Ideas Are Like Clouds

Introduction

I was replying to a comment by J. R. Lowe on my latest Top Story (which you can read at the end of this article) and the title of this came to mind.

Ideas Like Clouds?

On my walks, I take a lot of photographs, mainly of cats, but also of landscapes and clouds. Any shots of thy sky have to be immediate or they are gone, often in a few seconds. Too many times I have lost a potentially amazing shot because I took too long to get my camera or phone out and take the required shot.

The main photograph on this piece was taken as I walked outside my door a few years back. Luckily I was quick to get the shot, as a few minutes later it was gone. I think it was lenticular in nature.

Lenticular clouds may form when wind runs perpendicular to a mountain or mountain chain. It could be a hill or even a tall building, too.

This was one that I caught but it is the same with sunrises and sunsets. You have to be fast to capture the event.

I view ideas in the same way, so I always make sure I have something with me to capture the essence of the idea, because I know in the past that I thought I could pick it up later, but then my mind is distracted by a phone call or a news item, or like this morning a know on the door from Jehovah's Witnesses who asked me what I thought of the Bible and took it on the chin when I said it was a great work of fiction.

We talked awhile about a few moral scenarios and it was a pleasant and interesting five minutes but they knew I was not an ideal customer for them.

I once wrote a song called "Jehovah's Witnesses" but never recorded it, and I can still remember the words after forty years, so maybe there will be a YouTube version to come.

Luckily I wasn't working on anything, but that would have probably destroyed any ideas that I was considering working on. It may be just me and my ridiculous short-term memory, but I know that others have the same issues.

Because ideas have no physical form we always need to capture them in different ways. Usually, a few words in Google Docs on my phone is enough for me, but a notepad and pen are also good ways to capture ideas, especially if you want to draw a picture.

Every artist works with nothing but their imagination. Painters have brushes, Musicians have instruments, and Writers have pens, I know this is high level, but before the tool can be used the artist needs the idea and inspiration to begin their creation. That idea must be captured and nurtured and channelled into becoming a work of art, but if it is not captured it will disappear into the ether like a cloud.

I find it ironic that the only safe place for a password is in your head, but your head is not a safe place to store ideas because something with always come and take its place.

Always have something on hand to capture your ideas, they are not something that you want to lose, because they make you what you are.

Conclusion

I hope I have managed to give you one or two ideas on capturing ideas to create stories or other forms of art. If you want to hear a few more of my ideas here is me talking about my creative methods.