Old and new tech for capturing creative inspiration

There’s an old adage which goes like this: What’s the best camera there is? 
 
Answer: The one you have with you.
 
It’s quite true. You could spend a fortune on a sexy DSLR setup with interchangeable lenses and wifi connectivity and all that, and yet it does you absolutely no good when your kid takes her first steps or that goldfinch alights on your railing, if it's not in your hands just then. 
 
Timing, in other words, is everything. 
 
People who don’t work in the creative field might not understand what we’re about to describe, because they’re not under the same pressure to create: Creative inspirations are usually fleeting. Think of that killer concept or idea you recently came up with. It likely came in a flash (with the way there paved by a lot of good old-fashioned brainstorming techniques), and if you didn’t jot it down right then and there, it would’ve been gone forever. 
 
Yes. Gone forever. 
 
Think about that. It’s really kind of mind-bending. As a creative pro, you’re counting on earning a living (and others are counting on you, too) based on fleeting little synapses firing somewhere inside your skull. The right combination wins you awards and accolades. The wrong combination... and you’re just like everyone else. 
 
Fixation
 
The U.S. Copyright Office has a good definition of something that can be protected by copyright. It’s the fixation of a novel idea into a medium.
 
Let’s repeat that. You need to “fix” the idea. Not as in “fix it because it was broken,” but more like affix it to some kind of medium that’s durable and effectively tangible. In other words, write it down.
 
You’ve surely heard the countless stories of some poor slob who “had the idea for Star Wars before Star Wars,” or whatever. We have no sympathy for these people. And neither does the Copyright Office. These “claimants” have no ground to stand on. You cannot copyright an idea. It’s like dividing by zero: It’s undefined. 
 
You need to fix it in a medium. Such as a written document (novel, screenplay, sheet music, brochure copy), or photo or artwork or layout or recording or movie. 
 
So where are we going with this? What does this have to do with our headline of “old and new tech”? We’re certainly not intellectual property, or IP, attorneys here at Copel Communications. 
 
Snatch it out of the ether
 
Just as an idea is worthless to the Copyright Office if it’s not fixed in a medium, it’s also worthless to you if it’s not, well, fixed in a medium! 
 
The synapse fires. You get this great idea. The phone rings. And then... you lost it. What was that idea? You never wrote it down. And, tragedy: You’ll never get it back.
 
We know about these tragedies because we’ve experienced them firsthand. And done our best to learn from them. Hence these lessons: 

• Don’t pick up. Ages ago—back in the days of telephone answering machines—we were working on a really thorny creative problem, and had just solved it! when the telephone rang. We still had the idea in mind, but didn’t write it down, as the phone kept ringing, and then the answering machine picked up. We listened through our outgoing message. Then we heard the caller start to leave a message, and—tragically--we answered the phone. That was the end of it. The great idea was lost forever right then. All we really needed to do was to write down the great idea, and then call that person back. It would’ve taken all of two minutes. 

 

• You won’t remember it in the morning. Ever been beset with a tricky creative challenge, and you lie down, either for the night or for a nap, and you solve it, right then and there? (You know where this is going, don’t you?) But you’re so sleepy that you can’t find the energy to get up, find a pencil and paper, and write it down. “I’ll remember it in the morning,” you convince yourself as you nod off. But you never do. The only thing you end up remembering is that you had had a great idea. But not the idea itself. 

 

• Down the drain. You take a shower, or a bath, and decide to give that latest creative challenge a thought. And Bang! just like that, you get an idea for it. If you repeat it to yourself enough, you’ll remember it long enough to write it down after that shower or bath. So why is this a problem? Because, inevitably, right after you get that idea, you get another one. And then another one. And then another. And another. It’s a barrage, an onslaught. And, killer consequence, all of them are great. Unfortunately, your brain can’t multi-task to the level of repeating/memorizing all those ideas, and keeping the creative floodgates open at the same time. So more often than not, you forget all of them. 

 
There’s a common thread in these stories. It’s the element of relaxation. When you can effectively let go of your daily distractions, you’re infinitely freer to create. So whether you’re “in the zone” at your desk, snuggling under the sheets, or luxuriating in the the steam of a hot shower, you’re naturally more predisposed to ideate incredible amounts of astonishingly good creative content. The whole idea of “being in the zone” is the topic of one of our most popular blog articles, “On Self-Hypnosis and Finding ‘The Voice,’” which you should read. It’s a fun article. And you’ll profit from it.  
 
There’s an app for that
 
All of this gets back to “the camera that you have.” It’s why, not terribly long ago, all the major camera manufacturers stopped making point-and-shoot cameras. How insane is that? Camera makers stopped making cameras.
 
You know why. It’s the iPhone. In its first few years of existence, more photos were taken by the camera on the iPhone than had been taken in the entire history of photography.
 
Timing, as we said, is everything. 
 
So you need to “iPhone your life,” in terms of the ability to capture creative inspiration on the fly. The iPhone (or any smartphone), by the way, is one of the very best tools for this. Indeed, when we got the idea for this blog topic, we were out on the road somewhere, and simply launched the Voice Memos app and recorded the basic idea for this article. There: Fixed in a medium.
 
Here, then, are some other ways you can keep tools handy, and never lose another idea again: 

• Diver’s slate. We’ve advocated these for years. It’s a little rectangle of white plastic with a slightly rough, sandpapery finish. It comes with a pencil. You can write on it, underwater. And then erase it afterward, either with a regular pencil eraser or one of those “Magic Eraser” sponges. (Here’s a diver’s slate on Amazon.) Keep one in your shower. It’ll pay for itself a zillion times over. 

 

• IPX7 earbuds. See? We told you we’d include some high tech. Mind you, we haven’t tried this ourselves, but have read of plenty of others who have. The idea is to wear waterproof earbuds in the bath or shower, with your smartphone within Bluetooth range. When you get an idea, simply say “Hey, Siri! Send an email to myself,” and then rattle off your new idea. 

 

• The illuminated ballpoint pen. Yes, these exist. (Here’s one on Amazon.) Keep this, and a little note pad, on the nightstand. You’ll be able to write down anything, without waking your partner to dictate into your phone. 

 

• Other phone apps. There’s email (to yourself). The notes app. Voice memos. Text messages. Even video recording. A smartphone is a veritable Swiss army knife for capturing creative ideas. 

 
Have some others to suggest? Send them our way. We’d love to hear them. 
 
And if you need help with that next creative challenge, contact us. We practice what we preach, so we never let good ideas go to waste. 

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