Quiet! Writer at work.
I write in my head. That’s probably true for most writers. You start with an idea: a tiny, fragile egg to be protected and nurtured.
While my body is working out, washing dishes and folding clothes, my mind is elsewhere. I’m building a nest for my egg; picking up and discarding twigs, bending and shaping them to my purpose. Thinking.
I warm and nurture the idea as it matures. I think aloud (often in my car) and the first, tiny cracks appear. The time is ripe for my idea to hatch.
This is the dangerous part. The fledgling idea is vulnerable; it will be a while before it is strong enough to be on its own.
Many are lost before they ever see the light of day. A good, stiff cross-breeze through my brain can shake the branches and, just like that… Splat! The idea plummets to the ground and is forgotten.
A torrential downpour of daily obligations may drown my fragile idea.
Or it can be snatched away by my pets, Laziness and Apathy. They are always on the prowl about the house.
I cannot breathe easy until my little idea has been safely typed into the fortified nest of Word and strengthened with offsite backup. Now I can concentrate on fattening it up, feeding it a special diet of regurgitated adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases.
At last the big day arrives. My little idea has grown plump and strong, and is ready to try its wings. I kick it out of the nest.
My baby!
Fly free, little blog post!
Soar above the turkeys.
This little peek into the creative process was presented again for those who may have missed it the first time.
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
“A blog is a blog, no matter how small …”
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I can’t believe the next line of that didn’t spring readily to mind. I’m losing my memory!
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Oh, so that’s how you do it? Here I was sitting high up in some tree, squatting into a thorny nest. Your way sounds so less painful.
I was just thinking about writing about writing yesterday (a red flag that writer’s block is on the way…good god) I usually get an idea while exercising on the elliptical. Then I have to keep on chugging away, desperately clinging to the idea, praying I won’t forget it once the workout is over. Many a time I jot things down in my little notebook while panting and feeling like my heart’s exploding. Ah, the life of a writer.
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Writing about writing is a GOOD thing, Darliciousness, because just about every reader can relate to it. We’ve all faced these quandries.
I like your method, except I’d sweat all over the paper and end up with nothing but big, runny ink splotches.
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Excellent in telling and content. HF
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Thanks, Teach!
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Oh, how we can relate to this post!! That photographic representation of your baby/post is really making me giggle, too. I woke up this morning after having a dream that I remembered a draft blog post, and instead of remembering the subject/content, all I can remember is the feeling of, “Oh yeah! I DO have something ready to go, and it’s perfect!” No, no, not frustrating at all… 😉
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I set a pad of paper next to my bed to catch those gems. Sometimes I dream up the secret to eternal happiness and write it down. In the morning it looks like I took up writing Sanskrit in the night – I have no clue what I was trying to say.
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Thank you for giving me a needed nudge to follow through with the nurturing end of the writing gig. I get ideas easier than I do persistence to craft something to completion 🙂
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Boy, do I hear that. I’ve got a ton of seeds in my draft folder, but getting around to the actual planting, watering, etc.continuing with the plant metaphor…I’m not so good at that.
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I can relate pretty strongly to this post — up until I write the first draft. After that, my “parenting” style becomes less nurturing and more, well, abusive, as I often tear my little creation apart and turn it into something completely different.
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I may have to report you to the authorities for cruelty to innocent blog posts. Sorry.
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I guess you’ve probably noticed I’m not much of a writer…
but I can definitely relate to this, Peg…
must be something in the air (or the creative poultry)!
🙂
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Creative poultry? Are you calling me an artsy chick?
It looks like your creative side is always the front side, though, with the great photos and artwork you produce.
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I am very forgetful, and must run to the computer and and type in a new post title post and save draft immediately. So I understand completely, I have oldheimers AND sometimers.
One good thing tho. Once I start a post, my fingers type faster than my brain, so I am actually done with my post before my brain knows it. And it may have gone on a terribly different tangent, but that’s ok. It’s done.
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You’re right – the secret is getting the basic idea on paper. If I don’t do that right away, it may be gone forever. Sometimers – so true!
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I’m even churning out the nurturing when I am supposed to be sleeping……..haven’t had a whole night’s sleep without some twig to pick up, since I started blogging. I love ole Horton trying to balance on that tiny, tiny branch. Good read!
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I do my best twig-gathering while asleep, but those gems are almost always gone with the dawn. Maybe I should hire a secretary who knows shorthand to sit next to my bed and catch my midnight mutterings!
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Ah yes, you speak my footsteps. I’m always coming up with something in the car, and being absolutely certain I cannot possibly forget it before I get home, and then….poof.
And I think that spilledinkguy’s term “creative poultry” would be an excellent band name.
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What a great image- you speak my footsteps. I’m going to use that! AND SIG’s creative poultry. What are friends for, if not to plagiarize?
