-or- saving for a rainy day
Since my decision to blog more frequently I have, on more than one occasion, sat in front of the computer with a glazed over look.
"What should I write?"
Eventually an idea will come or I will simply ramble on about some insipid thought I had (hey now, I don't need anyone pointing out that all my blogs are like that, I know they are!). Or I even ramble on about nothing in particular at all, perhaps just my inability to come up with a good idea. In fact it wasn't too long ago I wrote a blog about just that very thing.
Well this isn't another one, don't pack up and leave just yet*.
I often find things happening around me that I find interesting and/or entertaining. Sometimes I even have thoughts that I think might be fun to write about. In order to keep those thoughts until I either have the time or inspiration to compose a full-fledged article around them I have a little text document I keep handy. I open it up, jot down the thought, a potential title, or simply a key word that will trigger enough memory to actually write a blog at some point.
So far it has worked pretty well. I have used it on some occasions when I just didn't know what to write. But it also has a tendency to grow. Right now there are 17 items on the list, and that doesn't count some articles I am planning on writing with sufficient thought already put into them that I don't need to write them down.
The trouble is, though, too often I find myself opening up that text file and looking at the ideas with just as much of a stupor of thought as minutes ago, when I wasn't looking at anything.
But I find it to be a useful exercise. It helps me keep hold of some of my better ideas (heck, it even helps me keep hold of my really stoopid ideas), and provides some fodder for writing when I really, really need it. At least I know I am thinking sometimes. Not a 100% guarantee, but I have my moments.
Do others out there have similar methods? Drastically different ones? Random insults to hurl at me? Let's hear 'em!
*Of important note to the reader: This is by no means a guarantee that this article will be of any more worth than those just as inane ones. You have been warned.