Tuesday, October 9, 2012

My Kingdom for a Pen

This is how it always happens...they come to me when I am driving, or in the shower, or in the middle of a meeting.  Sometimes they whisper gently, other times they shriek out their truths.  My characters come unbidden.  Yet, when I beg or implore, they sullenly refuse to grace me with their presence. 

Today, however, as I drove the long trek from home, then to pick up our lovely carpooling friend, then to the eldest child's school, then to the bus stop for the middle and youngest child, then off to work...they came to me. 

Inspiration striking!
(...or perhaps the aurora borealis)
They were eager and anxious--a flurry of information and activity and drama.  They swirled like quicksilver; they struck like lightening.  It was electric.

And, of course...I had no pen.  No pen or paper to memorialize their dire warnings and their realizations.  Surely, somewhere under my wallet...and Epi-pen...and cell phone...and unpaid bills...and the single child's sock...somewhere there had to be a pen and a scrap of paper.  And yet my eager fingers that rummaged through my purse found nothing but loose receipts and change and half a mint.

So I did the only thing I could; I chanted the precious bits of new information like a mantra all the way to work.  I repeated it while stuck in traffic.  I muttered it while I maneuvered through the construction zone.  I whispered it while yielding for pedestrians. 

Then I drove up the six stories of the parking garage, found my self-appointed parking spot next to my dearest friend's car, and scurried in to work so that I could engage in a much-needed "information dump" at her desk before dashing to my own overflowing work space to scrounge for a pen and paper.

My characters tell me things in their own time...much like my eldest daughter, teetering on the brink of tweendom.  And, as with my daughter, when my characters finally relinquish some thought, or insight, or precious bit of their heart...I listen.  I relish it.  I store it away.  They are my children, too.  Their births were also long and  painful and memorable.

Like my children, my characters seem to want to talk when I am in the shower, or making dinner, or trying to do something else that requires my attention. 

But you make time, because they are worth it. 

You stop the world, if you have to.   

14 comments:

  1. I have actually called myself and left myself voicemail so I wouldn't forget something. I also have a cell phone app that works as a voice recorder, as well as one that takes handwritten notes (using your finger as the "pen"). In a pinch, though, the self-voice-mail-message really comes in handy! :D

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    1. I may have to do that next time. I need to go put pen and paper next to my bed, too, while I am thinking about it...

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  2. What Laura says, but I wanted to add to it that a TED talk that Janet Reid linked to is absolutely fantastic about ideas and the way we handle them and the genius that strikes while we're driving.

    Check it out

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    1. I will have to check that out! Thanks for the head's up!

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  3. That's why I love my smart phone - whenever an idea comes to me, I jot down a note in it!

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    1. I can't text and drive...those commercials with the people who nearly died texting have converted me. Besides, I can barely push the right buttons when I'm NOT swerving to miss pot holes the size of a small rhino.

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  4. I like the chanting version. Inspiration never hits when I'm within range of my purse (6 pens and tons of receipts) or my office (another 12 pens and actual PAPTER).

    I guess that's one way to avoid dementia.

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    1. Maybe if I cleaned out my purse...I realized that I actually had my 2010-2011 calendar in there because I have yet to get around to transferring some of the info to the 2012 calendar. At this point, I figure I might as well wait until 2013...seems a bit pointless now.

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  5. Those character moments are so worth it! It's so easy to forget them when you don't have the means to record them. The app thing sounds good...

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  6. I will follow your lovely blog with interest...

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  7. YES that happens to me ALL the time. I carry my laptop with me almost everywhere to avoid the 'chanting' scenario, but you can't type down an idea while you're driving! You can stop the car, but what if you're late to work???

    Yes, yes, so true.

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  8. I HATE it when that happens. I try and console myself with the thought that if I won't remember it later it probably wasn't any good.

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  9. Oh my gosh, yes! I totally know what you mean! Luckily, I always keep my laptop with me (despite it's large size) and whenever I get an idea, no matter if I'm ice skating, doing school work, drawing or whatever… I grab my computer and WRITE.

    Although, if I'm on the ice when I get an idea I get off to write. I don't bring it ON the ice with me lol.

    Sorry I haven't stopped by in a while!

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