Quick Review: A Technique for Producing Ideas

...by James Webb Young.

Recommended by Jon Acuff, and he's funny, so I bought it.

It's a tiny book, with double spacing and wide margins, so you don't get a lot of book, but it's a good read.  Originally published in the 1940s, it's still seen as something of an industry standard apparently (the industry being advertising), but is lauded by many people in various creative disciplines.

What it says basically gave form to what I suppose I have generally thought/done, but without recognising it hitherto.  The system is:
1.Gather lots of information, about both the subject at hand and just generally
2.Look for connections and relationships between data, as new ideas are combinations of existing material. When your brain goes foggy and on strike...
3...go and do something else and let your subconscious mind reassemble things and produce answers.
4. The moment when the new idea bursts into existence
5. Shaping and refining in the real world.

It's that bit where you forget about it or sleep or do a Sherlockian concert trip, and then without thinking about it, the idea takes shape, is the most profound and bizarre part: especially as I think it's often the case.  However I also confess to ignoring this and constantly pounding at the problem because I have a deadline, often without result...