Even those famous inventers had a deep understanding of what the problem was, before they could experiment with solutions. They had to know what was missing before they could fill in the blank spaces.
Archimedes' "Eureka" moment didn't come out of nowhere. He understood the problem was identifying pure gold from gold-and-silver. His bathtub gave him an insight.
In fact, a list of dream-inspired insights show us that all of the inventors/writers/creatives were already working on the problem/mystery they wanted to solve. I love how Wikipedia even has a section on "activation synthesis hypothesis" in the dream-inspired insights article.
It acknowledges that our conscious brain plays a huge part in these insights, even when we're asleep. Even if the dream seems metaphorical, our conscious mind will actively seek and identify that "metaphor".
In my case, a shrine series started with how to find enough boxes, how to pair up those boxes efficiently, how to distress, paint, and antique those boxes. And the hardest part, how to connect them together in an efficient, strong, aesthetically-pleasing way.
And once I'd made "enough" shrines to get started on actually putting artifacts in them, I stalled a bit. But now I have air beneath my wings again.
What's the hard part?
The biggest one is setting aside our fears and our self-doubt. Whether our projects involve coming up with a new series, a new process, a new technique, a new approach to our art, even exploring social media marketing, trying to do it in our heads may only take us so far.
At some point, we have to simply try.
And if it matters to us, we have to keep trying.
Hold in your heart my favorite quote by Thomas Edison:
