Does it hit you like a bolt of lightening? Does it slap you like a wet fish? Does it tickled in your nose like a hackneyed cliché? When the idea hits you, what do you do?
I’m a busy woman. Some of that is to do with how many jobs I’ve given myself, the rest is to do with how poorly I manage my time. I’ll admit that freely. If there was a magical way to organise all the jobs I would like to do versus what I can do, then I’d be the first to fork out cash to own it. But there isn’t. Which means I have lots of ideas floating around in my head that need to be controlled. And I have more coming every day.
I’ve recently started keeping an Ideas Book. I used to have a file on my desktop which served this purpose, but I can’t remember the last time I turned that machine on, so it’s pretty useless to me there. Similarly, there is one on this laptop, but that doesn’t help me in the middle of the night when I wake up, blink, and realise that I have the bestest best of best ideas in the whole entire wooooooorld!. So I write them down by hand – what a novelty! – and keep them.
There is a notebook by my bed slowly filling with late night ideas that have to be written down at the exact moment I have them, lest they be lost forever. I have another in my rucksack that I carry around with me everywhere, ready to scribble things in as they come. And finally I have my mobile. My trusty smartphone with a record function. I wish I could remember which of you fine readers suggested I should utilise that feature, but I can’t. So this is a blanket thank you. Thank you, whoever you are, for giving me the idea that I have since been able to use. There are now dozens of audio files on my phone, featuring my quivering voice. These files contain snippets of dialogue, interesting descriptions, narrative, plot hooks, characters, names, even information on potential markets and competitions. And I have it with me all the time. That’s the beauty of a mobile phone.
I’ve even started keeping note of interesting blog ideas that pop into my head. Too often now, have I come up with a topic and told myself, ‘oh I’ll remember that.’ Fast forward a couple of minutes and I can just about remember my own name let alone the blog idea I had. So I’ve taken to writing down titles.
As a result, I’m finding it fractionally easier to keep up with my posting schedule right now. Having a bit of a lead (like I did this time last year) is more helpful than I realised. Even if I have a little more time than I did this time last year, I still need to use it wisely.
How do you guys go about keeping your ideas in check? Do you have a special way of recording them then and there? Or is that just a weird and freaky ‘me’ thing?
Writing: A Conversation Without Interruptions 