This week we begin to explore the process to thinking of a brilliant idea.  While it may seem like a tedious task to read a 27-paged novella on how to come up with an idea, I found it interesting to read about a theory for the ideation process:

• Gather a bunch of raw ideas
• “Digest” the material
• BLAM! A wonderful idea!

No, it isn’t that easy, but we now have a foundation for where to start.

Let’s start with Idea-101. What is the dictionary definition of ‘Idea’? 

a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action

Great! We are on a roll.  But now the question becomes: How do we know a good idea when we see one?  See, that’s a tough one to answer.  A good idea comes once in a blue moon.  You need to think of many not-so-great ideas before hitting that jackpot idea.  However, a good idea usually has a promising central “nucleus” and maybe some details filled in.  A good idea has that core completed, and further investigation would be able to complete the whole project.

My process to come up with an idea is very similar to the book’s.  To be frank, I don’t really know if I look for new relationships and connections between things – there is a good chance that I do that subconsciously.  It seems as if the author’s process for an idea is intellectual because it seems very logical.  There is an order: 

1. Gather raw materials

     a. Specific

     b. General

2. Store general materials in scrapbook or a file

3. “Digest” your materials

     a. partial ideas come to you

              i. write them down

     b. you will get tired of thinking

              i. truck on through

     c. you make no effort anymore

              i. drop the problem and turn to what stimulates your imagination

                     1. Music, theater, movies, read, etc…

I would say my process for an idea is very similar, but it seems as if my “digestive” process moves very quickly and I get to the “you make no effort anymore” in a heartbeat. 

As a stage manager, Excel (or a spreadsheet maker of any kind) is of great importance as our “art” consists of paperwork.  For my project, I would like to jump into the world of Excel and learn about most of it’s functions.  I thought of this idea by looking at the examples of last year’s projects.  I noticed one that discussed the involvement of computer in the technical theater world and thought I might do something similar but more specific towards stage management. 

I know the basics of Excel: Shading, fonts, merging cells, etc… , but I want to learn the really cool stuff.

Here’s hoping!