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Stories are everywhere, just waiting to be discovered. What do you do if you see something that inspires you or you meet someone who tells you a really great anecdote? Sure you can log it away with all the other daily mental notes, but chances are priority will kick in and that story may be erased by something more important like remembering to take Jimmy to soccer or to pick up some milk on the way home from another stressful day at the office. But…

What if the great authors throughout time just forgot their stories because they didn’t carry a simple notebook?

“Maybe it’s like this, Max–you know how, when you are working on a long and ordered piece, all sorts of bright and lovely ideas and images intrude. They have no place in what you are writing, and so if you are young, you write them in a notebook for future use. And you never use them because they are sparkling and alive like colored pebbles on a wave-washed shore. It’s impossible not to fill your pockets with them… I’d like to pin down a few while they are still wet.”

–John Steinbeck

The key operative her is notebook. What a simple thing, yet many writers don’t have that pen and paper when they need it most. Admit it, you’ve been in the grocery store and seen some random act. You told yourself you were going to use that in a story somehow, but did you even give it a second thought after you got home, unloaded the groceries, cooked dinner, played with the kids, bathed the kids, put the kids to bed… you get my point.

I’m not saying you have to carry around a giant school ruled notepad or even a legal pad. It could be as small as a stack of Post-Its. Every time you jot down one of those random notes of inspiration (Ok, maybe you’re organized, some writers are right?) you’re exercising the creative side of your brain. Often you’ll find you can’t stop writing down tidbits of life’s little idiosyncrasies. This is when you refer back to your handy dandy notebook and you get on the computer. The overflow of ideas is sure to produce something you can be proud of.

Writing tip provided by Ann Douglas

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