For ideas, look to your life.

I met one of my heroes recently - the brilliant writer, artist, playwright and all-round good guy, John Byrne.

He wrote "The Slab Boys" trilogy, he's a phenomenal artist and caricaturist, and co-wrote songs with Gerry Rafferty of Stealer's Wheel. And his design for the 1980 album "Beatles Ballads" was originally going to be the cover of the Beatles' "White Album"!

I'd love to say he came to me for advice on how to be even more creative, but he didn't.

I met him on a train.

As we stood in the corridor, I swallowed my nerves enough to say "You're John Byrne, aren't you? I'm a huge fan of your work".

"Oh really?", he said. "Anything in particular?"

That's lesson one. Never go up to someone and pretend you're a fan - you might just get found out.

However, I really am a fan.

Tutti Frutti, his TV series about a travelling rock and roll band, is one of my favourite ever dramas - real black comedy, and bittersweet.

So we had a laugh about my favourite scene, where Robbie Coltrane as Danny McGlone plays a beautiful version of "Love Hurts" to Miss Toner (Katy Murphy), only to get the loving response "Beat it, ya creep".

"And Slab Boys, of course" I said.

I first saw it in Edinburgh in the late seventies, and I've seen it, and the other two Slab boys plays, a few times since.

It's set in the dye-mixing room (the "slab room") of a carpet factory. I always thought it was based on Templeton's factory in Glasgow, an amazing building copied, believe or not, from the Doge's Palace in Venice!

Here's a picture - it's now an amazing looking business centre:

The plays were actually inspired by John's experiences in a different factory, in Paisley, where John grew up. He was a "slab boy", and later, a designer in that carpet factory.

"Always a good idea" John said, "to exploit your life for your art".

Absolutely - even if your 'art' is less fine art and more "I need an idea".

Look to your life. Your experiences, your connections, your inspirations.

What is there in your half-remembered past that could inspire new ideas, new approaches, new solutions?

Someone once said that every first book is autobiography.

More than that, your autobiography could be the source of your next big idea.