AUTHOR TIPS

Don’t Forget! Write Your Best Ideas Down Straight Away

Keeping a notebook or notes app handy will spare you regret.

You must know that feeling. The feeling when you know that you had an idea, something good, perhaps even something special…

…and you can’t remember it.

Damn!

One of the first thing that I was ever told by a writing teacher was to keep a notebook with you. Always.

Really, always.

Of course, these can be used any time, any place, to jot down your thoughts and reflections of the day, a few pen portraits, or some lines of poetry if that is your jam.

All good, all recommended.

However, perhaps the most valuable thing of all is to note down those big story or article ideas before you forget them.

That is critical. Because your brain will only have so many ideas.

And sure, there’s a possibility that the same one will occur to you again — perhaps when you are in the same situation. But there’s no guarantee. It could be lost forever.

When carrying a notebook isn’t practical for whatever reason, I tend to use the Notes app on my phone. It’s quick to open, making it easy to get typing straight away. And although I kinda hate typing on my phone, it’s good enough to get a sentence or two down that I can return to later.

Enough to help me remember the kernel of an idea.

Psychologists have found that people greatly underestimate how rapidly they will forget something. Most people assume that if something is in their head now, it will surely still be there in a few minutes or a few hours.

And that’s a mistake.

This area of research has consistently shown that forgetting is much more rapid and more permanent than most people tend to assume!

So make sure you have a notebook or some other way of recording your thinking always at hand. And make sure you are getting those ideas down sooner rather than later, even if you don’t feel like you are going to forget.

Because when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Shoutout to Rodney Goodall for some very useful and interesting articles on creative writing, including web-novels. Check out this one: Routines Make or Break a Writing Project:

p.s. you should get my posts direct to your inbox. Do that here! Also, if you’d like to experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, it genuinely supports writers, and you have the chance to make serious money with your own writing as well! By signing up with this link, you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you extra. If you do so, thank you so very much!