Idea Collection

For years, I was carried two things in my purse/backpack: a book and a notebook.

Frequently, I'd forget my wallet.
And a pen.
But never my book and notebook.

I had that book and notebook close at hand for all sorts of situations. Bus delay? Look at that! I can read! At the doctor's office? Look at that! I can write what it is like to wait in the doctor's office! Awkward moment on a family vacation? Look at that! I can read and pretend I am in a zone and don't hear a word of the conversation.

Lately, the book has stayed, but after years of carrying the notebook, I stopped last year. I wasn't really writing while in grad school and when I did, I felt guilty about not doing my reading for class. So the notebook was put off to the side.

You would think that it would have returned to my bag, but, alas, it has not. I have numerous notebooks but none of them feels exactly right. Too big, too small, awkward to open, lined, no lines, etc. I can't seem to find my "notebook" style. I've tried carrying the moleskine, to be like the "cool" writers, but I don't really like writing in them and I can only manage to carry my moleskine planner about half the time. Since I put up a larger calendar in my house, the planner has also be exiled from my bag.

I am picky about where I want my writing to go. Also, I change my mind often. So the notebook and I are having...difficulties.

I've carried paper, just plain sheets of paper, but I hate the feeling of writing on a table without something between the paper and the table. I thought about carrying index cards as a friend of mine does, but...that would require me buying them.

Then again, lately, I haven't wanted to write while waiting for the doctor or when I have a free moment to just sit and think. No, no, no. My brain starts writing when I am in the middle of a six mile run. I craft entire paragraphs, entire scenes, to take my mind off the mileage I have left. The problem is that once I get home...I have usually forgotten my magnum opus. Or yesterday while I was lying on my yoga mat, waiting for class to start, I had an idea for a novel. I wrote a version of this blog post in my head. It was great.

Until someone asked me if I could move my mat over.

Then I lost my train of thought and while the idea for the novel stuck, this blog post is nothing like the fantastic one I wrote in my head yesterday. My apologies.

Ideas for my next play both came while watching CNN before bed. They tell you to have a notebook by your bed for these moments. I had my journal, but turning over, getting the journal, taking out a pen, and actually writing seemed too much for my brain to handle. So I just turned the light off. Thank the heavens that I actually remember those ideas.

I used to get ideas while in grad school classes or while at work. I would scribble them down and never return to them. I find it really interesting that much of my creativity comes when my brain is supposed to be focused on something else.

In November, I am running the Philadelphia Half Marathon. I am not a fast runner. So I'll be running for quite a bit. I wonder what I'll be writing during that run, only to forget it as I cross the finish line.