Sitting here at my desk at work, staring at the screen for inspiration. God knows my deadline and my salary are as uninspiring as mouse farts. This creative department has turned into a graveyard and I’m working the graveyard shift trying to unearth at least a bone of an idea (there are lots of those buried around here) for a TV commercial.
All I’ve got so far is a mild headache, an ice coffee and no cigarettes!
Looking out the window, I see the sun setting on horizon. Quite an amazing view; a scarlet ball of fire gently dipping itself into a calm rippling ocean. The sheer poetry of the sight would inspire someone else to reinvent the wheel! But as far as I’m concerned, it’s just another sunset heralding the end of another day. A day that isn’t quite finished. A day that never will be finished. Workaholics never finish their day.

If you’re a creative in advertising, then good luck leaving your work at work. Because even if we clock out at 5pm, we still carry our work in that briefcase we call a head. I can’t leave my briefcase on the coffee table without severing a few nerves and arteries. And that sucks!
It’s funny how this whole inspiration thing works. Sometimes you may have the perfect product, the brief (rarely understandable/relevant), all the info you need and the Garden of Eden to work in... and get nothing. Then there’re times I’ve been hit with brilliant (IMO) ideas when I’m in the loo or just buying a donut. Sometimes a single nonsensical word uttered by a drunken friend (I’ve got lots of ‘em) can lead to a whole thread of ideas.

And I’ve long lost faith in the common myth that intoxicants (ie weed/booze) are a must for the creative mind. What Bullshit! As much as I love the feeling of freefalling through my thoughts after a nice fat herbal cigarette, I wouldn’t count on it to get me an award-winning ad. And forget booze; after a few beers, all I want to do is play some loud metal and beat the shit out of local hip hop artistes!

Speaking of which, the music industry is like advertising. ‘Bands’ are the ‘Brands’, and the music is the commercial... good ones work for the brand/band, and bad ones get aired only on state-run television!

And that’s another thing that bugs me! I haven’t composed a lyrical masterpiece in ages. If I do get one, I have problems coming up with nice music to match. Sometimes it’s the other way round, where I have this awesome guitar riff and can’t come up with any lyrics to match!

Anyway, the point of this is that I can’t find my muse today. And it’s making me grumpy.
Right now I’m trying to find sense in my own philosophy of ‘working to live and not living to work’.