Waking Up Creative

• I dreamed that I was flying a helicopter, on a mission to rescue some firefighters on a blazing tanker ship.
• While I was making breakfast, I got an idea for a short story about a race of aliens who want to meet humans because we are mostly water, and they were mostly air.  
• At lunchtime I found a notebook and wrote down no fewer than ten blog ideas in less than ten minutes.
• That evening, I started checking my email over and over to see if the edits for my fourth book had come through, because I felt like diving into that sixteenth-century world.
• I started reading a book, and by the time I was halfway through I had figured out the mystery and started the sequel in my head.

So what does it take to inspire this sudden burst of creativity?  

I was sooo desperate for a break when my Christmas leave started.  I had no ideas, no motivation, no strength to come up with ideas or edit the ones I already had.  Work, and an extra-busy festive social schedule, had taken their toll.  

But then...whoosh!  It all came back.  All I needed was eleven days off.  Eleven nights' peaceful sleep.  Yummy homemade food.  Movies.  Time to crosstitch.  A collection of good books. And, of course, lots of cuddle time with the kitties.

I think I should do this a little more often.  Maybe one eleven day stretch per month.  That's not too much to ask, is it?