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Oh, good, I’m not the only one whose post ideas go the way of the dodo at a single distraction. Keep churnin’ ’em out… they’re golden eggs!
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The dodo, eh? I need to be that bird who sticks her eggs in somebody else’s nest to be hatched. Wanna volunteer?
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Good one, Peg!
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Thank you, ma’am!
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Sometimes maybe my overactive brain needs a rest. Love this line because it is so true: “Or it can be snatched away by my pets, Laziness and Apathy.” I also, think these golden eggs may be snatched away out of fear to step out of my comfort zone…splat.
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Boy, do I hear that. Sometimes my fingers are itching to type out the rants my mind is concocting on politics, etc., but that ain’t my scene. I’m trying to keep my blog a neutral zone.
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Well done, from a writer who suffers grievously from “empty nest” syndrome.
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Wish I’d thought of that line.
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“Many are lost before they ever see the light of day.”
My best ideas are formed in the shower.
How dare they show up when I don’t have a pen or paper?! But those brilliant ideas always seem to slither down the drain. So sad. So very sad. Great post, especially for this one who is not new to blogging to new to your place. 😉
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Sounds like you need your own personal shorthand-taking secretary as well. One who doesn’t mind getting wet.
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You described the process that so many of us go through so very well. We writers are cut from the same cloth, aren’t we?
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Nice to know I’m not alone. I guess I assume that everybody else is much more organized and subject to flashes of brilliance. For me, there’s a whole lot of tedious plodding and editing involved.
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I think of great ideas in the pool, of all places, and of course by the time I am showered, dried off, and clothed, they are “Gone with the Wind”.
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Or down the drain? I had a post just about fully written in my head while driving the other day. Now I can’t even remember the topic. Jeesh.
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The ending leads me to believe you wrote/published this once before today? I missed it, so thank you for doing it again. When I don’t force myself to stop and write, I become so cranky. I feel the pressure to write – I feel the pressure to read – ugh – the pressure squeezes the motivation and creativity out of me. That’s where I am now, actually. Life is getting in the way with writing, and the ideas are pouring in without being released, added to the fact that I don’t have the time (or energy) to read.
I thought blogging was supposed to be easy, O’Peg’o!
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Nobody ever said blogging was easy. Or maybe they did, but they were wrong. I know just what you mean about the ideas building up and needing an outlet, but it takes me a LONG time to get a post just how I want it.
Try not to feel the pressure, Lenore, and just keep doing what is best for you!
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See, I do just the opposite, I power type my posts and never look back and hit post! Note to self: might get more views if you took more time!
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No, no – good for you for being decisive. I frog around so much with these posts, you’d think somebody was paying me to write them! (hint, hint…somebody…anybody!)
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I’ve always been this way…. even back in the olden days of college I would TYPE term papers for the frat boys for money in one sitting, no writing, no outline, just go, lol. As an English major, this was very helpful to me!
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Hi Peg, I did miss this the first time, and I’m so glad you reposted. It’s a fantastic look into the mind of a writer. I was getting all emotional, lost in your creative process, and then I saw that silly picture of the little bird and had to laugh. 🙂 I don’t have many moments to get lost in thought, these days, and I yearn for them. By the time the kids are asleep my brain is basically off. So that’s when I write my blog posts! Ha. I try to get up before my kids, but somehow we are deeply entrenched in the mother-child bond, and it’s as if they can sense when I’m awake. It is special, feeling so connected, but I can’t beat them to morning call!
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Melissa, this is supposed to be goofy, not emotional. Sounds like you’ve got an awful lot on your plate these days.
I’ve become very particular about when and where I can write, which is not a good thing. I got a new tablet computer and can’t STAND the Word app that came with it – it’s so laborous, and I don’t like the keyboard.
THe great thing with you is, when you do get time to write, you do it so well!
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Awww… thanks, Peg!
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That’s what I’m talking about!
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Thanks!
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Excellent job nailing the writing process! I do worry now that my brain is 62 years old. My short term memory is about a nano-second these days. I am concerned about continuing to depend on that mental process of nurturing the egg until it is ready to be hatched on paper. I’m afraid I will forget how fragile it is and lose it!
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I think I’m going to carry around a tape recorder (or the modern equivalent if I can figure out the technology) and when those great ideas occur to me as I’m walking down the street, I’ll stop in my tracks, switch it on and say “Note to self…”
Think that would come off as pretentious?
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I’m so glad you reposted this as I missed it the first time. Loved it. Terrifically witty as always. I typically regurgitate 1980s Pop-Tarts into my ideas’ mouths and then they turn on me and say “You fed us this same crap last time” and “C’mon let’s order a pizza, bitch” and “I hate this hell hole and can’t wait to leave it.” My ideas have been overly indulged. Maybe Dr. Phil can help us?
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I think your ideas need a good, old-fashioned, tail-feathers ass-whuppin. Or therapy – either is good.
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