Hey, bruce:

There are many things I under-excell at. One of them is trying to suggest to people how to "create." I don't know "how" to write a song, and I surely don't know "how" to stir the muse. I suspect that it is very different for each of us, and I have a very casual, wait- for-inspiration approach to creativity. How do I write an outline for that? I most likely experience things very differently than almost everyone on this thread. Every experience is valid, as far as I'm concerned. I DO share your experience of often being moved to write as I'm drifting off to sleep, am sleeping, or am just waking up.
So, what would we do in a workshop? Give everyone a sleeping pill at the beginning of the workshop and ask them to write a song when they wake up?

Seriously, my creativity seems to flow from fully experiencing life... whether it's a time of spiritual reflection, revelation, friendship, conversations, long walks... all the thing I talked about in the beginning of this thread. "Fully experiencing life" sound suspicuosly like b.s., so I hesitate to even say something like that. Truth is, too much of my time is spent on auto-cruise, and it takes a heaightened awareness to even see the world around me.

Wrote a song about that once:

We are drowning in the details of life
Seeking answers without any clues
We all think that we're playing Wheel Of Fortune
When our lives are more like Trivial Pursuit

I think the idea for a workshop is a good one. I just don't think that I have much to offer.

Jerry