Musings in the middle of the night

Sunshine13 · Mar 4, 2008

OK, so I'm sure I'm not the only one. Who here has a journal or note book or pad of paper on their night stand? Because for me it always seems I'm stuck while trying to write a chapter, nothing is flowing, and then I go to bed. Low and behold it plays perfectly in my head (and I even hear the words written as well). If I don't write it down, it's lost forever, and even if I do write it down I always seems to miss something that was so awe inspiring when I thought of it. Drats!

I did this last night. I'm getting use to writing in the dark, my lines are only a little slanted and not on top of each other lol.

Garpy · Mar 4, 2008

I carry the proverbial little black book with me everywhere I go. At night it sits on my bedside table, and if I get a eureka moment, the light goes on (to my wife's annoyance).

Got to have a little black book....every serious writer should.

dawinsor · Mar 4, 2008

I have pen that lights up too so I can see that I'm writing on the pad of paper and not on my husband's back.

timewaster · Mar 4, 2008

I don't bother to write things down generally. I find that if I have already imagined a scene or a conversation I have to write it a different way anyway.
When things are going well with a book I often find that the characters perform little scenes while I'm in the bath or walking the dog: they have conversations and all that stuff. I don't think I've ever used any of it so writing it down is kind of pointless.

stormie · Mar 4, 2008

I carry a small memo pad and pen with me in the daytime. When I'm in bed--nope. If it's a dream or a thought I want to remember and eventually use in my writings, if it's worthwhile, I'll remember it. If I were to reach for a pad and pen, I'd then be fully awake for an hour or so afterward and be sleepy in the morning.

Sunshine13 · Mar 4, 2008

A light up pen! Why didn't I think of that? I'm so getting myself one.

Charlie Horse · Mar 4, 2008

I have an actual little black book. It's black, it's little, and I write stuff down in it.

dawinsor · Mar 4, 2008

ChristaCarol13 said:
A light up pen! Why didn't I think of that? I'm so getting myself one.

I got it at Staples, I think. You click the little thingy on the end once and it's an ordinary pen. You double click and it lights up.

dirtsider · Mar 4, 2008

Definitely. I have one for my purse, one for my nightstand, and one specifically for interesting names.

MoonWriter · Mar 4, 2008

I tried keeping a notebook on my night stand only to discover in the morning I couldn't decipher a word of my brilliant idea. Now, I get up and get it into the computer before I forget. And, in the morning, I now realize that my ideas were not so brilliant.

dreamsofnever · Mar 4, 2008

see, I really need to start keeping one on my nightstand. I always get the best ideas at night! And then I have to get up and go get the notebook from wherever I last left it.

so, note to self-bedside notebook=good thing!

ChaosTitan · Mar 4, 2008

My sister gave me this awesome little doohicky (I don't know what else to call it). It's a pad of paper set inside of a small white holder (kind of shaped like a baby monitor). At the top is a pen that sticks up like a tiny antenna. When you pull out the pen, a little light comes on above the pad of paper. It's just bright enough to see in the dark, but not so bright it blinds me. I love it.

I just don't know where to find refill pads.

Danalynn · Mar 4, 2008

YES! Notepad, pen, and small lamp right beside my bed!

Some of my best ideas, scenes, words, phrases come to me during that moment between awake and asleep, and if I don't write them down, I can't remember them the next day, or at least not in the detail I did before.

I read somewhere that something like this happens because the creative side of your brain is allowed a free reign in that time between awake and asleep. (The filters that you normally have when you're awake and consious become relaxed, allowing your creative mind to think more freely.)

ORION · Mar 4, 2008

yep. Always. I wake myself up and write it down. or write it down in the car (I'm a horrible driver) or where ever.
Yes some may not be used but they always lead to better ideas...
Every author I know does this.

Erin · Mar 4, 2008

Yep. I have a notebook everywhere...nightstand, coffee table, purse. I use a taperecorder in the car also.

DWSTXS · Mar 4, 2008

I have one on my nightstand for dreams.
Usually though, I'm always in front of a computer. When at work, and I have an idea, I will pop it into an e-mail to myself, on my Yahoo acct. Then, when I'm ready to write, I can open up my 'ideas' folder in my e-mail, and find them all there.

dawinsor · Mar 4, 2008

Dana-Lynn said:
I read somewhere that something like this happens because the creative side of your brain is allowed a free reign in that time between awake and asleep. (The filters that you normally have when you're awake and consious become relaxed, allowing your creative mind to think more freely.)

Yeah, I've read that too. It has to do with alpha waves. Here's a link to someone talking about their connection to creativity and how writers can encourage them to appear.

http://www.diyplanner.com/node/248

vrabinec · Mar 4, 2008

Yup, little black notebook. I have an hour commute and most of my best lines are written in traffic. (sometimes they get violent). I had thirteen little notebooks full of stuff for my WIP. I recently organized them by scene and it came to 20,000 words. There's no way I could remember 20,000 words worth of dialogue and narrative that is usually polished as polished gets for me, without writing them down.

angeliz2k · Mar 4, 2008

I don't but I should! I can't tell you how many things have come to me as I fall asleep and then go POOF by morning! Sometimes I can get them back, but not always--a bit annoying.

At one point I had a pen and a pad of sticky notes b my bed. I need to do that again.

ishtar'sgate · Mar 4, 2008

ChristaCarol13 said:
OK, so I'm sure I'm not the only one. Who here has a journal or note book or pad of paper on their night stand?

I have a piece of paper and a pencil on my night stand. It doesn't seem to matter how long I've been at this, when I look at it in the morning I can barely make out what's written. I think it's because I'm half asleep when I write. I like to stay in that bemused state - not quite awake, not quite asleep - when I make my notes.
Linnea

Mumut · Mar 4, 2008

I used to get so many ideas during the night I suggested I should take a secretary to bed with me but my wife wasn't impressed with the idea. She bought me the little notebook and pen.

bsolah · Mar 4, 2008

Yep, I get this. My muse has been absent for a bit and is on its way back, so I kind of miss not being able to sleep due to words rushing through my head. I keep a notebook with me at all times and by my bed waiting for the muse to return - and I know it'll do it when I really don't need it.

windyrdg · Mar 4, 2008

A lot of my dialog comes to me that way. I'll be thinking about a scene and I'll "hear" one the characters say something. The other responds. The MC has a snappy comeback. I write myself notes on whatever's handy. I have a checkbook with those carbonless copies and have tons on check copies all over my desk with notes scribbled across them. I wish I could get organized enough to carry a little black book.

Thomma Lyn · Mar 4, 2008

ChristaCarol13 said:
Who here has a journal or note book or pad of paper on their night stand?

Me! *waving hand* I get some of my best ideas when I first lie down, so the notebook on my nightstand is a must.

I also get some of my best ideas in the dang shower. Gotta get one of those waterproof notepads -- heh. Really, there is such a thing!

I did this last night. I'm getting use to writing in the dark, my lines are only a little slanted and not on top of each other lol.

I switch on the light on my night stand, but when I write in bed, my handwriting is, at best, a scrawl. Fortunately I'm able to decipher it when I get up the next day.

bunnygirl · Mar 4, 2008

I have a little notebook and pencil that are always either with me in my purse or on the nightstand at night. The funny thing is that once I've written down an idea, I almost never forget it. It's the ones I don't write down that fail to imprint on my memory.

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