The Killers Sam's Town

I'm not sure why, but the three places I'm guaranteed to have the best ideas, work out the knottiest problems, and plan the most searing plot twists are places where I'm the least able to write them down. 

Even though I keep a pad of paper near the bed, it often migrates elsewhere so I can use the ideas - then I find myself at two in the morning in the twilight moments of sleep, thunderstruck with an idea, trying to rationalize not getting up with the "I'll remember this tomorrow" excuse, then finally giving in and staggering to the kitchen blindly searching for the pen and scrap of paper that will allow me to preserve this idea for the morning.  I just gave up and keep a yellow legal pad and pen on the kitchen table now.  Writing in the dark is not conducive to good penmanship, I've often found myself trying to discern my own nighttime heiroglyphics the next day, wondering "Where was the rest of this idea and what is that word there?"  The larger yellow pad allows me to form the letters more accurately in my complete blindness.

Witness also:  last night as I'm driving home from a trip to see friends - only about 100 miles - we are in the road construction season in Illinois, and even at 10:00 p.m. on a Sunday night.  Radio is on, window is down, AC is off, and I'm staring absently into the depths of the taillights of the person in front of me.  Like lightning, one song lyric (from Sam's Town by the Killers) sets me off on an idea rush that almost made me pull over.  I filled six post-it notes with solutions, details, and ideas for two different projects.  I keep the post-it notes in there for just that reason.  Keeping a notepad makes me want to be more detailed, and that's not healthy for the other cars and people I'm driving near.  I've had friends suggest keeping a voice recorder in the car next to me, but I hate saying ideas out loud when they're fresh.  Writing them down makes them feel more secure somehow.  I don't understand it either.

The third place - well - I haven't figured out a way around getting ideas in the shower yet, at least not one that's really workable.  Instead, I find myself repeating keywords over and over until I can get dry and write it down or the words become totally meaningless because I've said them out loud too much.

I'm supposed to be working on the fall play for my middle-schoolers, so I'm going to sort and  translate my heiroglyph post-it notes into their respective writing projects and get to the grindstone now.