Waiting for the fish to come in

Famous movie director (or as wiki describes him: "film director, screenwriter, producer, painter, cartoonist, composer, video and performance artist"), David Lynch, asked about encountering dead ends when he is developing new ideas and how he deals with them, had this to say:

" You go out fishing and you do happen to catch a fish that you love. And that fish is an idea - so you write it down. Now, you have something more to focus on - just besides a desire for an idea. Now you have a little fish - more bait. So, you go and you drop the line in again. But there is no more fish coming right then. So, you move to another part of the lake or sea and try there. And that one fish -- you wrote it down, you put it in a box. Now later - sometimes its very good to go through the box. You might see that fish later and boom - it's a new day, many many many fish will swim in and join to it and something will emerge. But for the time being its a dead end."

Note: Words as transcribed by me listening to video here.

(This is true of any creative enterprise but I'm tagging it under writing.)