Forget-me-not (Photo credit: Sir_Iwan)
Or, at least, having a memory like a sieve. That’s me at the moment – I have great ideas, but I neglect to write them down or otherwise record them, and the next day I have absolutely no idea what they were. Or even, in some cases, what they related to.
Take today. Yesterday I had a brilliant idea for today’s blog entry. It was going to be a little bit different but still on my theme, and I was going to have no end of things to say about it. Trouble is, that’s all I can remember. It’s not like I have an excuse for forgetting, either; baby brain is on the way out, I’m getting plenty of sleep, and I had my phone (and pencils and paper) nearby at the time so I could very easily have made some record of what this big idea was. But, you know, I didn’t. Something to do with it being nice and warm under my blanket on the couch and not wanting to move, I suspect. (Either that or I didn’t want to pause Death in Paradise. I have such a weakness for British whodunnits.)
Naturally, I suspect everyone reading this can relate. Whether it’s to do with your writing, or just life in general, I’m sure every single one of you has had the occasional sensational idea, only to have it slip away when you weren’t paying attention. Ideas are naughty like that, aren’t they? You ask them so nicely to just stay put until you need to use them, but they insist on skipping off and doing their own thing. I’m sure my idea is in the Bahamas sipping cocktails by the pool by now, thumbing its nose at me, or at the very least tucked up warm in bed. In any case, it’s nowhere near my head, where I need it to be right now.
So, instead, today you get this rambling post from me about forgetting things. I seem to be doing it more often these days, which isn’t ideal, especially as I have this annoying habit of not writing things down. This happens even more when they don’t directly pertain to my WIP. I’m aware it’s a simple case of retraining myself to record more things, but unfortunately this old dog isn’t that keen on learning too many new tricks. Surely this reinvention of myself as a writer is enough? Why do I have to remember stuff too?
Okay, I’ll stop whining now. Hopefully this episode will in fact be enough for me to learn my lesson and take note of the ideas when they come calling, even when they don’t move the plot of my novel forward. There is clearly merit in the occasional idea outside that particular creative process. Therefore I am now going to my brain, cap in hand, and promising to pay it more attention in future. Promising to write things down when they come to me, rather than assuming I’ll remember them when the time comes. And hopefully, next time the creative urges strike, I’ll be ready and able to jot something down.
Related articles
- The Virtues of Daydreaming (newyorker.com)
- When Your Muse Has Left the Building (ginalawlessbooks.wordpress.com)
- What’s your name again? Lack of interest, not brain’s ability, may be why we forget (sciencedaily.com)
