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What's up readers! Yesterday I was walking along as a part of my daily business and suddenly I thought about a good idea for a story. Thoughts literally started flooding one after the other, which really doesn't happen often. So, has any one had a similar thing happen? Do great ideas ever make you wish you had a pen or a paper? When do these things seem to happen more or less for you?

I have exprienced exactly the same thing. One day I was travelling to the countryside-a 7 hour journey- and it happened that I had forgoten to carry my writing materials, something that has become my habit, and somewhere along the journey ideas started to strike my mind about a short story.

this is when a pocket sized recording device comes in handy like a tape recorder. even now, most phones have an app that lets you record audio!

Yeah I was thinking about a short I could write, it all started coming together out of nowhere.
@Mayhem, will use that advice, good thinking!

Yes usually in the middle of the night, I get a great idea and too tired to get up and write it down, by morning it isn't as clear as it was the night before.

The funny part is that the idea keeps me awake for quite a while so I should just get up and write it down anyway!

Oh I remember one time i was with my friend driving and when I looked out the side window the city view caught my eye and i though of a great idea for a book. Words, ideas, plot lines, etc. we're running in and out of my head and i wanted to write them down so bad but i was driving and in mid conversation with my friend so i couldn't and later when I got home i tried to still stimulate those ideas but the time had passed

@ Linda, try keeping a notepad by your bed so you won't have to go so far.
@ Jen, try to recreate that view that inspired you, or better yet, when with a friend, bring up your ideas in conversation so that it gains solidity in your mind.
Good luck!

I don't think there is a wrong time. If I have no pen and paper with me, I find that my imagination fleshes out the story in much more depth.

I'm all too familiar with this one! For me it tends to happen most at night, and so I've learned to always have a large notebook or sketchbook in very easy reach and a pen. I do the same thing throughout my day...I have a notebook and pen with me at all times and try to write the ideas down as soon as I get a chance to after they come. Sometimes when they come in large streams like that it can get overwhelming and start disappearing from my mind altogether as quickly as it came to me.

This happens all of the time for me. Just today I was sitting in Sub-Way, and an idea hit me straight in the face, luckily I had my journal and pen. So I started writing, to say I left later than I planned is an understatement. I sat there for an hour writing, by the time I looked up, people were staring. Though I got my idea down, so it was an all around success.

Great ideas always erupt in my mind when I'm trying to go to sleep. I promise myself I will remember them all in the morning, but unfortunately, that isn't always the case. I used to take the time to get up and try and record them, but the flow of my thoughts during the night seem never-ending and I will never get to sleep. It is frustrating!

I usually try to keep a notebook and pen around too (or else use evernote or similar) but as it would happen, the best ideas tend to strike when having access to these things is irrelevant. It's hard to jot down ideas when you're driving or in the shower.

I keep a pen and notebook in my purse for just such (rare) occasions; there's a notepad & pen on my bedside table for much the same reason. If it occurs while I'm driving, I'll make notes while at a stoplight - if I'm on the highway, I've been known to pull into a rest stop to write something down.

Shower ideas are annoying; I try to keep repeating the idea to myself, and visualize how I'll write it down, and where I'll fit that into my post-shower routine (so I'm not dripping while I'm writing!). Sometimes this works better than others ...

Crazy when that happens. But don't you find that usually the idea will kind of marinate in your head until you do happen to get the opportunity to write it down?

Sometimes when I get an idea, and when I get this feeling in my gut about the idea I need to trust the feeling, I have to allow the idea to ingest inside my creative mind for a while before I can begin to put pen to paper. Unfortunately, sometimes when I finally get to where I feel like writing it, other things come up.

Sometimes, too, I have a few good lines for a poem, but I don't have the whole poem itself. I used to try and force the whole poem out right then and there, and the poem gets jumbled. Now I keep a small notebook to jot down those lines and feel whole again.