Keep Your Ideas Where You Can Find Them

 

Most writers get lots of ideas and many of them will use those ideas right away.

 

That’s how I usually work, anyway.

 

Yes, I write the idea down if I can’t start working on it right away, but if it’s something I know I will write very soon, then I spend time thinking about it and putting it together in my head while I’m in the process of being able to write it.

 

I don’t like letting ideas sit for too long; if I get an idea for something, I want to put it to use RIGHT NOW. Whether it’s something to draw, write or create in some way, I grab hold of that idea right when it strikes and make sure it is a “thing” before the day is out. (Or, at least, in the process of becoming a thing. One short story idea I had took me weeks to write. Good thing I made an outline for it!)

 

However, sometimes, we writers just aren’t able to write the things we get ideas for, so we have to jot that idea down and save it for when we can write it later.

 

If this happens to you a lot, then I’d like to offer one piece of advice: Don’t lose whatever it is you put your idea on!

 

There’s nothing wrong with writing down or recording your ideas. The tricky part is making sure you have access to it later. That it’s somewhere you KNOW you can find it or somewhere you are easily able to get to it.

 

Just make sure you don’t jot your idea down on some random scrap of paper – because it might get lost later! (If I have no choice but to do this, I keep that scrap of paper in my pocket.)

 

 

When it comes to ideas, it’s important to keep them where you can find them. Somewhere you can easily have access to them.

 

Some writers use an idea file. This can be a folder in a filing cabinet containing all those scraps of papers of ideas. Or it can be an electronic file on your laptop or desktop computer. (Make sure you regularly save it on a flash drive!)

 

Other writers are old school, writing down every single idea in a spiral notebook. I have done this, too. I have notebooks with article ideas, outlines, random quotes I liked and chapters for books. I have even written first drafts in my writing notebook.

 

I also save ideas on my phone. My laptop is also a handy place to keep my ideas.

 

Regardless of where you choose to keep your ideas, make sure you get ALL of them down somehow. And make sure you store all of your ideas where you can easily find them later. The faster you get back to that idea for something to write, the faster you can get started writing it.