How to Capture Your Medium Article Ideas Before They Fly Away

Ways to capture article inspirations and turn them into great reading.

One night I woke up with a very clear article idea. You know the feeling, I’ll bet. It was about 1 am, the house was tar black. I padded into the kitchen. I know where everything is. I’m ex-military. You should see my sock drawer.

I’ve lost a lot of potential boyfriends because of that sock drawer.

Found a pen and paper do the kitchen island. Scratched out a single word.

I’m gonna remember this, easy, I thought.

Padded back to bed.

At my assigned wake-up, which in this house is 3 am, I did what monumentally annoying, cheerful early risers do; I leapt up, ready to roll. Even without coffee. It’s disgusting.

Good thing I don’t have a late-sleeping roommate with a shotgun.

I bounced into the kitchen ready to take on my new story.

The word was Tube.

WTF?

TUBE?

Fallopian?

Toothpaste?

As in, going down the…?

Worms?

I have no idea. Just…no clue. Never did figure that out.

I swear, it was such a great idea. Would have gone viral. Revive my sagging stats.

Nope. Not now.

In the past few years I’ve been writing for Medium — in fact two years precisely this month-I’ve learned a few things.

First, writing isn’t what I do. It’s who I am. I’ve always been a writer. In fact, I can’t avoid writing. It’s an imperative. Even when I’m riding a horse in the deep wilderness, I’m writing. The way you know, at least in part, is that you are always and forever composing a new article. Your mind is always and forever coming up with new ideas. Drew Magary wrote a terrific article about just that while back but I can’t find it any more. He suffers from the same compulsion. We. Gotta. Write.

The world is chock-full of new material.

Right now it’s a gift to be stuck at home, as my list of new ideas is several miles long.

These are a few (probably worthless) thoughts on how to come up with new material as well as how to capture those ideas before they float away. If you’re anything like me (and I genuinely am sorry for you if that’s the case) you might want to develop a system or those ideas are as elusive as the Palos Verdes Blue butterfly.

First: story ideas.

Honestly. Where do you get them?

1. Read. Not just other Medium material, but READ: Classics. Potboilers. Religious works. Doesn’t matter. Read other people’s stuff. Serious writers READ. We hoover material- we read articles, magazines, books. We read stuff online and offline. All the time. The very best writers and authors are voracious readers. Why? Because all of us are humbled by the quality of what others produce. We are reminded that we are Lilliputs in the face of Gulliver. Don’t know the reference? READ. Gulliver’s Travels, Swift, 1726.
2. Journal. I have a journal that now spans fifty years. While an awful lot of it is whining adolescent pap (so is much of my writing), later in life it began to shift into the kinds of observations my father told me to make. That was the real beginning. I quit my journal in 2018 during an horrific relationship. Medium has replaced it, for better or for worse, but the journalling taught me to hone my observation skills. I lost the habit, and am studiously trying to get it back. Because it works.
3. Become a Noticer. Nature has taught me that. The long, long hours on horseback in the wild. Endless hours sitting by the ocean in Madagascar with nothing to do, no electricity or running water. Just the changing sea and sky, and some very grateful stray dogs. I have rarely known such peace. It isn’t just that time in Nature is soothing. It’s one of life’s great PhD programs in getting the hell out of our own way. You learn to see things like the tiny star-shaped plants that are dewed with perfectly-round gems of water that catch the dawn’s first light. Those were outside my tent in the Muskwa-Kechika Wilderness in Northern Canada. You learn how to look. And in learning to look, you learn to see. Writers need to be able to see, as well as feel authentically.
4. Never, ever be without access to something to write on. I have learned to run the stairs with a waist pack that has a pen and pieces of scrap paper. I’ve also learned to write more than one word (TUBE) so that I remember what the fuck I was thinking. I’ve learned not to trust my memory. My phone doesn’t work in that regard- for me, and this may well be generational, I have to write it. There is plenty of research that validates that practice as a better way to remember. Besides, if you drop the phone in the tub ( where I get plenty of ideas) you can a) ruin your phone and b) kinda ruin your whole life if the damned thing is plugged in. Ideas come at random, in the damnedest places (like public toilets. Really? honestly?) I’ve lost terrific ideas for this reason. With the exception of scuba diving, I always have a small notebook and a pen in a nearby pocket. Hiking, horseback, my home. My notes are my salvation. After 21 concussions, I find that if I don’t write it down, it’s as elusive as the trick to losing that last ten pounds. My writing desk- now my dining room table-is littered with story ideas. Now that I add more descriptives other than a single word, I remember.

