It’s fascinating how inspiration comes when I least expect it.

I’ll pop awake at 4 AM with what I am certain is my most brilliant idea. More come, one after another, so fast I can’t process them. Mostly, I just lie there marveling. Once in a while, I’ll rummage blindly through the drawer of my bedside table for my notebook and pen, and scribble in the dark something I am certain will yield brilliance in the light of day. Mostly, those words are gibberish or embarrassingly bad. But sometimes, they lead to a new project or offer long-awaited insight into an old problem.

Other days, I sneak from the room (must not wake the dogs), grab my computer, and to head to the sunroom where I work until the sun joins me. There is a low-level panic to these precious hours of productivity. Carpe diem and all that.

As creative professionals, we often must ideate on command. There’s no getting around it. And yet, my best ideas come after a period of latency when a problem can percolate unpressed by deadlines. Hours/days/weeks will pass and I’m hiking on a trail and… POOF. A clear-as-day vision of a design. The perfect lede to a story. A new tune, fully formed in full audio surround.

Magical. Unexpected. Welcome.