timer for fifteen minutes, if I can't get started then I am free to go, no more studio work for the rest of the day. Usually before the 15 minutes is up I am working.
And, feed my inner artist, by either visiting a gallery, museum, or hanging out with my artist friends for fellowship, pissing and moaning or looking at art books or art magazines. I also like to read, a lot, so a big reading break is good too.
My idea of a great time is seeing art, yours might be listening to music, writing, discussing writing, whatever. Indulge yourself regularly and often. It came as a shock to me once to realize not everyone likes to go to galleries and museums. Joking....I live near SF and if I were a composer I would go to the free rehearsals of the SF Symphony, hit all the music clubs and start a group of people who are composers to meet once a week to talk music and shop. Same deal if I were a writer, different but similar activities.
Also work on getting your inner critic to shut up while you are working. Watch your inner self talk while you are working. Hopefully you will get in the zone and you will be concentrating so hard on what you are doing, the inner critic will be quiet.
Depending on your specific field, google it, as in composing + creativity, you will many have gone before you on this issue and have probably articulated their solutions and one of them will hit you and you can run with it.
On the other hand, down time is good too, because your brain never stops working on solutions to problems. Walking when stuck is also good.
Yeah well that's my two cents. I have thought about this problem a lot 
OK link to a guy discussing composing music and creativity:
And a quote on composing, I have always wondered how people write music, from that infernal dummies.com website, annoying name but good article:
By Scott Jarrett and Holly Day
You can't overestimate the value of a good musical imagination. It's the single most powerful source for composing music — if you can tap into it. The imagination is so powerful, in fact, that it was long ago personified as the Muse.
Because it's inside your head, though, your imagination is also the hardest source to put your finger on. Its timing is sometimes off, for one thing. The Muse can feed you melodies when you least expect them and are least prepared to do anything about them.
But you can do a few things to help your Muse produce new music. Here are some tips for encouraging your Muse:
The Muse needs space to work in. Turn off the TV, log off the Internet, turn off your cell phone, and tell your family that you are indisposed for the next hour or two.
The Muse likes to be nourished. Every day, expose yourself to a variety of musical influences — not just the few favorites you keep cycling through. For your Muse to get real exposure to different music, listen with full attention.
The Muse likes quiet. Music as a background often silences or distracts the Muse. It's hard to focus on what you're hearing in the mind's ear when you're hearing things in your physical ear.
The Muse needs you to follow where she leads. The Muse can't do it all; you have to do your part. Once the Muse gives you something, run with it. Work it, play with it — above all, write it down! No matter how impressive your melody seems at the moment, it will slip out of your head just as magically as it slipped in.
Your Muse needs you to remember what she says. Keep a pencil and paper or a simple recording device next to your bed. The first few seconds after you wake up provide the best opportunity to clearly recall your dreams. Discipline yourself to write them down, even if there is no music in them. And when you do wake up with a strangely unfamiliar and uncharacteristic Beatles song in your head, get it down on paper or tape. It's possible that it wasn't a Beatles song at all, but your Muse playing hide-and-seek with you. (Of course, make sure it wasn't an actual Beatles song before you try to publish it!)
The Muse works for you. If you sit at your keyboard, piano, guitar, computer, or pad and paper long enough in a patient, receptive state, your Muse will show up more often than not. The Muse lives in your subconscious, waiting for only one thing: your impassioned receptivity. Once you figure out how to turn that on, you will be on another level entirely as a composer. If you defend a routine time and place to work quietly, your Muse will become trained to know when and where to make an appearance.
The Muse is fickle. Of course, even if you do all of this, it won't always work.
teachmix.com
09 Feb 2012, 8:49 am
If I am not inspired I won't and can't do it. I just move onto doing something else that feels natural. Its the ADHD. It either gives me too much inspiration or none at all. I have not found anything useful to combat my lack of attention or inspiration yet. 
09 Feb 2012, 3:33 pm
09 Feb 2012, 4:01 pm
SoundsLike_Kyle
Blue Jay
Joined: 8 Feb 2012
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 87
Location: The surface of the sun. It's toasty warm.
10 Feb 2012, 3:57 am
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