If You Don't Write It Down, It Never Happened

The title for this post was taken from a quote in the book "The Sum of All Fears" by Tom Clancy. It was said by Cathy Ryan during a scene at John Hopkins, and later said again by her husband Jack, when he was trying to help figure out how to fix the stock market mess.

That line isn't true in every case. I remember one night in Mesa, Arizona, when I took a walk down to a local supermarket and back. Just a quick, get-out-of-the-house walk. On the way to the supermarket, I came up with a poem. I just started talking to myself, one line at a time. However, on my way back, I realized that I had completely forgotten the entire poem. I couldn't remember a single line that I had come up with, and I was very disappointed, because it was one of my better poems. To this day, I still can't remember anything from that poem, but I know it happened.

Now I usually take some form of writing pad and pen with me everywhere I go. I don't always write anything, but if I suddenly think of a name for a character, a line for a poem, a phrase that stands out to me, etc, I immediately write it down. The downside to my doing this is that I've currently got three or four different notebooks and multiple sheets of paper with ideas, names, phrases, scene snippets, and there is no organization to them at all. I really should go through them and try to organize things. I don't know how that will work, but it's worth a shot. It would cut down on the clutter on the floor around my bed.

So give it a try. Take a small notepad and pen with you when you go out. If/when you have a small flash of inspiration, write it down. Expand on it later.

On a different note, it has occurred to me that using a Gaelic phrase for the title of this blog may not have been such a good idea, as I have no idea how to pronounce it. I just happen to really like the language (hope to learn to speak/read it someday), and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Still writing...

You want to know something depressing? Or feel it? Keep telling a bunch of people you know that you're gonna write something and you'll post a bit for them to look at. An excerpt, a poem...something. Then the next thing to do is actually write something. Then you post it.

And then you watch while no one notices. Thanks a lot world. I finally produce something, and no one notices or acknowledges it. Really makes me feel bad.