At our house we usually keep the house pretty cool in the winter time, even more so at night. The week I am writing this, in late December, the weather outside dropped to around 7 degrees Fahrenheit, which is darned low for my city. Of course it was a lot warmer inside, but leave it to say it was cozier under the blankets than outside of them.
And as I lay there, all snug and warm, waiting for Morpheus to do his thing... I remembered something. Details don't matter but it involved calling a doctor's office about something. So, while it was not life-and-death, this was a matter of some significance. It was an errand I had better not forget. That meant I was either going to 1) find a way to make sure I remembered it in the morning, or 2) stay awake all night worrying about it.
Now, for the past fifty years I have seldom gone anywhere without a pocket notebook. Every writer needs a way to scribble down the Next Brilliant Idea. But as it happens my notebook was across the room on the dresser. So in order to write myself a reminder note I would have to throw off the lovely sheet and duvet and stomp across the room, pick up my notebook, take it out into the hallway (so as not to wake my very tolerant wife), flip on the light, find an empty page, write down the reminder, and retreat to Slumberland. It would be a cold couple of minutes.
I lay there for a while, trying to think of another alternative. As it happened my cell phone was charging on my night table and I seriously considered turning it on, waiting for it to wake up, finding the note app, and sending myself a reminder. This would actually take longer than the out-of-bed method but wouldn't get my toesies all chilled.
I decided that was ridiculous. I got of bed, made the journey, made my note, and climbed back into bed. But before sleep could knit up the unraveled sleeve of care, another thought came into my mind.
What if, instead of a reminder of a medical issue, my brain had popped up a story idea?
I would have been out of bed in an instant, grabbing for my notebook to scribble it down. Because to a writer a hot idea can be much more important than a mere health issue.
Decades ago I remember reading that Buckminster Fuller said that from the moment you have an idea you have 17 minutes to do something physical with it - write it down, tie a string around your finger, sing it out loud until it's stuck in your head -- or it will disappear. I have searched for this bit of wisdom many times and have never found it again. Did I make it up? Got the details hopelessly wrong?
If I ever do find it again, I'll even get off the mattress to write it down. In the mean time, the moral of the story: Keep my notebook near the bed.
Rod Serling supposedly kept a tape recorder beside his bed to take notes on ideas from his nightmares. (That's where some of those Twilight Zone stories came from!)
ReplyDeleteMan had some interesting nightmares
DeleteYour story calls to mind the Mitch Hedberg joke: "I write jokes for a living, I sit at my hotel at night, I think of something that's funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down. Or if the pen is too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny."
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Stephen King said in an interview once that "I never write ideas down. Because all you do when you write ideas down is kind of immortalize something that should go away. If they're bad ideas, they go away on their own." https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/04/stephen-king-on-the-creative-process-the-state-of-fiction-and-more/237023/
I can't afford to lose any many ideas as Mr. K.
DeleteOne winter many years ago I wrote all day under a blanket. When I got paid, I turned up the heat. A writer whose name I don't recall said that if an idea is a good one, it will reappear several times. Only when that happens, did he start a story or novel with it. If I get an idea I like, it tends to stay "warm," lingering through the day until I do something with it. --Susan Oleksiw
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DeleteAh, but how can you be sure the idea you didn't write down was a bad one?
DeleteAt one point I got a light-up pen. Now I charge my phone at night on the night table, within easy reach. And oh yes, I remember the many years of stumbling out of bed and into another room, grumbling loudly at the idea that wouldn't leave me alone.
ReplyDeleteI write the ideas down, but sometimes they look more like secret Martian codes because I write poorly in the dark. And sometimes because the idea itself is crap. But every once in a while, it's golden!
ReplyDeleteI remember getting up once to write down a brilliant idea. In the morning I read: "A warehouse." I have not yet monetarized that.
ReplyDeleteFor quick reminder "take iron pill in AM or call dentist for appt", I take my finger & write "pill" or "dentist" physically on my forehead. For story ideas, I live alone & have my phone fully charged at bedtime & it's next to my pillow. I can always pick it up and write on phone notepad. My problem is I seldom have story ideas at night. But I will say that I am ready if I do.
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