Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Question of the Day #524

Last night, right before sleep, I had an awesome idea for a Question of the Day. Whatever it was.

My friend R, a songwriter, keeps a little recorder in his car and when he has an idea for a melody or a lyric, he sings into it. If he's not in his car, he calls his voicemail and leaves himself a message.

When I'm not in bed and have an "Ah ha" moment, I usually take notes. But there's something about those moments before sleep and right when I wake up that are packed with seemingly genius ideas that I never keep track of.

What about you? How do you hold on to great ideas?

xoxo,
Suzanne

11 comments:

  1. I hate it when I have a great idea when I'm in bed and then forget it later. I don't have a system for keeping track of ideas, but maybe I need one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't say that I have many great ideas that I feel I need to remind myself of later. But I do think of songs, or hear songs while out & about, that I would want to download later. I text or email myself song title or lyrics so I'll remember to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmm, I'm not really someone who has great ideas that needs to remember them later. Easy come, easy go. Buuuut, if there is something I need to remember I'll write it down somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The other night I thought of a BRILLIANT idea for my book. It was a great first sentence...I was in bed. No notebook beside me (sometimes there is) and I was too darn lazy to get up. And I lost it. Totally lost it.
    I do have a notepad in my purse so I have something on the go. Apparently I need one permanently on my nightstand too!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wish that I was holding onto to great ideas, because I seem to solve many problems in that time going to sleep or waking up. I'll even take a nap if I'm struggling with something writing-wise, and it usually works for me. I tend to remember the writing things, not exactly, but enough to know what I was going for.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Text my wife or hold it in my drafts folder on my phone.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My best ideas tend to come at that sleepy time too and, apparently, I also transform into my biggest fan. My idea is always so incredible that I honestly believe there is no way, NO HOW, I'll ever forget it. I am THAT good in my drowsy state of mind.

    On the rare occasion I do remember my idea, it usually has lost all of the glitz and glam it had the night before.

    Ho hum.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I text or e-mail myself too. More often than not it's a cool website or an interesting recipe rather than an idea.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I can say that I've had exactly one Ah Ha moment in the middle of the night (that I actually remember). I woke up with it in my head and forced myself to go over it and over it and over it until I got to my train commute and wrote chapter one. It's on the shelf waiting for me to finish other things, but it will prove worthwhile sometime in the future. Look for "Hot Springs, Cool Powder" in about ten years. :-)
    (And thanks for yesterday's shout out -- I love the community of the KidLitossphere!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I lose stuff all the time. I'm always having what I think are brilliant ideas in the middle of the night. By morning, they're gone. :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ideas seem to wander off and hard to come by again! I say, catch them quick !! - pen, paper whatever!!

    ReplyDelete

Don't be shy! Please join our game of Questions.