Usually, however, inspiration has a habit of striking when I'm in the shower, on a 5-hour road trip to Billings, or in the middle of a business meeting. Yeah, yeah, I know all about my unconscious working without interference and that's why ideas come when my hands or mind are otherwise occupied. I should be happy inspiration strikes, right? Tell that to my memory.
You know when I'll remember what popped into my mind during the business meeting? When I'm in the shower.
I have, however, solved the problem of inspiration striking when I'm in the car. Which is a good thing, because my daily commute ranges from 60-70 minutes each day. And most months of the year, I have at least one long road trip.
My solution: a voice recorder. I spent $50 for a Sony recorder that works with Dragon Naturally Speaking (I'd put the trademark here, but I don't know how to type the symbol). I can keep the device nearby and switch it on when I want to record or I can use its voice recognition mode.
It's amazing how much MORE often inspiration is striking now that I can make a quick recording. I take the voice recorder with me everywhere: it sits on my desk at the office, at my beside at night (Stephen just LOVES that), and has a place of honor in the cell phone pocket inside my handbag. I actually think it's become more valuable to me than my cell phone.
What do YOU do when inspiration strikes?
I wouldn't call it inspiration but you're right, a sentence pops into your head, or a solution to a problem. For years I thought I'd remember thse things because they were so good but, of course, I never did. Now it's the bedside notebook, a slim notepad in my pocket diary and, yes, a Sony recorder. BUT ...
ReplyDeleteI sometimes forget I've recorded something, don't use the recorder for a while then suddenly play it and hear some arcane message - and I have no idea what I was referring to.