Write That Idea Down!

People who constantly write down their ideas are one step ahead of all the rest. Og Mandino once wrote, “You only have to be one iota above mediocre to be successful in the world.” I decided long ago that I wanted to be more than just an iota above the rest. I wanted to be light-years above the rest! Well, I never made the light-years part, but I can say, with humility, that I went past the iota level.

After a successful career in the construction industry, I wanted even more intellectually. That’s why I became an author. Here was a chance to express ideas at a rapid-fire pace. Novels are ideas trapped forever in a bottle, so to speak. You open the pages and experiences flow out in abundance. Each page is a microcosm of ideas which combine with other ideas to form a picture in your mind’s eye. The whole book becomes a tapestry of ideas placed in such a way that a story emerges.

Can you tell I place great importance on the simple idea? The trick is to capture the little rascals before they disappear into a forgotten ideas' “black hole” in which nothing returns. That’s where the pen and paper come in, or better yet, the mini-recorder. The mode of capture is not really important - what is important is that you bottle up all those ideas for future use.

I never throw away my ideas; because they can be used over and over again, but in different contexts and scenarios. They are the building blocks of everything I write and soon I plan to compile a personal dictionary of ideas, placed in alphabetical order, for future use. Perhaps the dictionary should be in the form of an e-Book so everyone could use my past ideas, combined with their own, to help write that perfect novel. Now there is an idea I must write down….

I’m just saying,

Mittster