And Ideas Sprang…
Another of these reflexions about writing that came to me through means to which I wouldn’t think at first…It was 8 AM, I was up since 6, and after some time spent writing, I was itching to move. The weather that wasn’t too warm yet decided me to do something I seldom do: running. Therefore, I laced my shoes and simply stepped out (the good thing with wearing simple tops and shorts is that I’m always ready for such whims).I normally don’t like jogging. I’m much more a squash and strength-training person, and the only thing close to “cardio” that I really like is dancing. This time, however, there was something in the air, or perhaps in my way of viewing the world, that made it different. I didn’t have a MP3 player with me, I didn’t have any company, not even my dog. It was just me and myself, ready to have a little internal dialogue while running with my eyes on the clear sky. This is one of the nice things when living in the country: there are plenty of tracks and places to run, far from cars and other people.And the ideas started pouring in.Of course, I couldn’t note them down on the spot, but I had so much time alone to think of them that they still managed to stick in my mind. In about half a hour, I got ideas for a good nine or ten short stories. I probably won’t use them all—you can be sure that I scribbled them down afterwards to make sure I don’t forget—yet no matter what, it’s a very fine feeling to find myself with renewed inspiration.Too bad I don’t really enjoy running. If I had done this more often, without any other distraction, perhaps I’d now have a really huge stash of ideas.
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Albert Lai
It happens to me as well, and it’s amazing what comes up. Usually when you face some kind of repetitive activity that requires little to no brain power at all (jogging, for example), the ideas simply open up.The maddening thing is, if you don’t write them down soon, they fly away, like the tricky buggers they are.Same with the ideas that appear right before you go to sleep, while you’re lying in your bed. Too bad I’m too lethargic by then to put them to paper.
Yzabel
Oh yes, usually, if I don’t note an idea down, it’ll disappear… unless I’ve had the time to think it over and over, for a few hours, in which case it tends to last longer. The ideas that come right before sleeping are the worst… recently enough, I had one, and I still remember that I knew it’d be a good one, but I was too sleepy to get up. I’ve never been able to retrieve it from this part of my brain that drowned in sleep on that night. So frustrating…
Gone Away
Perhaps it was the ideas wanting to be born that made you that made you think of running… 😉
Yzabel
Now that’s an interesting hypothesis here. As long a they don’t demand me to do something really weird to be born, I suppose that running is a small price to pay? 😉
Pat Kirby
I get some of my best ideas while shoveling horse sh*t. It only takes rudimentary brain functions to scoop horse apples, so my imagination is left to fly.
Elvira Black
I often find that some of my best ideas come when I’m in the shower– very inconvenient indeed–unless I decide to put up one of those waterproof message boards in the tub (lol). I also find that when I am thinking about a new writing idea, I can become so self-absorbed that I tune out everything else, including my b/f. It’s like I go into a trance. So walking seems to be a good way to mull things over without distractions–or alienating others.I used to worry more about writing down every thought as it occurred–but now I think it needs time to percolate unchecked in my brain for awhile. Then the ideas all coalesce into a nice gestalt– which works well when I actually sit down to write a full-fledged piece. This way, I find that I can essentially do a piece in one draft instead of twelve, which is always nice. But it is helpful to have a notebook–or even a scrap of paper–around just to get the main points down if possible.
ME Strauss
I’m with Gone. I think your subconscious was getting you to get your body moving to make the ideas come out to you.
Yzabel
Heh, I’d like to think that if I don’t note an idea down right after having had it, and it sticks and develops in my mind, then it must mean that it’s a good idea. However, given the usual Swiss-cheese state of my memory, I can’t even rely on that. I have more chances of forgetting the good ideas along with the bad ones!Now, ideas coming better when performing simple tasks that don’t demand much brain power… This is likely an appropriate way of seeing it.
Chris H
I nearly always have my mobile phone on me. So if I have an idea that i really must note down – that i’m really terrified of forgetting, I write it in an sms and save it (or with my older phone, I had to send it to me)(of course – this idea is not worth a pinch of… to Elvira unless her phone is waterproof)