Creative Writing

Have you ever had a huge burst of creativity at the most inopportune moment?  How do you deal with this?  In my real life, I’m a boring old waitress in a little country diner.  However, there have been several times when I’ll over hear a conversation that sparks a really killer idea for a story or an article, and I don’t have the time to run to my purse and get my handy-dandy notebook out to write it all down on.  So, what’s a waitress to do???  Anything she can!

This happened to me just a few days ago.  I was wiping down one table, while the couple sitting in the next booth were having a rather normal conversation.  I wasn’t intentionally listening in on their girl talk, but I did manage to capture a few phrases that sent my creative mind into hyper-drive.  The problem was that I still had a couple more tables to deal with and a new one waiting to be served.  My solution?  Napkins!  That’s right kids, I scribbled out my idea on one of the napkins from the dispenser on the table.  (A clean one).

The problem with being a creative writer is that most of us can’t turn it off and on at will.  When the mood strikes, it strikes and there’s nothing we can do about it other than make sure we’ve got a pen handy and something to write on.  It can be the backside of an envelope, a diaper out of the diaper bag (a clean one), or whatever else happens to be handy.  I know everyone says to keep a notebook with you at all times, but there are times when this just isn’t an option.  That’s when you need to use that creativity to your advantage and find something to write on.  Please note that people will look at you funny if you stop to write out a few plot lines on your pants.

It would be nice to think that your creativity will only strike when you’re sitting in front of your computer or when there is a ton of paper at your disposal.  But, as we all know, it just doesn’t work this way.  It happens when it wants to, and that’s why it’s called the creative spark.  Because if you don’t catch it while it’s in front of you, it will be lost to the dark forever.

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