Monday, February 10, 2020

It’s 3 in the morning!



                It had been a busy day. I baked bread, did laundry, watched a basketball game and did some research for my work in progress. I was tired.
                But the minute I climbed into bed, my brain started plotting and when I couldn’t sleep, I got up and here I am, back at the computer.
                Any writer will tell you the same story. Regardless of how tired you may be or where you are, you write when inspiration strikes and that’s not always when you sit down at your desk.
                I was once driving along on my way to somewhere and had to pull off on a side road, put on my hazard lights and start jotting a scene on various stick-it notes. I had two people pull over to see if I needed help. “Not unless you know another word for antiquated,” I thought.
                I wrote on the back of a wedding invitation as the ceremony took place. It was a beautiful ceremony and I wanted to remember the feel of the day.
And let’s not forget the shower – always the place for random scene generation.           
At least with today’s technology, I can dictate emails to myself on my phone while I drive, hands free.
                You would think I could remember these flashes of inspiration for a more appropriate time and place, but no. If I don’t write down at least some sketchy notes, the thought disappears like fog when the sun rises. That’s why my work notes are not neatly typed pages in chronological order. They’re register receipts, sticky notes or paper napkins. I do sometimes  manage to write in the small notebook I keep in my purse.
                Where is the oddest place you have had to stop and write? And on what? Have those cryptically written phrases found their way into your story in exactly the same way?

Here’s to happy writing…and reading.
Barbara Baldwin
http://www.bookswelove.com/baldwin-barbara/

PS -- As February is romance month, Books We Love authors are offering excerpts from their contemporary romances, romantic suspense and paranormal romances on the BWL free reading club. Check it out and join today at https://www.facebook.com/groups/BooksWeLovebookclub/


5 comments:

  1. At a traffic light until an officer tapped on the window and ordered me to stop obstructing traffic. Keep writing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL. I was writing at a stop light and almost had an accident. It was shortly afterwards that my husband bought me a small tape recorder to dictate into! (That was way before cell phones.)

      Delete
  2. I'm afraid I can't compete with you and Janet. I never stopped along the road, but I keep a notebook under my bed, and I will write down ideas in the dark in the middle of the night. Whether I can decipher my scribbling in the morning is another story LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true! IF I could remember my dreams the moment I wake up, I could have several best sellers!

      Delete
  3. Poems seem to come that way for me. And boy do they ever fly right out the window if I can't catch them then!

    ReplyDelete

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