One of the very best ways to get inspired is to force ourselves out of our patterns, all of them.
I researched album design all morning and afternoon yesterday, and kept coming up dry. Nothing was striking me. So I switched it up. Here is the list of out-of-routine things I did yesterday:
- Moved my laptop to the floor and worked next to the fireplace
- Put my hair in pig tails and walked through record stores, tried on 2 men's t-shirts
- Flipped through a book on the Bauhaus movement
- Ate pizza topped with apricot jam, tarragon, olives, garlic, and brie
- Listened to Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" 3 times, got up and danced the last time.
- Attempted singing it in the shower
- Worked on booking gigs in a states I've never played in before
- Read through an on-line news source about environmental change in June, 2007
Somewhere in all of this mess I came up with a great idea for the cd insert, and I'm diving into that today. Can't wait. Incidentally, "Empire State of Mind" is awesome; it reminds me of "flying popcorn"--that process of being forced to catch a piece of popcorn that someone else throws at your mouth. As soon as the beat starts with that piano riff, you start moving, and you keep moving, involuntarily involved with it all until you're loving it.