Thursday, October 21, 2010

Wisdom on Wednesdays...On Thursday?

I'm not very alliterative this morning, but I'm sure you wonderful people will forgive me. I had planned to skip this post, but I had an idea yesterday that I wanted to share with you all.

I was in an atypical environment yesterday - and by atypical, I mean different from my usual haunts of home, library, and grocery store.  And I don't know if it was the fact that I was in a new environment, or the fact that I've been working on a novel so I'm in "notice stuff" mode, or just the fact that I had remembered to pack my notepad in my bag -or maybe it was a combination of all of those things - but whatever it was, I was noticing EVERYTHING.  The color of people's eyes, the smell of the air, the sounds, textures of fabrics, placement of furniture, all of it.  But it wasn't until I had been there for over an hour that I thought, "Wait a minute - I write.  I should be writing this stuff down!"

DUH.

Because this happens to you too, right?  You notice a whole bunch of great stuff, and then at the end of the day you sit down at the computer and your mind is blank because after dealing with the kids/traffic/spouse/pets/whatever all those great details you noticed before have gone right out of your head.

So, write it down.  Right there, in public.  In the moment.  Because you never know which details are going to be valuable to you later.

6 comments:

  1. I get caught in situations like that! I'll notice things, get an idea, and poof! Paper and pen always seems to be inaccessible at those times.

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  2. Golden: I started keeping a little notepad and a pen in my purse (or jacket pocket, when my purse is too cumbersome) for that very reason.

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  3. Excellent advice. I do carry a notepad in my purse. I forget all about it, though. I need a string on my finger or something to remind me. I seem to be always rushing.

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  4. This happens to me all the time! I need to be better about remembering to not just notice the details, but capture them, too.

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

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  5. I love when that happens. But, isn't it great to just be in the moment too? Not to be writing, recording, thinking, but just living it. I love that you lived for an hour before jotting it all down. (and, yeah, glad you jotted it down too).

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  6. Helen - me, too! LOL!

    Angela, good to know I'm not alone! We all need to develop that habit, don't we?

    Foldingfields, yes, living is important, too - otherwise, we're in danger of losing our perspective, I think. Thanks for sharing that.

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