It starts with something as simple as a memory - be it happy or sad.

Have you ever had a big idea?

Ideas that seem so big are easier to understand and execute (or “Think and Do,” Professor Tuffy might say) if you practice breaking them down into their component parts. Let’s do that for Mousey’s tale…

Where do you start?

Have you ever had an idea humming in your mind like bees working and buzzing?

〰️...〰️

Have you ever had an idea humming in your mind like bees working and buzzing? 〰️...〰️

Your beginning seems the very best place! YOU! You may find sources of inspiration all around you. Inspiration isn’t always something beautiful. Sometimes you can build something amazing on the foundation of something very horrible that you saw or felt in your own past. Keep your eyes open for both. Life has so much ebb and flow, doesn’t it? Sometimes it can seem like standing in the waves on the shore in that joy and grief mix and swell in unexpected tides of life.
Keep your eyes open for both types of ingredients for your “big idea.”
The author of Mousey likes to put pen to paper, but you can draw, write, paint or build on any physical or digital surface you like to start with. In fact, when your mind is your color palette, the world can be your canvas.
Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Maybe you want to give a birthday present to your son who is turning “Five in the Fall”…
Whatever your big idea is, remember that rough drafts are beautiful. Never let anyone make you underestimate the potential and power of your simple “napkin sketches.”
Get your idea into the world. Then get critique from those you trust most. Maybe it will grow legs and wings, maybe it’ll help you afford to buy more building materials… how do you know if you don’t try? If you don’t like your first draft, you don’t have to share it, but as a fellow creator, the author encourages you to keep the work you don’t like. Someday, you may enjoy seeing how you got where you were going.

Want to see “how the sausage is made?”

The images below are screenshots of the author’s working design file. If you’ve never seen a working file before, it can be a bit overwhelming. Artists often use studios or workshops to create their work and they are naturally covered in paint or art supplies.

Think of this working file as one of those spaces, just in the digital world! It’s actually still a work in progress!

Tool used to build design files
Figma (the free plan) - www.figma.com/pricing

Timeframe