If I want to be creative in music I find I have to be doing music. That might mean listening to types of music that aren't the norm for me. It's stimulating and keeps my brain fresh.
It could mean playing a type of music that isn't my usual. When my brain is doing new things I pay more attention to what I'm doing and I find it stimulating. After periods of doing this I become more creative.
I've noticed it translates to other specks of my life not just music.
When I'm stuck in a non creative period the worst thing for me to do is nothing. Even if it's not music i have to do something, anything. I can still think about music while I'm doing that thing, even listen to music at the same time. Often times this provides a fresh outlook that plan get the creative juices flowing again.
I also think it's important to not expect creativity to be on tap at all times. For me becoming creative is part of the process. That means creating the mood and removing distractions too. As someone in an earlier post mentioned, we don't do things for ourselves that we would automatically do for a client to help create the right environment.
Making notes of lyrics and recording of music, sounds etc when opportunity strikes is invaluable (also mentioned earlier) for having the building blocks at hand. The phrase that popped into my mind a few days or weeks ago maybe just what I need to kick start a creative stream tomorrow.
That's all I got for now. All the best kakku.