Next: Mindset and Putting things away for later

1. Develop a Journalist’s mindset. Two parts to this. First, just because I’m a journalist, I’m not saying be like me. Not at all. I am asking that you seek the story. Far too many of us think that WE are the most important story. While that is typical of all of us humans (we’re wired by Nature this way, that’s not a slam), we aren’t always the story. That mindset has infected and effectively ruined solid news reporting where personality trumps partiality. When you develop that uber-awareness that everyone else and everything else BUT YOU has a story, you will find treasure. I’m not saying that what you think and feel aren’t valid. But you aren’t the only item of importance in a teeming, often troubled, terrifically interesting world. You and I become more interesting and valuable when we deliver material that adds value.
2. Pick Medium articles that inspire you. When I find a piece that motivates me, that means I’m probably going to draw quotes from it, link to and highlight it. The easiest way for me to do that is copy and paste that article into a New Story. I give it an interim working title. That way I don’t lose the story, and when I re-read it I will absolutely remember why. This keeps me from losing the article, which in the past has happened far more often than I want to admit. I love highlighting others’ work, and I get endless ideas from others very funny phrases and material. NEVER EVER steal. You can pilfer with permission, you can quote and always give credit. DO NOT plagiarize. Copyright is clear; you own your words. Not only is plagiarism bad form it gets you into legal trouble. See this.
3. Research. Got an idea? See what else has been written. Challenge that material. Challenge your take on that material. Ask yourself why you need to write about it. READ what you’re linking it to. Check the veracity of those claims. RESEARCH. Do the work. I often find, link to and highlight other’s material on an idea of mine for several reasons: a) they have a different and often better angle than I do; b) they have done different and often better research than I have and c) it shares the wealth.

Finally: write when it’s best for you

1. I love the early dark. The hours between 3:30 am and noon are my best time. I’m full of energy, I see the light differently, I see life differently The exercise routine that punctuates my punctuation is energizing and happy. By about 2 pm I am flagging. I take a nap. To stay upright I walk or run. I’ve learned to walk away from the computer because anything I write after that point is crap. Most of what I write is crap anyway but what I write after 3 pm is pure compost. I find a book or a movie, curl up on the couch, sit on the deck, call people. Whatever. My creative hours are spent. Trying to write after mid-afternoon for me is like giving birth to a Shetland pony. Painful. Okay, look, I’ve never tried it but I can imagine.
2. Learn your rhythms. Your best time is as unique as a fingerprint. Watch how your mind works during the course of the day. When you are the most crisp and engaged. When you feel drained. Is your Muse an early riser? Or is she a surly bitch who can’t be roused until midday? Or does she only come out to play after your housemates are bedded down for the night? There is no “best time.” Only the best time for your creative process.
3. Keep your resources handy…and use them. All my resource books are currently packed for a move that‘s now on hold. Now I print out articles on how to write better headlines and such (sourced from fellow Medium writers a lot better than I am). If those aren’t right at my left elbow when I write, I will forget they exist and create godawful headlines that relegate my material to the sidelines. All my writing books are in storage, so I’m having to exercise very different kinds of writer disciplines and find my answers elsewhere.
4. Develop a community. This is its own article. Suffice it to say I moved my playground largely to Illumination. Several reasons: Dr Mehmet Yildiz has been working tirelessly and putting in unbelievable commitment to find writers, editors, promote us, write about us, poke us to read and tag each other, respond to other’s emails and entreaties. Dr. Y also has a job and a real life, too, so this is my HUGE shout-out to what he’s been going. Participate, respond to and protect the integrity of our community. I’ll write more on this later but my Muse needs an exercise break. She’s been up since three. It’s nine am and time for a late lunch.