It’s about 7:10 AM on a Sunday and I have been up for an hour composing. The past hour I have been deep in the “zone.” This means when I look up from work I have to take a second to re-orient myself to time and place.
Oh yes. I have to leave in a bit and go do church.
There are levels of “zone” in composing. The deepest one is when you get a kernel of an idea or even a burst of ideas that fit together. When that happens you can understand how humans use the idea of “muse.” The inspiration does seem to come from somewhere else, that’s for sure.
But right now, I’m working on drafts of a piece. In fact the first thing I did this morning was organize files so that I could easily identify old drafts from current ones. I find that it sometimes helps to return to previous drafts when working.
This morning I am revamping the composition so that it proceeds more logically. Actually returning the beginning to my original idea and then allowing the composition to show the development of the idea. Not terribly original to be sure but I think it might work out.