On Big Magic

 In part two of her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert represents ideas as sentient beings who visit us when the time is ripe.  I am not sure sentient beings is the perfect term, but i think it captures her idea enough.  

She narrates a captivating story about a book project that she once started to buttress her point with a personal example.  The book idea was about a group of people who started building road in the Amazon.  Life intervened while she was putting together the raw materials that would help her craft her novel.  After a passage of time, she tried to return to the work, but the embers would not kindle into full-fledged flames.  The magic was gone, and she had to let the idea go.

Another author picked up on the same idea (but different settings) and Ms. Gilbert discovered about it.  She did not resent the author nor curse her fate.  She just let it go; an idea visited her but had to move on to the next person.

I am sure there is a more rational explanation - not necessarily better than Ms. Gilbert's nuanced tale - that explains what happened.  However, I think this experience goes on to reinforce what she invited us to do in an interview on Marie TV - never back down on an idea because you feel somebody has explored it.  The world benefits from your work, provided you are in the right circumstance to put decent work ethic coupled with nuanced personal touch into your work.

As an intriguing example of a nuanced approach, Ms. Gilbert gave us her unique view of how ideas move from one person to another.  Psychologists, on the other hand, may have a more fact-based explanation replete with images of brain scans or whatever they need to support their point.  Each view has its own merits.  As a result, we, the readers, have more viewpoints to chew on and our world is the better place for this diversity of perspectives.